Blue Star (Tutorial + Tab)

This is my version of the blues tune Blue Star by Jim Bachman. It is a 12 bar blues played in the Key of A, in 4/4 time. It is a fingerstyle piece played on a guitar in standard tuning. Above is a video of me playing the tune along with the tab. In this post I will give some advice on playing the tune.


Here is the tab for the music

Hey Hey Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT

Playing Advice

• Structure - It is a 12 bar blues piece and the 12 bar sequence is repeated twice with different endings in the final bar

• Right Hand Fingers - The thumb plays the bass notes and the index and middle, or the index middle and ring fingers play the treble notes which is standard for fingerstyle guitar. The two chords played in bars 12 and 24 can either be strummed with the thumb or picked with the thumb and the other fingers. It is your choice but I prefer to strum them.

• Left Hand Fingerings - The left hand fingerings are straightforward and you should be able to pick most of them up from the video. For the phrases in bars 2, 4, 8, 14, 16 and 20 I would recommend making a small barre across strings 1 and 2 with the index finger, as it makes playing these sections much easier.

• Slides and Pull-Offs- In a number of parts in the tune you play a series of triplets by using a slide followed by a pull-off, followed by another slide, and another pull-off. This is seen in bars 1, 3, 7, 13, 15 and 19. There is some flexibility as to how you play this. You can use slides, pull-offs, or just pick each note individually, in any combination you desire.  E.g. I used to play the tune without the slides. I would pick the first triplet, do a pull-off on the second, pick the third triplet, and then do another pull-off. (shown below) Play around with different combinations to see which one you prefer.

Apart from that, it is relatively straightforward to play and is a good beginner piece in fingerstyle blues guitar. I hope you have fun with it.

Thanks for Reading,
Neil