The Blues Guitar

  This is my version of The White Stripes version of the classic blues song Stop Breaking Down originally by Robert Johnson, with his original being titled Stop Breakin' Down Blues. This song has since been covered by many, many artists including The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and The Jeff Healey Band. In this video I want to have a look at The White Stripes version as one follower requested it (apologies for taking so long to get it uploaded). This is a slightly heavier, rockier version of the song, typical of The White Stripes musical style. In future videos I may have a look at the other versions of it.  In the video, I stick quite closely to the recorded version with only a few minor changes in the phrasing. I haven't included the solo because it has quite a loose impromptu feel to it and a bespoke solo can be improvised over the three main chords of the song (A, E and D) if required. Apart from that, the main body of the song just repeats throughout. The so...

This is the classic Mississippi John Hurt song Stack O'Lee Blues. The song is about the murder of Billy Lyons by "Stag" Lee Shelton in St. Louis, in 1895. There are many different songs about this, with some having the name Stagger Lee or other variants. I may have a look at some of the other versions in later videos. The Mississippi John Hurt version has been covered many times by various artists but I try to keep as close to his original version as possible. The music is very repetitive with there only really being one main section which is played over and over throughout the song. In this video, I play through it twice. The music is in 4/4 time, is played on a guitar in Standard Tuning, and is a fingerstyle piece. Below are some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Stack O'Lee Downloadable Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT   Hammering On - The music uses hammer-ons on the highest string in the first 3 bars. The notes are played ...

    This is my version of the traditional song Amazing Grace. This must be one of the most played and well known songs there is. It is a Christian hymn dating back to the late 1700s and there are countless different versions of it which you can listen to. This is my acoustic fingerstyle guitar version of this song. I have also added a small rhythm section played on a distorted electric guitar. This version can be played as just the fingerstyle piece, or you can add the electric guitar part on top. Also, you could just play the underlying chords on an acoustic guitar if you want. There are tabs below for both the lead and rhythm sections. The underlying chords are also shown on the tabs too.  The song is in 3/4 time, which is a bit of a departure from my usual music. Both guitars are tuned to Open D and the music is in the Key of D. Below are the lyrics, some tips to help you play this piece, and links to download the tab. Amazing Grace - Acoustic Fingerstyle Section Ta...

  In this video, I will show you how to play the guitar part from Mississippi John Hurt's song Spike Driver Blues. The guitar part is played on a guitar in standard tuning and is in 4/4 time. Like most of Mississippi John Hurt's songs, this is very repetitive. The guitar part is 10 bars long and is repeated through the entire song. The guitar part uses a travis picking pattern, so if you are used to playing like this, it shouldn't be too problematic.  Below are some tips to help you play this piece and links to download the tab. I have also provided the lyrics if you wish to sing the vocal parts too Spike Driver Blues Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT Spike Driver Blues - Mississippi John Hurt - Lyrics This is the hammer that killed John Henry But it won't kill me No it won't kill me No it won't kill me Take this hammer and head to a captain And tell him I'm gone Won't you tell him I'm gone Won't you tell him I'm gone John H...

  In this video, I will show you my blues version of the classic song Somewhere Over The Rainbow. The original version of this song was written By Harold Arlen and featured in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. This fingerstyle arrangement is in the Key of G, is in 4/4 time, and is played on a guitar in standard tuning. Below are some tips to help you play this piece and links to download the tab. Somewhere Over The Rainbow Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT Getting the Right Note Duration - This piece features quite a variety of different note durations. It has 1/2 notes, 1/4 notes, 1/8 notes with a triplet feel applied, and also 1/8 note triplets. It switches between these different note durations quite frequently and it can sometimes be hard to get the timing right. Just listen through the piece on the video, keep an eye on the written music, and learn to play it slowly and you should be able to learn all these variations. Making The Chords - The chords primarily used in...

  Mississippi John Hurt (1893 - 1966) is one of the most famous blues singers and guitarists of his era. His deep, mellow voice and characteristic guitar style give his music a very distinctive and noticable sound. In this post, and the accompanying video, I want to have a look at his guitar playing style and give you some tips on how to play like him.   Tempo Although many people think of blues music as being quite slow and moody, during the era that John Hurt was active much blues music was quite up-tempo. John Hurt's music is no different and much of his music is played at quite a fast tempo, sometimes upwards of 150bpm. Although this fast pace may not always be immediately noticable when listening to his music, it does become more evident when trying to play the guitar parts. Because of the fast tempo, it can make the guitar parts quite tricky to play. The tempo can make changing chords when playing quite difficult as the have to be formed at such speed. Although he uses f...

  This is my version of the classic song 'Sloop John B'. The song was originally a traditional Nassau folk tune but was made famous when the Beach Boys did their version of it. There have been many subsequent cover versions of it, but the Beach Boys version still remains the most notable. The tune is in 4/4 time in the Key of C and is played on a guitar in standard tuning. The tune is quite straightforward to play if you are familiar with playing fingerstyle guitar, and shouldn't pose too many problems. Below is the tab for the song in various formats, and also some playing tips to help you: Stand By Me Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT Playing Advice The Key of C - This tune is played in the Key of C and uses the chords C, F, G and D. Most fingerstyle folk music is played in this key, so if you are familiar with playing that, this should be easy enough to play. It utilises a travis picking pattern with the thumb playing alternating bass strings on most bars. The o...

  This is another blues turnaround / ending in the key of E. It is taken from my version of Key to the Highway which can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/7h7iuB6zEEc The turnaround is played on a standard tuned guitar, and again uses a descending chord structure resolving to B7 when played as a turnaround, and resolving to E when played as an ending. The video shows me playing it at normal speed, and then shows me playing it slower with the tab on the screen. To download the free tabs, click the links below. Blues Turnaround in E - No 2 Tab - Power Tab - PDF - TXT Thanks for Reading, Neil

    This is my blues version of the classic song 'Blueberry Hill'. Although the song is most often associated with Fats Domino's version released in 1956, it was actually written over 10 years earlier in 1940 and first sung by Gene Autry in the film The Singing Hill. A number of other versions were also recorded in 1940 (source:www.jazziz.com). However, it wasn't until 1956 that Fats Domino released his own version of it which, over time, has come to be the most recognised recording of the song. Fats Domino's version had a more upbeat rock n roll feel to it, indicative of the predominant msuical style of the time, and used a 12/8 rhythm to give it that distinctive sound. The notes used in the melody itself were largely unaltered from the original, but the timing and phrasing in Domino's version were markedly different.  My version that I have written can probably be best described as a hybrid between the original and Domino's version. It is in 4/4 time givi...

The 12 Bar Blues Shuffle is a standard musical sequence which has been used in blues music for decades, and it has formed the structure for numerous famous blues pieces. In this post, and the corresponding video, I want to have a look at this 12 Bar Blues sequence and how to play it. Chords The 12 Bar Blues employs a standard chord sequence across 12 bars of music in 4/4 time. Although there are numerous variations on this, here I will show the standard chord sequence. It utilises 3 chords which are scale degrees I, IV and V of the corresponding key that the music is played in. The table below shows it for the Key of E but it can be changed to any other key, you just need to know the relvant scale degrees for that key. So for the key of E, the three chords that are used are E, A and B.                      BAR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Scale Degree I I I I ...

    Fingerstyle blues is commonly played in the key of E. This is not surprising as a guitar in standard tuning is loosely tuned to the key of E, so it is a popular key for much guitar music. In this post, and the accompanying video, I will look at some of the most common ways to play blues music in this key. I will have a look at common chords used and how they fit into a 12 bar blues sequence, a standard picking pattern in this key, and also look at how you can incorporate your own melody in this key. Chords Blues music tends to use 3 chords and these are at scale degrees I, IV, V7. In the key of E, this gives you the chords E, A and B7. The A chord is played as an A Major, but is also often played as A7 as well. These 3 chords are very common in all types of music, especially blues. Fitting them into a 12 bar blues Taking these 3 chords, they can be fitted into a 12 bar blues sequence and you can hear the bluesy sound that they give. Here is a common 12 bar blues sequence ...

Open C is one of the less commonly used open tunings. However, it is an interesting tuning as it expands the tonal range on the guitar more than the most common tunings of standard tuning, Open G, and Open D. It is often used in blues and folk music and like all the open tunings it is well suited to fingerstyle guitar and playing with a slide. How to tune to Open C Open C tuning tunes the strings of the guitar so that when all the strings are played open it forms a C Major chord. The C Major chord is formed from the three notes which make up the C Major triad, these are the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the C Major scale, which are C, E and G respectively. Thus, each of the guitar strings in open D tuning will be tuned to one of these three notes.

The 12 bar blues is one of the most commonly used chord progressions in modern music. It is not only used in blues music but also in a variety of other musical styles and has formed the basis of numerous classic songs. So let's have a look at what it consists of. The Chords and their Progression The 12 bar blues is a chord progression over 12 bars usually played in 4/4 time. The progression consists of 3 different chords with the diatonic function I, IV and V, or the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant. The table below shows which chords are played in each of the 12 bars of the music The first line shows which diatonic function is played T=Tonic, S=Subdominant, and D=Dominant. The second shows this diatonic function in Roman Numerals. The third line shows the exact chords played in the key of D.                      BAR 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Function T T...

One of the most commonly used alternate tunings is that of Open D. The tuning is used across many different styles of guitar music but most commonly it is used in blues and folk music. How to tune to Open D Open D tuning tunes the strings of the guitar so that when all the strings are played open it forms a D Major chord. The D Major chord is formed from the three notes which make up the D Major triad, these are the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes of the D Major scale, which are D, F# and A respectively. Thus, each of the guitar strings in open D tuning will be tuned to one of these three notes.