Blues Riffs.

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Blues Riffs.

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guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

Blues Riffs.

I was trawling for some old blues and in particular Lester Young and I came across this.

Check out what happens at 1.48.

A cracking riff starting on F in the key of Bb. Note how the scale used changes pretty frequently but the melody stays pretty much within a major sixth interval.

Except for the E natural which is a real interesting to try and explain.

If I were to study the blues I would try to learn a few dozen of these classic riffs in all keys in open position.

That is to say ALL TWELVE BARS OF THE RIFF, with the changes of scale in the right place in all twelve keys. NOT the same fingering in different positions and no fudging or noodling in one scale.

I would learn my scales like this with actual music. That is to say SCALES, not SCALE. You need to know how to get from the sound of one scale to another convincingly and you need to know WHY. That's what these guys did. They learned a musical language. And it's real simple but takes time and listening and most importantly honesty.

I am tired tired tired of shortcuts and 'secrets' they got me nowhere. But they were tempting, so tempting. And having chosen to believe in the simplest answers even thought they didn't work I actually thought I knew as much as anyone. Which is embarrassing.

D.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 5 2014 0:23:12

guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

RE: Blues Riffs. (in reply to guitarbuddha)

One of the most important composers in blues and jazz was George Gershwin.

Here are some of his most beautiful blues melodies.

16 bar minor blues, Summertime Nina Simone at the piano.

Less obviously but definitely still a blues 'The Man I Love' and it has to be Billy Holiday.

D.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 5 2014 10:34:48

guitarbuddha

Posts: 2970
Joined: Jan. 4 2007

BB King on blues riffs jazz arpeggio... (in reply to guitarbuddha)

BB King on blues riffs jazz arpeggios and context.

I especially like his advice on context at the end. The where and when of it all.

WHO WHAT WHY WHERE AND WHEN

So much more informative than 'WHAT' alone. A good journalist would get sacked if he missed out the who where and when and didn't at least hint at the why and the how. But online there are new standards.

So the what becomes 'anything at all'.

Back up an idea with a who what where when and why and you are probably going to be found irrelevant.

Because the easiest part of the story has become the whole story, a story teenage boys can understand without doing any real listening while they look at pictures of guitars in the same magazine.

I think the problem started when music educators stopped referencing songs for copyright reason and started to talk in abstracts instead.

So you get a playalong with no melody, ie less than half the story. And that is the kind of story you learn to tell.

So pick a WHO and a song that is sophisticated and transcribe it and ask yourself not just WHAT of what was played but also the WHEN and WHY. And if the answer is because that's all they knew find someone else.

WHAT WHY WHERE AND WHEN

D.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jun. 5 2014 14:32:20