The Blues..!

jj_villafane · #1 02-22-2010, 12:56 AM

Guys, i was watching this cool video from Frank Gambale YouTube - Frank Gambale telling us young players to learn the blues

. In the video he talks about how many young players don't get the blues, etc,etc...

And thinking about it, i sadly found myself in that category

... So, i need some advice, maybe 5 albums, or a selections of blues guitar solos and songs for me to transcribe, so i can get more into what Gambale says in the video... I have a lot of blues music but no guitar related, mostly wind players, so i need more guitar based blues music..!

Give names please..!

Bye, thanks for your help and pardon me for my lame english..!

Baltar Hornbeek · #2 02-22-2010, 07:48 AM

You should start at the beginning, the godfather of it all....Blind Mellow Jelly

mr. beaumont · #3 02-22-2010, 09:14 AM

maybe gambale should heed his own advice...

for blues solos, are you talking straight up blues, or jazz blues?

either way, i think transcribing some grant green is good for anybody. he certainly understood that it's all blues--check out his "green street" album--just a trio, so nothing to clutter your ears when figuring it all out.

markerhodes · #4 02-22-2010, 11:08 AM

I love "No Blues" on Wes's "Smoking At the Half Note." Stevie Ray Vaughan was a great blues player, and Peter Green (-part of early Fleetwood Mac, when it was a blues band, and best known for penning "Black Magic Woman"), who was especially good on minor blues tunes. Jimmy Smith, who played the Hammond B3 organ, was a great blues player, and he made several albums (separately) with Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. Them's good eats!

jj_villafane · #5 02-22-2010, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

maybe gambale should heed his own advice...

for blues solos, are you talking straight up blues, or jazz blues?

either way, i think transcribing some grant green is good for anybody. he certainly understood that it's all blues--check out his "green street" album--just a trio, so nothing to clutter your ears when figuring it all out.

Strrrrraight up blues..!

jj_villafane · #6 02-22-2010, 11:32 AM

Thanks for the advice guys..! I'll check those out..! You got it right Mr. Beaumont, maybe Gambale could use some of his advice..! Hahahaha..!

mr. beaumont · #7 02-22-2010, 12:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markerhodes

I love "No Blues" on Wes's "Smoking At the Half Note." Stevie Ray Vaughan was a great blues player, and Peter Green (-part of early Fleetwood Mac, when it was a blues band, and best known for penning "Black Magic Woman"), who was especially good on minor blues tunes. Jimmy Smith, who played the Hammond B3 organ, was a great blues player, and he made several albums (separately) with Kenny Burrell and Wes Montgomery. Them's good eats!

if frank is truly talking about getting back to basics and simplicity, look to the kings--bb, of course, but especially albert and freddie. SRV was inspired by these cats--but stevie could also fit more notes in a blues than a first year jazz student can cram into "stella by starlight" at ballad tempo. not exactly simple! the elder kings rarely took more than a 12 bar break on record--but they knew how to make those notes count (and they could stretch out live with the best of them!)

another great (and often forgotten) blues guitar player was magic sam...you could sing everything he played--and it was great. his albums "west side soul" and "black magic" are as good as it gets.

jj_villafane · #8 02-22-2010, 04:22 PM

Wooooow..! So between the three Kings there's a lot of albums..! Huuuge discography...! Mr. Beaumont can you name me the essential albums from each of those guys..? I don't have the money or the time to listen to all those albums..!

mr. beaumont · #9 02-22-2010, 05:47 PM

jus5t grab albert's "born under a bad sign" and bb's "live at the regal." that's a master class in blues right there...

but i'm telling you MAGIC SAM is where it's at. not only a great blues guitar player, the best damn blues singer ever IMHO.

jj_villafane · #10 02-22-2010, 06:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

jus5t grab albert's "born under a bad sign" and bb's "live at the regal." that's a master class in blues right there...

but i'm telling you MAGIC SAM is where it's at. not only a great blues guitar player, the best damn blues singer ever IMHO.

I really appreciate all your help..! Thanks a lot..!

markerhodes · #11 03-17-2010, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

another great (and often forgotten) blues guitar player was magic sam...you could sing everything he played--and it was great. his albums "west side soul" and "black magic" are as good as it gets.

I loved that guy! Great voice, great grooves. Yeah, he's definitely worth checking out.

markerhodes · #12 03-17-2010, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

jus5t grab albert's "born under a bad sign" and bb's "live at the regal." that's a master class in blues right there....

I was listening to both those records recently. Albert's record had Booker T. and the MGs ("Green Onions," "Time Is Tight") for a backing band--wouldn't it be like you'd died and gone to heaven to have that band grooving behind you?

markerhodes · #13 03-17-2010, 10:15 AM

And let us not forget the Allman Brothers. Their version of "Stormy Monday" (LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST) remains my favorite (-for the playing if not for the singing, which is okay but not Bobby "Blue" Bland).

mag · #14 03-20-2010, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jj_villafane

Guys, i was watching this cool video from Frank Gambale YouTube - Frank Gambale telling us young players to learn the blues

. In the video he talks about how many young players don't get the blues, etc,etc...

Give names please..!

Bye, thanks for your help and pardon me for my lame english..!

Listen to Mike Bloomfield , check his website out for more info . What I like about Mike' s playing is the fact that he was a successful virtuoso player but still he had a profound respect for the old blues masters and strong opinions on how the blues should be played to be real .

pardon me for my lame english too

Bluesguy · #15 03-20-2010, 06:11 PM

Actually, when I think of blues, straight up, no frills, I think of Blind Blake and Blind Boy Fuller--two of the best. And be sure to check out Brownie McGhee.

coolvinny · #16 03-21-2010, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by markerhodes

And let us not forget the Allman Brothers. Their version of "Stormy Monday" (LIVE AT FILLMORE EAST) remains my favorite (-for the playing if not for the singing, which is okay but not Bobby "Blue" Bland).

Well, Duane Allman is really the one to focus on here. His Anthology #1 CD (post-humous; a "best of") is fantastic. When he played slide, he definitely had some "licks" that he'd recycle (though they always sound unique until you transcribe them...). However, his fretted work was always fresh and new. Stormy Monday is a great example of that, but so's "Going Down Slow" where he reallllllly stretches out.

Scrybe · #17 03-21-2010, 09:37 PM

massive +1 on Magic Sam and the three Kings. After those guys, maybe some early Buddy Guy (go back to the Chess cuts, imo, tho some of his later stuff also really smokes), T-Bone Walker (off the top of my head, Left Home When I Was A Kid is a slick track, but he'd also get a little jazzy with it on the slower stuff, and an awesome tone, imho), Hubert Smlin(Howlin' Wolf's main guitarist), and Luther Allison (Live In Paris has some great cuts, but he also went heavy with funk and political songs in the 70s, some of those are good).

I'd also say cop a listen to Albert Collins doing Ice Cool and Jeff Beck's Brush With The Blues - the blues is all about putting your personality into the music, as well as making a few notes count through phrasing and use of space. These guys are polar opposites, but both are instantly idetifiable in their style. BWTB is bassically one repeating riff and not even really a blues at all, but every time Beck plays it, he phrases it differently. Something to think about. Freddie King had his stinging one note sustained through a bar, then nothing for three bars kinda style, and Ike Turner did lots of hitting a note then sliding away from it - I can pick either one off a record quite easily cos I know their styles so well. Also, again mvho, but I think some of the playing on Jonny Lang's Lie To Me album is some of the best post-SRV blues playing I've had the chance to hear. Iirc, the solo on Quitter Never Wins or whichever one starts "You walked out on our lovin', I stayed through thick n thin..." is particularly good. Dunno if Jonny played it tho - he was only 16 at the time, but a killer voice, and killer playing, even if it was the hired gun on guitar.

Hope this helps some.

markerhodes · #18 03-22-2010, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolvinny

Well, Duane Allman is really the one to focus on here..

I think Duane was great----and I loved that Anthology record, even his cover of "No Money Down"!--but Dickie Betts played some great stuff too. His solos on "Blue Sky" (from EAT A PEACH) are incredible.

elixzer · #19 04-28-2010, 06:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jj_villafane

Guys, i was watching this cool video from Frank Gambale YouTube - Frank Gambale telling us young players to learn the blues

. In the video he talks about how many young players don't get the blues, etc,etc...

And thinking about it, i sadly found myself in that category

... So, i need some advice, maybe 5 albums, or a selections of blues guitar solos and songs for me to transcribe, so i can get more into what Gambale says in the video... I have a lot of blues music but no guitar related, mostly wind players, so i need more guitar based blues music..!

Give names please..!

Bye, thanks for your help and pardon me for my lame english..!

Roots of Blues -- Arthur „Big Boy" Crudup „My Mama Don't Allo

gingerjazz · #20 04-28-2010, 03:31 PM

jj what about one of my early influences peter green this guy was unstoppable in his glory days

3shiftgtr · #21 04-29-2010, 02:38 AM

If you don't know much about guitar blues...these artists either are genre defining guitarists or have some in their band. Here's a couple per style:

Acoustic blues: Lonnie Johnson. Blind Blake (peidmont style) Rev. Gary Davis (piedmont style)
Chicago Blues: Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Freddie King
Texas Blues: Albert Collins, SRV, Johnny Winter,
Memphis Blues: Junior Wells, B.B. KIng
Jump Blues: Louis Jordan, Big Joe Turner
West Coast Blues: T-Bone Walker, Pee Wee Crayton
Swamp Blues: Slim Harpo, Tab Benoit
Delta Blues: Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Lead Belly, Son House
Country Blues: Blind Lemmon Jefferson, Bukka White

There is lots of crossover here. Freddie King is known as a Chicago guy and a Texas guy. But there is TONS of great stuff out there. And lots of great new stuff too. Larry Carlton laid a KILLER blues disc a few years back, called Sapphire Blue. Lots of new killer stuff by Robben Ford, Corey Harris, Debbie Davies, Duke Robillard, Robert Cray, Dave Hole, and a ton others.

But if I had to pick 5 discs, here they are:
Live At the Regal - B.B. King
In Step - Stevie Ray Vaughn
Damn Right I Got The Blues - Buddy Guy
The Complete Recordings - Robert Johnson
Steppin on the Blues - Lonnie Johnson

I know it's an older thread, but I thought I'd share!

3shiftgtr · #22 04-29-2010, 02:42 AM

In fact, here something from Carlton's thing from the sapphire disc. Touch, tone, taste and HEAT!!!

YouTube Video

elixzer · #23 04-29-2010, 03:52 AM

Thats great!

gadjo · #24 04-29-2010, 04:47 AM

Wow.. another great name i didn't know anything about

). Larry Carlton i mean. No surprise though. I discovered Bonamassa a few months ago and so on.

Tom Karol · #25 04-29-2010, 01:09 PM

Benny Goodman, Carnegie Hall, 1939.
Blue Reverie (Duke Ellington & Harry Carney, 1936).
Listen to the two sax solos (Johnny Hodges on Soprano and then Harry Carney on Bari).
It's available on CD. I ripped it at the smallest filesize designation available. But the upload to this post keeps failing. Sorry.

fumblefingers · #26 04-29-2010, 10:25 PM

jazz blues too. summer festival, "power trio" style.

(FWIW the sound on this bootleg recording is not of the quality of the Carlton video shown above - which was great BTW. so maximize the screen and turn it up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fib5cdPckaU

elixzer · #27 04-30-2010, 03:53 AM

Son House & Mike Bloomfield ~ Share Their Thoughts On The Blues ~ Live

fivebells · #28 04-30-2010, 07:30 AM

Anecdote time. Way back in my high school days — 1981, maybe '82 at the latest — I was hanging out in a local music shop. The guy behind the counter was finishing the set-up on an acoustic and when he was done, he tuned it up and fired off a few licks. Well, he could sure play the blues. And he took everything that guitar had to offer... he drove that unsuspecting puppy like a hellhound.

That was Frank Gambale, long before he was famous...

Gambrosius1984 · #29 04-30-2010, 01:24 PM

Man, this post has listed some of my favorite guitarist. From the 3 kings to Buddy to Magic Sam, everyone on this post is a must listen to. One man listed though is my personal favorite, Lonnie Johnson.

A vid of the father of single note blues with the father of single note jazz playing: YouTube - Blind Willie Dunn and Lonnie Johnson - Deep Minor Rhythm Stomp (1929)

Also for more great videos, by jazz artist playing blues, check out my rant on the blues in the everything else section.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/every...ans-great.html

elixzer · #30 04-30-2010, 01:30 PM

Son House ~ Levee Camp Blues ~ Live 1964