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Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
My journey into the blues #7
Six months in.
The comments and help I have received so far have been invaluable, so I am reporting in on progress. This time with my heavily modified Les Paul Goldtop Tribute. With fantastic P90s from Oil City Pickups. I love P90s.
The advice that I have been given has been to leave some space (not easy, to be honest), imagine a brass section banging away, use some vibrato and try some chords, so here I am trying a little chord modulation. Still not enough space or vibrato, but I am beginning to feel the vibe, I think.
I am sticking with 12-bar, over and over. Reminds me of starting with Soleares, over and over and over.
I've done a lot more work on the pentatonic scales up and down the fretboard and knowing which note to play next, especially the landing notes at the end of a phrase.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
I like it and it's better than last time. the first lick sounded really authentic ,I am huge blues fan and have been playing it for 10 years so I know a bit about what's good
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to tele)
Guitar sounds great, very responsive overdrive. Nice backing track.
A couple of clams at the start but then it's all good man.
I feel there is a big big difference in your concept of vibrato. Two speeds with the index and I liked the whole arm shake vibrato at .48. Makes such a difference. It might just be that standing up makes you freer too, standing up to play is the thing I miss most about electric.
I like that there is a lot of Soto Voce playing and that the more decisive phrases stand proud and make the amp work. You're getting some nice tonal contrasts. There is a real late night feel to the whole thing which is very appealing, kinda sleepy with the odd flurry .
D.
Not that you need to do everything in every solo but you might also have some fun with pinch harmonics with that setup and some raking to dig in as you try and find them.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
Thanks for your kind comments, guys. I feel I have crossed an important barrier recently. It's down to four things, I think:
1. I play every day in different keys to very few backing tracks (12 bar). 2. I listen to a lot of blues on Spotify. 3. Studying scales to get to know the fretboard, the landing notes and bum notes. 4. Modulating with some simple chords.
The Gibson style guitars allow more nuance for my style, as they have more sustain and much more powerful pickups.
I am having fun and it puts me in a good place, mentally.
If I was to play the blues guitar (again) I would put these solos into a slowdowner and learn them (and other solos). With the socalled "new tecnologies, we have so many advantages. And its so good to study the playing of others. Copy a little bit here, cut and paste ait there and just play.
I think its good you try different guitars. The fenders have something different to offer. A different challenge.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
No problem, I have locked that thread and it is clearly marked
They are very nice solos, full of expression. I have also just found "Blues Jam at Chess" on Spotify, where it is called "Blues Jam in Chicago" Vols. 1 & 2.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
I might have a go
Yeah, why not. Take your time. I picked those two, because I dont think its very difficult and there´s a lot of nice pauses in his playing. The "Last night" solo is very nice IMHO. But he also has Walther Horton (I think) on the the mouthorgan
The backing track that you posted is a bit sloppy (and its in Bb). the original bas player is much more upbeat.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
. I play every day in different keys to very few backing tracks (12 bar). 2. I listen to a lot of blues on Spotify. 3. Studying scales to get to know the fretboard, the landing notes and bum notes. 4. Modulating with some simple chords.
The Gibson style guitars allow more nuance for my style, as they have more sustain and much more powerful pickups.
I am having fun and it puts me in a good place, mentally.
Those are all good things to work on. But also concentrate on specific phrases from classic solo's of the greats. Learn them, perfect them, and do as many variations of them as possible. This will help prevent noodling around the scale. Remember, you learn the scale so you can forget the scale, right! :)
BTW, single coil pickups will give you more nuance due to the low output and lack of compression. Humbuckers are the opposite. Less dynamic range because they compress. Not that you cant get killer blues tone from a humbucker. Just speaking technically. I like to use both depending on what mood i'm in. :)
Speaking of great blues with humbuckers.
This guy is one of the best on the planet in my opinion. Skip to 3.20 for absolute blues mastery...
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to ToddK)
quote:
ORIGINAL: ToddK
...This will help prevent noodling around the scale...
Damn I wish someone had given me this advice years ago when I used to play electric. For some reason something led me to believe that focusing on the scales themselves was the way to go. This resulted in countless hours wasted on noodling *sigh*
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
This resulted in countless hours wasted on noodling *sigh*
Disagree. Playing scales teaches a lot especially when you focus on different things like sound, speed, relax and having fun (thats an important one)
But I agree with Todd, that you have to "get out" of the scale and start playing music and thats why I posted the MP3 solos, which I think have a level that our dear blues adventurer can work with without to much fuzz.
Lovely player this this blond guy with the SG. Very personal style. He is playing with the instrument and playing music with it as well.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to ToddK)
quote:
BTW, single coil pickups will give you more nuance due to the low output and lack of compression. Humbuckers are the opposite. Less dynamic range because they compress.
I agree. BB King favoured humbuckers and sealing the f-holes on his 335 because of the noise and feedback in the earlier days of gig amplification. I use single-coil P90s on the Les Paul and 335 (except for a Dirty Fingers humbucker at the bridge).
As I have always played Gibsons or Gibson style guitars, I am still coming to terms with the Strat and the Tele needs to be driven a little more at low volume. The Les Paul is solid mahogany, weighs a ton but sustains with a lot of richness in the midrange. The 335 also has less nasal, but warm bluesy tones. It also depends on my mood.
Thanks for the advice Todd and the shout for Tedeschi. I'm checking him and his wife out, for sure. Nice to see a SG get a showing with that awesome bottle neck and picking technique.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to NenadK)
I know what you mean. It's counterproductive to see lead guitar as noodling up and down the frets, from string to string. That does not produce tunes or memorable licks by magic. When I started on piano, scales were for finger exercises and understanding what notes are important in a key. I think that it is the same for the guitar, electric or otherwise.
I recall Ritchie Blackmore saying that his playing only really opened up when he got away from this mindset and started to build riffs based on what they sounded like (not because they included the next fret or string).
I am embarrased at how impoverished I was for all those years I wasn't learning the blues and just noodling around in a scale form.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
I have found that learning all improvisation techniques and adding notes out of scale that just sound right(like BB does) are very useful when learning to play the blues. Feeling is more important than anything when choosing notes as the chord progressions are rather simple. That's what makes the greats great (in addition to having soul in their music). You are progressing quickly
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
Simon, Very cool sounding blues playing. Interesting the parallel of playing blues and playing flamenco. Nobody here in the U.S. would care where you are from as long as you play with feeling. For me, Eric Clapton is such a great blues player and isn't American. I don't care what the person looks like or where they are from as long as they play well and express something through their instrument. Many flamencos that I know in Spain feel the same way. Anyway, my 2 cents...
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
quote:
The Les Paul is solid mahogany
Maybe your Taiwan goldtop is solid mahogany.
The real Gibson Les Pauls that I had were laminated mahogany with maple tops.
If you ever get a chance to try a Les paul Junior with soadbars, try it. They can be really nice guitars. Lighter than a Les Paul and with a better balance than a SG.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
Maybe your Taiwan goldtop is solid mahogany
It certainly is - with a maple top.
quote:
If you ever get a chance to try a Les paul Junior with soadbars, try it. They can be really nice guitars. Lighter than a Les Paul and with a better balance than a SG.
Do you mean the double-cutaway with single, dog ear P90? That's on my list, for sure. Not so fond of the other shape.
There is a rare and rather oddball Gibson (Les Paul Signature) for sale locally that I have my eye on. It plays very well and has a bunch of great sounds. It's overpriced but I might make an offer one day.
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Posts: 797
Joined: Jun. 1 2010
From: Halifax, Nova Scotia
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
Derek Trucks is insanely good, I've been following him for years. I like how he doesn't use any effects and just rides the volume knob. His workhorse Super Reverbs are heavily modified. He has been filling Duane Allman's huge shoes for years with the Allman Brother Band, but his work with Tedeschi Trucks Band is on yet another level. They played here a few months ago, and although I'm not a dancer I was boogieing my arse off the entire show. They were covering old Sly Stone tunes in the encore, it was such a positive high energy show. One of the best I've seen.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Escribano)
You´re right, the backing track is in A.. I checked with my fiddle and it must have been a bit flat. Those licks are very good but the best is the pauses inbtween and the way he makes everything go together to a whole. that was peter Greens art. He wasnt flashy at all. But very deep.
quote:
Do you mean the double-cutaway with single, dog ear P90? That's on my list, for sure. Not so fond of the other shape.
There is a rare and rather oddball Gibson (Les Paul Signature) for sale locally that I have my eye on. It plays very well and has a bunch of great sounds. It's overpriced but I might make an offer one day.
Oh... I like that signature. Is it hollow or semi hollow. A true blues heroe guitar :)
The Junior, that a friend let me for a while was the standard les Paul shape. just smaller, thinner and lighter. It had 2 soap bars. I can imagine the top one was added later on. It wasnt pretty at all. It looked like a cheapo guitar and had very little guitar heroe appeal (it was almost as if it was excusing itself), but its the Gibson that I have tried that I liked the most if playing clean or semi overdriven, like you do. It was solid body and easy to control, but at the same time a lot more lively and fun than a "real" less paul. I played it over a marshall bluesbreaker all valve combo amp. Not one of these super overdrive JCM 800 (Black Sabbath) that I used later on.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
Oh... I like that signature. Is it hollow or semi hollow. A true blues heroe guitar :)
Semi-hollow with unique, one-off Les Paul designed pickups. It was his favourite Gibson (he didn't actually design the Les Paul). A varitone selector splits coils (so we have P90s and humbuckers) and switches in different capacitors for tone. It also has two jacks, one on top and one on the side. One is low impedance for the sound desk, DI etc. Bastard love child of the 335 and Les Paul from the 1970s. They want £2500 but the headstock has been broken and repaired (like a lot of Gibsons) and it is well worn. I reckon somewhere under £2000 will snag it. They are rare and relatively undesirable for collectors at the moment, like a stray mongrel dog.
Posts: 6415
Joined: Jul. 6 2003
From: England, living in Italy
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to Anders Eliasson)
quote:
Those licks are very good but the best is the pauses inbtween and the way he makes everything go together to a whole.
For once, you and I are total agreement in fact, in studying "Watch Out" I made the connection to the D7 shape in A (easily transposed) that I will demonstrate to you in a couple weeks. I have to thank yourself, guitarbuddha and el burdo for this. I am pretty stupid at times.
RE: My journey into the blues #7 (in reply to ToddK)
quote:
This guy is one of the best on the planet in my opinion. Skip to 3.20 for absolute blues mastery...
Just an opinion but I've always thought Mayer and this guy are lacking soul in their playing, and not because they're white.... That session is just horrible in comparison to other BB king's jams with famous guitarists.
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in fact, in studying "Watch Out" I made the connection to the D7 shape in A (easily transposed) that I will demonstrate to you in a couple weeks. I have to thank yourself, guitarbuddha and el burdo for this. I am pretty stupid at times. 
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