The Blues Guitar

  In this video I want to share with you my version of Tampa Red's 'Boogie Woogie Dance'. This is a fast, catchy piece of early blues music dating from the 1920's. The music is played on a guitar in Open D Tuning and is in the Key of D. It is in 4/4 time and it is a fingerstyle piece incorporating a bass picking pattern throughout. Tampa Red was famous for playing with a slide but I have chosen not to use a slide in this version. I will discuss this below.  In this video, I will play through the music at normal tempo first, and then I will play through it again more slowly and put the tab onscreen. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Boggie Woogie Dance Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Using a Slide -  Tampa Red was famous for playing with a slide and I believe he used it in the original recording of this piece. However, in the version I have given you there are only the fill sections where a slide would be u...

  n this video I want to share with you my version of John Fahey's of 'Poor Boy Long Ways From Home'. This is a nice piece of folk blues music in the American Primitivism style which Fahey is famous for. The music is played on a guitar in Open D Tuning and is in the Key of D. It is in 4/4 time and it is a fingerstyle piece incorporating a standard Travis Picking pattern throughout. In this video, I will play through the music at normal tempo first, and then I will play through it again more slowly and put the tab onscreen. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Poor Boy Long Ways from Home Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Bends -  There are a number of bends throughout the music and these take place on the 8th fret of the second string. Throughout the music I have written these as half note bends just for ease, but they don't all have to be played as half note bends. You will notice that I play these bends dif...

  In this video, I want to share with you my fingerstyle guitar version of the classic Xmas carol Silent Night. The music was written in 1818 by Franz Gruber to lyrics written by Joseph Mohr. Since then it has been popular every Xmas and you will undoubtably hear it played many times this festive season. The version I have given you in this video is in the key of D and is played on a guitar in Open D tuning. The music is in 3/4 time and it utilises an offset Travis picking pattern to compensate for the 3/4 time signature. I will discuss this below. I have tried to add a more laid back blues feel to the music. The song basically is just one main section repeated throughout. In my version I have a 4 bar intro section, then the main section which runs for 23 bars. In my verison, the last few bars serve as an outro but you can just loop back to bar 5 and repeat as necessary. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Silent Night Downloadable Ta...

  In this video, I want to share with you my fingerstyle guitar version of the classic song Then He Kissed Me / Then I Kissed Her. The song has two names depending on which version you listen to, but it's basically the same song just with different lyrics. The song was originally titled 'Then He Kissed Me' and it was released by The Crystals in 1963. The Beach Boys then released a version in 1965 which was musically almost identical but the lyrics were changed, as was the title to 'Then I Kissed Her'. The Beach Boys version is in the key of C# whereas The Crystals original version is in the key of E tuned down slightly between Eb and E. The version I have given you in this video is in the same key as The Beach Boys version in C#. It is played on a guitar in Open D tuning that's tuned down half step to make it Open C#. The music is in 4/4 time and it utilises a Travis picking pattern throughout. The song basically just comprises of a main section which is 16 bars...

  In this video I want to share with you a piece of blues music I have written called 'Mixed Up Blues'. This is a fingerstyle guitar piece and uses a slapping technique throughout the music. I got the name 'Mixed Up Blues' because when I was writing it I had a jumble of mixed up sections of music that I tried to piece together into one coherent tune. I still think it sounds a bit mixed up but I like the finished version. The music is in the key of E, it is played on a guitar in Standard Tuning, and is mostly in 4/4 time. The music is very similar to a 12 bar blues in terms of its chord progression, the main difference is that this is 20 bars long. In a standard 12 bar blues, the root chord is played for the first 4 bars of the music. In this piece, the root chord is played for the first 12 bars of the music. After that, the chord changes are the same as a standard 12 bar. Thus, the main section is 20 bars long. In the video I play through the intro which is 4 bars long,...

  In this video I want to share with you my version of Robert Johnson's song 'Honeymoon Blues'. This is a nice piece of delta blues music typical of Johnson's style and very similar to his other song 'Me and the Devil Blues'.  The music is in the key of A and played on a guitar in Standard Tuning. It is in 4/4 time and it is a fingerstyle piece. Johnson's original was in the Key of Bb, so if you want to play it in this key, you can stick a capo on fret 1 or tune all the strings up a 1/2 step. I like it just in the Key of A. The music is 12 bar blues and the 12 bar sequence is repeated through the entire song with different variations.  In my version I give you the intro, the first 2 playthroughs of the 12 bar section, and the outro  Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Mr Conductor Man Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   2/4 Bar -  TIn bar 12 of the music there is a 2/4 bar added which can easily t...

  In this video I want to share with you my version of John Denver's classic song 'Country Roads'. This is a very famous piece of country music and I have done a fingerstyle guitar version of it with a slightly bluesy feel. The music is a fairly standard fingerstyle guitar piece incorporating a travis picking bass pattern. In my version, I have put in a short single bar Intro played in the open position, then I play through the verse and then the chorus. Finally, I have put in a 4 bar outro section. The original song also has a bridge setion in it but I have not included this is my version. The reason for this is because, although the song isnt extremely difficult to play, it can be quite fidgety and tricky and keeping it to just the verse and chorus makes it more manageable to play. The music is in the Key of D, it is in 4/4 time and is played on a guitar in Open D Tuning. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Country Roads Do...