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Contents at a Glance

Introduction ...... 1 Part I: You Got a Right to Play the Blues ...... 7 Chapter 1: Every Day I Have the Blues . . . Hallelujah!...... 9 Chapter 2: Blues Meets Guitar: A Match Made in Musical Heaven...... 23 Chapter 3: Grab Hold, Tune Up, Play On! ...... 39 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues...... 55 Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on Left-Hand Chords...... 57 Chapter 5: Positioning the Right Hand for Rhythm and Lead ...... 71 Chapter 6: Blues Progressions, Song Forms, and Moves ...... 97 Chapter 7: Musical Riffs: Bedrock of the Blues...... 121 Part III: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro ...... 137 Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos...... 139 Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck...... 155 Chapter 10: Express Yourself: Making the Guitar Sing, Cry, and Wail...... 171 Part IV: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages ...... 191 Chapter 11: Acoustic Roots: Delta Blues and Its Country Cousins...... 193 Chapter 12: The Birth and Growth of Classic Electric Blues ...... 213 Chapter 13: Blues Rock: The Infusion of Ol’ Rock ’n’ Roll...... 233 Part V: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal ...... 253 Chapter 14: Shop Till You Drop: Buying the Right Guitar for You...... 255 Chapter 15: ChoosingCOPYRIGHTED Your Amp and Effects...... 267 MATERIAL Chapter 16: Changing Strings...... 301 Part VI: The Part of Tens ...... 315 Chapter 17: Ten Blues Guitar Giants...... 317 Chapter 18: Ten Great Blues Guitars...... 321 Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Must-Have Blues Guitar Albums...... 325 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page vi

Part VII: Appendixes...... 329 Appendix A: How to Read Music ...... 331 Appendix B: How to Use the CD ...... 339 Index ...... 349 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page vii

Table of Contents

Introduction...... 1 About This Book...... 1 Conventions Used in This Book ...... 2 What You’re Not to Read...... 3 Foolish Assumptions ...... 3 How This Book Is Organized...... 4 Part I: You Got a Right to Play the Blues ...... 4 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues ...... 4 Part III: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro ...... 4 Part IV: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages ...... 4 Part V: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal...... 5 Part VI: The Part of Tens ...... 5 Part VII: Appendixes...... 5 Icons Used in This Book...... 5 Where to Go from Here...... 6

Part I: You Got a Right to Play the Blues ...... 7

Chapter 1: Every Day I Have the Blues . . . Hallelujah! ...... 9 Capturing the Blues Train from Its Departure Then to Its Arrival Now ...... 10 The pieces of blues that made the genre ...... 10 The place of the blues’ conception...... 11 Rejoicing over 100 years of blues: The shifting shape of the genre ...... 11 The qualities that made blues cats hit the big-time ...... 12 It’s Not All Pain and Suffering — The Lighter Side of Blues...... 13 Surveying the Means to Make the Music: The Guitar in All Its Glory...... 14 The low-fi acoustic guitar...... 14 The semi-hollowbody electric guitar...... 15 Solidbody electric guitars ...... 15 The Collision of Two Worlds: Acoustic versus Electric ...... 16 Getting a Grip on How Guitars Work ...... 17 You’ve gotta use your hands — both of them...... 17 Producing the tones: String vibration and pitch...... 18 Electric guitars only: Pickups and amplification...... 18 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page viii

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Performing and Looking Like a Blues Player...... 19 Expanding and filling your brain with know-how...... 19 Looking the part ...... 20 Blues Trivia For Dummies...... 21 The questions ...... 21 The answers...... 22 Chapter 2: Blues Meets Guitar: A Match Made in Musical Heaven ...... 23 Beyond the Delta: Defining the Blues Guitar Sound ...... 24 The method to the music: Chord progressions...... 24 The guitarist’s language of melody ...... 25 The expression that invokes your senses...... 26 The groove that sets the pace ...... 27 Dissecting an Acoustic and an Electric ...... 27 Getting Down with the Blues: A Quick How-To ...... 31 The foundation for all guitar playing: Acoustic guitars...... 31 Shifting acoustic to overdrive: Electric guitars ...... 32 What You Need to Get Your Groove On...... 35 Chapter 3: Grab Hold, Tune Up, Play On! ...... 39 Holding Your Axe (That Is, Your Guitar) ...... 39 Grabbing your guitar’s neck...... 40 Pushing down on the strings ...... 41 Getting sound to come out...... 42 Holding the Pick, Attacking the Problem ...... 44 Getting Situated...... 45 Sitting down ...... 45 . . . or standing up...... 46 Tuning Up...... 47 Helping your guitar get in tune with itself...... 48 Holding your guitar to an electronic standard ...... 48 Playing a Chord ...... 50 Music Notation: Not Just for Geeks ...... 51 Guidance for your aimless fingers: A chord diagram ...... 51 Mapping out your short-term path: Rhythm notation...... 53 Guiding you all the way through a song: Tablature ...... 54

Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues ...... 55

Chapter 4: Getting a Grip on Left-Hand Chords ...... 57 Starting Out Simple: Blues Chords Even Your Mom Could Play ...... 58 Going to the Next Level: Barre Chords...... 59 Forming a barre chord...... 61 Naming barre chords ...... 62 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page ix

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Playing E-based barre chords ...... 63 Playing A-form barre chords...... 65 Combining forms ...... 67 Taking Advantage of Versatile Power Chords...... 68 Chapter 5: Positioning the Right Hand for Rhythm and Lead ...... 71 Strumming Along...... 71 Stroking down ...... 72 . . . And stroking up ...... 72 Combining down and up ...... 73 Striking to a beat ...... 73 Mixing Single Notes and Strumming...... 75 Separating bass and treble: The pick-strum ...... 75 Playing common pick-strum patterns...... 76 Shuffling the Beats with Syncopated Strumming...... 79 A bit of notation: Dots that extend and ties that bind...... 79 Syncopation: Playing with dots and ties ...... 79 Stopping the String Ringing (Just for a Sec) ...... 81 Muting the sound between two chords (left hand) ...... 82 Simulating syncopation with left-hand muting...... 82 Muting the sound of a note (right hand)...... 83 Copying the Classics: Plucking Fingerstyle Blues...... 84 The Right Hand’s Bliss: Different Rhythm Styles to Play ...... 85 The shuffle groove...... 87 The driving straight-four ...... 87 The slow 12/8, with groups of three...... 87 The two-beat feel...... 94 The slow and funky 16 feel...... 95 Chapter 6: Blues Progressions, Song Forms, and Moves ...... 97 Blues by the Numbers ...... 97 Recognizing the Big Dogs: Primary Key Families and Their Chords...... 98 The Structure of a Blues Song, Baby ...... 99 Playing the 12-bar blues ...... 100 Slow blues ...... 103 The 8-bar blues ...... 106 Straight-four (or rock blues) ...... 106 Applying Structures to Keys...... 108 A move with many chords: The Jimmy Reed move...... 108 The sound of sadness: Minor blues ...... 111 Accessorizing the 12-Bar Blues: Intros, Turnarounds, and Endings...... 114 Intros...... 114 Turnarounds ...... 115 Endings ...... 116 High Moves ...... 117 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page x

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Chapter 7: Musical Riffs: Bedrock of the Blues ...... 121 Basic Single-Note Riffs ...... 121 For the low-down bass notes: Quarter-note riffs ...... 122 The big daddy of riffs: Eighth-note riffs...... 123 Adding a little funk: 16th-note riffs...... 124 Throwing rhythm for a loop: Syncopated eighth-note riffs ...... 124 Double the Strings, Double the Fun: Two-Note Riffs (or Double-Stops)...... 125 Straight feel ...... 126 Shuffle, or swing, eighths ...... 127 High-Note Riffs, the Bridge to Lead Guitar...... 128 Keith Richards’s borrowed trademark: Quick-four riffs ...... 129 Intro, turnaround, and ending riffs ...... 129 Mastering the Rhythm Figure ...... 134

Part III: Beyond the Basics: Playing Like a Pro ...... 137

Chapter 8: Playing Lead: Soaring Melodies and Searing Solos . . . .139 Mastering Your Picking Technique ...... 139 Becoming smooth with your simple downs and ups...... 140 Tackling tricky alternate-picking situations...... 141 The Universal Lead Language: The Pentatonic Scale...... 143 Why the pentatonic is the perfect scale...... 144 The two sides of the pentatonic scale...... 144 A common scale for practice: E minor pentatonic ...... 145 Pentatonic Plus One: The Six-Note Blues Scale...... 149 Adding Some Extra Flava to the Blues Scale...... 150 Clashing bitterly ...... 151 A dash of sweetness...... 151 Chapter 9: Playing Up the Neck ...... 155 For Inquiring Minds: Why Up the Neck You Should Go...... 155 Positioning Your Digits for an Easy Key Change...... 156 The pros of closed positions ...... 157 The details of closed, numbered positions...... 157 Easing Into Position: Moving the Pentatonic Up and Down ...... 158 Changing Your Position...... 160 A natural first: Moving from fifth position to eighth...... 161 The eighth-position blues bonus...... 161 How low can you go? Moving from fifth position to third...... 162 The Technical Side of Moving...... 163 Like taking candy from a baby: The subtle shift ...... 163 Seeking a bit of attention: The noticeable slide ...... 163 When you don’t want to move, just reach or jump ...... 164 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xi

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Five Positions You Should Know: Meanderings of the Pentatonic Scale ...... 165 Relating the positions to each other...... 165 Connecting the positions: Licks that take you up and down...... 167 Understanding the Logic behind the Corresponding Shift of Position and Key ...... 167 Recognizing common keys and their comfortable positions ...... 168 Mapping keys to positions ...... 168 Chapter 10: Express Yourself: Making the Guitar Sing, Cry, and Wail ...... 171 Appreciating the Art of Articulation...... 171 Going In for the Attack ...... 172 A little bit louder now . . . a little bit softer now: Dynamics ...... 173 Hitting hard and backing off ...... 175 Breaking Down the Music: Phrasing ...... 176 Connecting notes the slippery way: Slides ...... 176 It’s hammer time — get ready to strike a string! ...... 179 Exposing a note by lifting a digit: Pull-offs ...... 180 Giving Your Sound a Bit of Flair...... 182 Shake that string: Adding vibrato ...... 182 The rubber-band blues: Bends that stretch a string ...... 184 Playing a Song with Various Articulations ...... 187

Part IV: Sounding Like the Masters: Blues Styles through the Ages ...... 191

Chapter 11: Acoustic Roots: Delta Blues and Its Country Cousins ...... 193 Delta Blues: Where It All Began...... 193 Understanding the Delta technique ...... 194 Ladies and gentlemen, king of the Delta blues: Robert Johnson...... 194 Country Ragtime: The Piedmont Blues ...... 201 Everything In-Between: Country and Folk Blues...... 203 A quick profile of country and folk blues...... 203 Giving these “in-between blues” a listen ...... 204 Closing with a lick and some style: Ragtime tags...... 204 Country and Folk Blues Had a Baby; Its Name was Rockabilly...... 206 Quintessential Blues: Slide Guitar...... 208 The tools that let you slide ...... 208 Sliding technique...... 208 Tuning your guitar for slide, a technique all its own...... 209 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xii

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Chapter 12: The Birth and Growth of Classic Electric Blues ...... 213 The Rise of the Electric Guitar in Blues ...... 214 Giving Props to the Earliest Electric Pioneer ...... 215 Sweet Home Chicago, Seat of the Electric Blues...... 216 Muddy Waters, leader of the pack ...... 218 Elmore James, slide guitarist extraordinaire ...... 219 Otis Rush: Soulful player with a flair for vibrato...... 220 Buddy Guy, the father of blues rock ...... 220 Modern-Day Blues Styles: The Sounds of Texas ...... 222 Four Blues Giants: Three Kings and a Collins...... 224 Albert King, the upside-down string bender...... 224 B.B. King, the blues’ king of kings ...... 224 Freddie King, a two-pick man...... 228 Albert Collins, master of the Telecaster...... 228 Children of the Post-War Blues Revival...... 229 Son Seals, Chicago’s favorite son ...... 229 Robert Cray, smooth persuader...... 230 Bonnie Raitt, stellar lyrical slides artiste ...... 230 Chapter 13: Blues Rock: The Infusion of Ol’ Rock ’n’ Roll ...... 233 The Blues Had a Baby, and They Called It Rock ’n’ Roll ...... 234 Chuck Berry, blues rock’s first superstar...... 234 Bo Diddley, king of the jungle beat...... 235 The Brits Invade the Blues...... 236 Clapton and Green, early blues icons...... 236 Jeff Beck, blues-rock’s mad scientist ...... 237 Trippin’ the Blues...... 238 Eric Clapton, the original guitar god...... 238 Jimi Hendrix takes the blues psychedelic...... 239 Heavy “Blooze”: The Infusion of Hard Rock...... 241 Jimmy Page, frontrunner of the metal blues...... 241 Leslie West, big man with a big sound...... 242 Blackmore and beyond, where blues gets scary...... 243 Southern Comfort ...... 243 The Allmans, especially brother Duane ...... 244 Lynyrd Skynyrd...... 245 Hot Barbecue Blues, Texas Style...... 245 Johnny Winter, Texas blues-rock titan...... 245 Billy Gibbons and ZZ Top, giving rock some soul ...... 246 Stevie Ray Vaughan, the greatest modern bluesman of them all ...... 247 Blues on Steroids ...... 249 Eddie Van Halen takes the blues to ’80s metal ...... 250 Euro-Metal brings virtuosity and precision to the blues ...... 250 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xiii

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21st-Century Soul ...... 250 John Mayer, new kid on the blues block ...... 251 Allmans Redux: Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks, keepers of the flame ...... 251

Part V: Gearing Up: Outfitting Your Arsenal...... 253

Chapter 14: Shop Till You Drop: Buying the Right Guitar for You . . .255 Before You Begin Shopping...... 256 Deciding On a Make and Model...... 256 Evaluating a Guitar...... 257 Construction ...... 258 Materials...... 259 Workmanship...... 262 Appointments (aesthetic options)...... 263 Welcome to the Jungle: Shopping ...... 263 Bringing a friend ...... 263 Money matters: Deal . . . or no deal ...... 264 Protecting Your Guitar...... 265 Hard cases...... 265 Soft cases...... 266 Gig bags ...... 266 Chapter 15: Choosing Your Amp and Effects ...... 267 Getting Started with a Practice Amp ...... 268 Shopping for a practice amp...... 268 Playing with a practice amp...... 269 Powering Up to a Larger Amp...... 271 Choosing among different amp formats ...... 271 Feeling the power ...... 274 Dissecting the Amplifier...... 274 Input jack...... 275 Preamp...... 275 Tone...... 276 Effects ...... 277 Power amp ...... 277 Speakers ...... 278 The flexibility of having separate channels ...... 278 What’s That Sound? Checking Out Your Amp Choices ...... 279 Tube amps...... 279 Solid-state amps ...... 281 Hybrid amps...... 281 Digital-modeling amps ...... 282 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xiv

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Remembering the Good Old Days...... 282 Vintage amps...... 283 Reissue amps ...... 283 Dialing in an Amp Sound ...... 283 Chronicling Classic Amps for Blues...... 285 Fender Bassman ...... 285 Fender Deluxe Reverb...... 286 Fender Twin Reverb ...... 286 Marshall JTM 45...... 286 Marshall Plexi Super Lead 100...... 287 Vox AC30...... 288 Mesa/Boogie Mark IIc+...... 288 Messing Around with Your Sound: Effects...... 289 Juicing Up Your Sound...... 290 When your sound is too hot to handle: Distortion ...... 290 Toying with Tone Quality ...... 291 EQ: The great tonal equalizer ...... 292 Wah-wah, the effect that is as it sounds ...... 292 Modulation Effects, from Swooshy to Swirly...... 292 Stacking sounds for a fuller effect: Chorus ...... 292 Swooshing, like a jet plane: Flangers and phase shifters ...... 293 Like a visit to the opera house: Vibrato and tremolo ...... 293 Pretending (and Sounding Like) You’re Somewhere You’re Not...... 294 Delaying sound in a cave-like way...... 295 Adding reverb to make your sound slicker...... 295 Choosing an Effects Format...... 296 A string of effects: Pedals on parade ...... 296 A box to house them all at your feet...... 297 A box to house them all at hand level ...... 297 Chapter 16: Changing Strings ...... 301 Change Is Good, But When?...... 301 Choosing the Right Strings ...... 302 Acoustic strings...... 303 Electric strings...... 304 Outfitting Your String-Changing Toolkit ...... 304 Removing Old Strings ...... 305 Stringing a Steel-String Acoustic ...... 306 Stringing an Electric Guitar...... 310

Part VI: The Part of Tens...... 315

Chapter 17: Ten Blues Guitar Giants ...... 317 Robert Johnson (1911–38) ...... 317 Elmore James (1918–63)...... 318 T-Bone Walker (1910–75)...... 318 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xv

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Muddy Waters (1915–83)...... 318 Albert King (1923–92) ...... 318 B.B. King (b. 1925)...... 319 Albert Collins (1932–93)...... 319 Otis Rush (b. 1934)...... 319 Eric Clapton (b. 1945)...... 319 Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–90)...... 320 Chapter 18: Ten Great Blues Guitars ...... 321 Gibson L-1 Flattop ...... 321 Gibson ES-175 Archtop ...... 321 National Steel...... 322 Gibson J-200...... 322 Fender Telecaster...... 322 Gibson Les Paul...... 323 Fender Stratocaster ...... 323 Gibson ES-335 ...... 323 Gibson ES-355 ...... 324 Gibson SG...... 324 Chapter 19: Ten (Plus One) Must-Have Blues Guitar Albums ...... 325 Robert Johnson: The Complete Recordings...... 325 Blues Masters: The Very Best of Lightnin’ Hopkins...... 326 T-Bone Walker: Complete Capitol Black & White Recordings ...... 326 T-Bone Walker: Complete Imperial Recordings...... 326 The Best of Muddy Waters...... 326 B.B. King: Live at the Regal ...... 327 The Very Best of Buddy Guy...... 327 Robert Cray: Bad Influence...... 327 Masters of the Delta Blues: Friends of Charlie Patton...... 328 Mean Old World: The Blues from 1940 to 1994 ...... 328 Chicago: The Blues Today...... 328

Part VII: Appendixes...... 329

Appendix A: How to Read Music ...... 331 The Elements of Music Notation...... 332 Reading pitch ...... 333 Reading duration ...... 335 Expression, articulation, and miscellaneous terms and symbols ...... 337 Appendix B: How to Use the CD ...... 339 Relating the Text to the CD ...... 339 Count-offs ...... 340 Stereo separation ...... 340 02_049204 ftoc.qxp 10/25/06 10:06 AM Page xvi

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System Requirements...... 341 Audio CD players...... 341 Computer CD-ROM drives ...... 341 Using the CD with Microsoft Windows...... 341 Using the CD with Mac OS...... 342 What You’ll Find on the CD...... 342 CD audio tracks ...... 342 Digital music ...... 348 Troubleshooting...... 348 Index...... 349