The Blues Guitar

  In this video I want to have a look at the classic country gospel song I Saw The Light. This is a catchy, upbeat song and I have done my own fingerstyle guitar version of it. The song is quite basic with a repeating 8 bar structure throughout it. In the video I will play through the verse and the chorus sections, then have a look at the music structure and give some tips on playing it. Lastly, I will play through it again slower and put the tab on screen. The music is mostly in standard 4/4 time and is in the Key of D. It is played on a guitar in Open D Tuning and employs a travis picking pattern when playing. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. I Saw The Light Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   The 2/4 Bar - At the end of each of the eight bar sequences, whether that be the chorus or the verse, I have added a 2/4 bar in to bridge into the next section. Now, when I listen through the music, I could hear this 2/4 bar, but

  In this video I want to have a look at the blues song Queen Bee by Taj Mahal. This is a nice, mellow fingerstyle blues piece and comprises a 24 bar guitar section which is repeated through the song. In the video I will play through this 24 bar section, then have a look at the music structure and give some tips on playing it. Lastly, I will play through it again slower and put the tab on screen. The music is in standard 4/4 time and is in the Key of Bb. However, it is played in the G position but is taken up to Bb with a capo on fret 3 of the guitar. It employs a travis picking pattern when playing. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Queen Bee Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Nailing the Slides - In the first eight bars of the music, there is a small slide played from fret 3 to 4 on the third string of the guitar. Although this may not seem too tricky, it can be problematic because you have to maintain the underlying ch

  In this video I want to look at the classic Robert Johnson song Stop Breakin' Down Blues. This is one of Johnson's best known songs and it has been covered by many famous artists such as The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and The White Stripes. It is a catchy 12 bar blues in the Key of G. It is played on a guitar in Open G Tuning and is in 4/4 time. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Stop Breakin' Down Blues Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Palm Muting - In Johnson's original recording he makes extensive use of palm muting on the bass strings. In the version I have done, I use palm muting when playing lower based strings, but when the chords change so that the bass strings are higher up, on the 3rd or 4th string of the guitar, I stop using palm muting. The reason I don't use it is because very little sound is coming out of the guitar when I do this. in Johnson's original recording, it still sounds li

  This is my fingerstyle blues version of the classic Xmas song Blue Christmas. The song was made famous by Elvis Presley and eventhough it's title might suggest otherwise, it is not a piece of blues music but a piece of country music. In the video, I will play through the music, then have a look at the structure of the music. I will also give some playing tips on some of the trickier sections of music which might trip you up when playing. Lastly, I will play through the music slower and put the tab on screen. The music is in 4/4 time, it is in the Key of D and is played on a guitar in Dropped D tuning. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Blue Christmas Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Early Chord Changes - To make this piece of music have more of a blues feel, I have taken some of the melody notes off the beat of the bar and played them early. Because of this, it is beneficial if you make the chord changes at these po

In this video I will show you a new piece of blues music that I have written called Coast Road Blues. I got the name Coast Road Blues because when I was out driving along a coastal road, the idea for the music came to me. It is a fingerstyle guitar piece where you play the bass notes on the lower strings with your thumb and the melody notes on the higher strings with your other fingers. It is played on a guitar in standard tuning, is mostly in 4/4 time (but there is a 2/4 bar which also repeats), and is in the key of E. At its core, it has an eight bar structure that repeats with variations, but this 8 bar structure is very similar to a 12 bar structure just shorter, so it should sound quite familiar. Although it is a relatively straightforward piece of music, it does have quite a fast tempo, and there is also quite a lot of variation in the bass picking pattern, which can make it a bit trickier to play. The structure of the music is: Intro - 8 Bar (Section 1) - 8 Bar (Section 2) -  8

  In this video I want to play through a version of St Louis Blues based on John Fahey's version. St Louis Blues is a famous jazz piece in the blues style and has been covered numerous times. John Fahey's version is a fingerstyle guitar version and the version I play here is close to Fahey's recording. In the video, I will play through the music, then have a look at the structure of the music. I will also give some playing tips on some of the trickier sections of music which might trip you up when playing. Lastly, I will play through the music slower and put the tab on screen. The music is mostly is in 4/4 time, it is in the Key of D and is played on a guitar in Dropped D tuning. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. St Louis Blues Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Varying the Travis Picking Pattern - The song mostly has a standard Travis picking pattern through it. This is usually played across the 6th and 4th s