R & B, Blues, Soul Recommended Blues Listening

[John Laughter]

Howlin' Wolf

Sometime in the late 50s when I started trying to play the so-called blues I would stand outside a local bar and listen to a band that played what seemed to be some low down songs. I spoke with the sax player on the outside of the bar due to my age. I asked him who he listened to get a feel for this type of music. He said King Bee, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed and a few others. In time I started listening to them and more singers of this style.

 

[Digger2054]

Had my lesson.

We're talking a straight blues, I've already been practicing arpeggio exercises though it for some time.

I explained my mind goes blank and I lack any creativity when it comes to improvising.

My teacher showed me how much mileage you can get out of a simple phrase.

Reason for the blues, is I've been working on improvising for ages, and feel like I'm getting nowhere, as I've already got the progression under my fingers from the exercise build on that.

I doubt I'll be at my teachers level anytime soon, but was fascinating watching him taking a simple phrase, and really making the most of it. Then another phrase, then mixing the two together.

The analogy he gives me, is being like a child playing with building blocks, I have the blocks, now I need to put it together and mess around with them, experiment and have fun.

My head's been all over the place lately, so not feeling it, getting narked off, and over thinking it didn't really help things.

 

[turf3]

Had my lesson.

We're talking a straight blues, I've already been practicing arpeggio exercises though it for some time.

I explained my mind goes blank and I lack any creativity when it comes to improvising.

My teacher showed me how much mileage you can get out of a simple phrase.

Reason for the blues, is I've been working on improvising for ages, and feel like I'm getting nowhere, as I've already got the progression under my fingers from the exercise build on that.

I doubt I'll be at my teachers level anytime soon, but was fascinating watching him taking a simple phrase, and really making the most of it. Then another phrase, then mixing the two together.

The analogy he gives me, is being like a child playing with building blocks, I have the blocks, now I need to put it together and mess around with them, experiment and have fun.

My head's been all over the place lately, so not feeling it, getting narked off, and over thinking it didn't really help things.

The thing about the blues form is that it's a very simple form, but you can put as much or as little complexity into it as you wish.

My suggestion for the person who's experiencing a problem getting over the hump of improvisation is to start playing along with records. (Or, today, "records".) Don't spend much energy thinking about note names and chords and scales - play things that sound good to you. Stuff that doesn't sound good, try to do less of it each time, and stuff that does sound good, try to do more of it - and try to come up with variations of it.

 

[rhysonsax]

How about the sax by Pete Brown (starts at about 1:25) in this wonderful recording by Champion Jack Dupree (who lived for a period in Yorkshire) ?

As well as an authentic blues solo, the whole recording is a lesson in how to play saxophone with a singer.

View: https://youtu.be/bYn3ToT_e9c?si=_NoPbWANPbUXI-MV


Rhys

 

[Digger2054]

The thing about the blues form is that it's a very simple form, but you can put as much or as little complexity into it as you wish.

My suggestion for the person who's experiencing a problem getting over the hump of improvisation is to start playing along with records. (Or, today, "records".) Don't spend much energy thinking about note names and chords and scales - play things that sound good to you. Stuff that doesn't sound good, try to do less of it each time, and stuff that does sound good, try to do more of it - and try to come up with variations of it.

We've looked at a few other 'simple' tunes, autumn leaves for example, but I still find it a bit bewildered.

The blues should take some of that pressure off so I can relax and enjoy it and start to experiment more naturally.

Seem to have hit a plateau, I can't get over, my teacher and others have noticed improvements in my playing in general, but improvising is a personal challenge for me, that's really testing me.

 

[LostCircuits]

Like I mentioned above, keep it simple, stupid.
Start with the basics to develop a feeling for the music instead of trying to copy licks. Those will come by themselves over time but the most important thing is to get "into the blues", understand the changes and develop a good sense of in-time, whether you swing or not, you still have to be able to land on the key notes in-time.
Nothing worse than a fellow musician who can't hold his/her time and is all over the place. It'll throw off everybody else.
That and to know when or what not to play.

Go with the triads to build a foundation. 1-3-5-7, 3,5,7,1, 3-7-5-1, 7-5-3-1 over the 1/4/5 progression and you will have more notes to play than you could possibly use

 

[LostCircuits]

Sometime in the late 50s when I started trying to play the so-called blues I would stand outside a local bar and listen to a band that played what seemed to be some low down songs. I spoke with the sax player on the outside of the bar due to my age. I asked him who he listened to get a feel for this type of music. He said King Bee, Howlin' Wolf, Lightnin' Hopkins, Muddy Waters, Slim Harpo, Jimmy Reed and a few others. In time I started listening to them and more singers of this style.

I think you get a kick out of Jesse Cotton Stone:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07vwAvcvS8A


And Grant Sabin:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pontT3w1uAc