Duff Music Blog

Big Bill Broonzy - Irene Goodnight

2012-03-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

SOLOING STRATEGIES: Jimi Hendrix

2012-03-03T11:13:00.000-05:00

Sure, Jimi Hendrix was known for being a strange, outta-sight cat and a wild, eccentric guitarist. But look past all the psychedelic mayhem and you’ll find some of the most beautifully melodic, rhythmically complex, and harmonically uncanny solos in rock. “Purple Haze” may feature some of the most fuzzed-out sounds on the planet but it also boasts a mini-masterpiece of an introduction as well as an E-Dorian solo to die for. “Third Stone From the Sun” is about as psychedelic as it gets but it also contains one of the most memorable octave riffs in the annals of rock.

SOLOING STRATEGIES: Jimi Hendrix

Louis Armstrong - Basin Street Blues - 1959

2012-03-02T18:46:00.000-05:00

101 Amazing Licks - Lick 25

2012-03-02T12:20:00.000-05:00

We all know a great lick when we hear one—Jimmy Page’s solo breaks in “Whole Lotta Love” and Mark Knopfler’s blistering triads in “Sultans of Swing,” for example. Moments like these grab your attention and aurally brand your ears forever. Or, sometimes it acts more subliminally: You suddenly find yourself playing a certain lick over and over again, wondering, Where have I heard this before?

Through the years, these licks have evolved into a vocabulary for the guitar. And like great writers who are always able to find the right word to make a point, great guitarists always have that essential lick at their disposal to express, in the moment, what they’re feeling. And whereas the best writers are able to string

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101 Amazing Licks - Lick 25

Blues Power - Shuffling On: Shuffle Rhythm Patterns

2012-02-29T14:48:00.000-05:00

The shuffle feel is the essence of the blues. Every blues guitarist should know how to play at least a couple of different shuffle comp (accompaniment) patterns. I'd like to introduce you to three basic patterns that you can solo over. The shuffle is based on a triplet rhythm with the middle note missing. To get a shuffle, first tap your foot at a medium tempo and play three notes for every beat. Then take out the middle note, leaving the first and third. This lopsided feel is the shuffle

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Blues Power - Shuffling On: Shuffle Rhythm Patterns

Daddy Is A Gypsy

2012-02-29T10:56:00.000-05:00

Daddy Is A Gypsy

Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping

2012-02-27T12:49:00.000-05:00

When Jimi Hendrix emerged as the major new force in rock guitar in 1967, his style was so revolutionary that many listeners didn't realize just how deeply rooted in tradition his playing was. His personality on the instrument was so strong that he virtually swallowed up his influences. On "Red House," you can hear traces of a style that dates back to the very first master of electric blues guitar, T-Bone Walker.

T-Bone laid down a style of slow-blues "comping" (rhythm playing) that has withstood the test of time, having been handed down to each new generation of blues guitarists for over 60 years now. By learning something of his style, you'll be one step closer to not only understanding Hendrix, but also to developing your own style.

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Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping

Thrill Is Gone (Jim Duff & the Necessities)

2012-02-27T11:08:00.000-05:00

In Deep with Funk Guitar

2012-02-23T11:55:00.000-05:00

These videos are bonus content related to the October 2011 issue of Guitar World. For full print reviews, lesson tabs and more, look for the October 2011 issue of Guitar World on newsstands now, or purchase this issue in our online store here.

In this series of videos, Guitar World own Andy Aledort shows you the finer points of funk guitar.

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In Deep with Funk Guitar

President Obama sings Sweet Home Chicago!

2012-02-22T11:32:00.000-05:00

SOLOING STRATEGIES: Frank Zappa

2012-02-22T11:30:00.000-05:00

By no stretch of the imagination could Frank Zappa be considered your average, everyday guitar hero. Sure, he possessed a capacity for blinding speed and could zoom around the fretboard with abandon, but it was his unique approach to guitar solos in general that made him such an iconoclast. Brimming with sophisticated motifs and convoluted rhythms, Zappa's extended excursions are more akin to symphonies than they are to guitar solos. In retrospect, it was only Frank Zappa's incomparable talent as a composer/bandleader/music visionary that overshadowed his guitar-playing prowess.

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SOLOING STRATEGIES: Frank Zappa

SOLOING STRATEGIES: David Gilmour

2012-02-20T11:17:00.000-05:00

As lead guitarist for the progressive-rock juggernaut Pink Floyd, David Gilmour has developed a musical legacy that transcends classification. His heartfelt, atmospheric six-string excursions-on "Comfortably Numb," "Time," "Money," and many other Floyd classics- should be at the top of the required listening list for any guitarist who aspires to solo with great feeling. Let's take a close look at the rhythmic devices, melodic approaches, and guitar techniques of this brilliant, emotive soloist.

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SOLOING STRATEGIES: David Gilmour

Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping

2012-02-17T11:12:00.000-05:00

SOLOING STRATEGIES: B.B. King

2012-02-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

He’s the king of the blues, the genre’s elder statesman, and a one-of-a-kind musician. B.B. King is that one guitarist who nearly anyone can recognize with only a single note. Of course, that note would sing with sustain and be drenched in fret-hand vibrato. Nobody plays, or sings, the blues like King. He was, and still is, at the forefront of electric blues guitar. His catalog is essential listening for anyone even thinking of playing a 12-bar tune. Indeed, noteworthy players such as Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix all cut their teeth on King’s solos. And now, eighty years young and still out on the road, King is a living legend if there ever was one. Let’s explore the licks and phrases of this blues giant.

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SOLOING STRATEGIES: B.B. King

Talkin' Blues: The Versatility of Sixth and Ninth Chords

2012-02-12T12:24:00.000-05:00

These videos are related to the March 2012 issue of Guitar World. For the full text and tablature for the column, you can pick up the issue of newsstands now or in our online store.

In the March edition of "Talkin' Blues," Musicians Institute instructor Keith Wyatt looks at the versatility of sixth and ninth chords.

"The number of theoretically possible guitar chords is seemingly infinite," says Wyatt," but when it comes to playing a given style, most players wind up with a relatively small set of go-to voicings." Check out the videos below for tips on how to break out of these habits!

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Talkin' Blues: The Versatility of Sixth and Ninth Chords

Chuck Berry (born October 18, 1926)

2012-02-03T15:03:00.002-05:00

Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.

Born into a middle class family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School. While still a high school student he served a prison sentence for armed robbery between 1944 and 1947. On his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, he was performing in the evenings with the Johnnie Johnson Trio. His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May, 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. With Chess he recorded “Maybellene”—Berry’s adaptation of the country song “Ida Red”—which sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues chart. By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career. He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry’s Club Bandstand. But in January, 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.

After his release in 1963, Berry had several more hits, including “No Particular Place To Go”, “You Never Can Tell”, and “Nadine”, but these did not achieve the same success, or lasting impact, of his 1950s songs, and by the 1970s he was more in demand as a nostalgic live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality. His insistence on being paid cash led to a jail sentence in 1979—four months and community service for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he “laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance.” Berry is included in several Rolling Stone “Greatest of All Time” lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Chuck Berry’s songs: “Johnny B. Goode”, “Maybellene”, and “Rock and Roll Music”. Today – at the age of 84 – Berry continues to play live.

Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–54)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as “The Ville,” an area where many middle class St. Louis people lived at the time. His father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother Martha a certified public school principal. His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he gave his first public performance in 1941 while still at Sumner High School. Just three years later, in 1944, while still at Sumner High School, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends.Berry’s own account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he then flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol. Berry was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri,where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing.

After his release from prison on his 21st birthday in 1947, Berry married Themetta “Toddy” Suggs on 28 October 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on 3 October 1950. Berry supported his family doing a number of jobs in St. Louis: working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, as well as being janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived. Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone. He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a “small three room brick cottage with a bath” in Whittier Street, which is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in the clubs of St. Louis as an extra source of income. He had been playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker, as well as taking guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris that laid the foundation for his guitar style. By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson’s trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist. Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country. Berry wrote, “Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering ‘who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?’ After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it.”

Berry’s calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B tunes, and singing in the style of Nat “King” Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records. Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills, entitled “Ida Red” that got Chess’s attention. Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose. So on May 21, 1955 Berry recorded an adaptation of “Ida Red”—”Maybellene”—which featured Johnnie Johnson on piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley‘s band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass. “Maybellene” sold over a million copies, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues chart and #5 on the 10 September 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.

At the end of June 1956, his song “Roll Over Beethoven” reached #29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the “Top Acts of ’56″. He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that “I knew when I first heard Chuck that he’d been affected by country music. I respected his writing; his records were very, very great.” As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites. “Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe’s songs as well,” Perkins remembered. “He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him.”

In late 1957 Berry took part in Alan Freed’s “Biggest Show of Stars for 1957″ United States tour with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others. He also guest starred on ABC’s The Guy Mitchell Show, having sung his hit song “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music”. The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 U.S. hits “School Days”, “Rock and Roll Music”, “Sweet Little Sixteen”, and “Johnny B. Goode”. He appeared in two early rock and roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock, released in 1956. He is shown singing “You Can’t Catch Me.” He had a speaking role as himself in the 1959 film Go, Johnny, Go! along with Alan Freed, and was also shown performing his songs “Johnny B. Goode,” “Memphis, Tennessee,” and “Little Queenie.” His performance of “Sweet Little Sixteen” at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 is captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer’s Day.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had established a racially integrated St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry’s Club Bandstand, and was investing in real estate. But in December 1959, Berry was arrested under the Mann Act after an allegation that he had sex with a 14-year-old Apache waitress whom he had transported over state lines to work as a hat check girl at his club. After an initial two-week trial in March 1960, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison. Berry’s appeal that the judge’s comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him was upheld, and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961, which resulted in Berry being given a three-year prison sentence. After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963. Berry had continued recording and performing during the trials, though his output had slowed down as his popularity declined; his final single released before being imprisoned was “Come On”.

“Nadine” and move to Mercury (1963–69)

When Berry was released from prison in 1963, he was able to return to recording and performing due to the British invasion acts of the 1960s—most notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—having kept up an interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs; along with other bands reworking his songs, such as the Beach Boys basing their 1963 hit “Surfin’ USA” on Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen”. In 1964–65 Berry released eight singles, including three, “No Particular Place To Go” (a reworking of “School Day”), “You Never Can Tell”, and “Nadine,” which achieved commercial success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100. Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums on the Mercury label, including his first live album Live at Fillmore Auditorium in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.

While this was not a successful period for studio work, Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he did a successful tour of the UK, though when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict non-negotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult yet unexciting performer. He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City’s Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.

Back to Chess: “My Ding-a-Ling” to White House concert (1970–79)

Berry helped give life to a subculture… Even “My Ding-a-Ling”, a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of “dirty” when it hit the airwaves…

Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973. There were no hit singles from the 1970 album Back Home, then in 1972 Chess released a live recording of “My Ding-a-Ling”, a novelty song which Berry had recorded in a different version on his 1968 LP “From St. Louie to Frisco” as “My Tambourine”. The track became Berry’s only No. 1 single. A live recording of “Reelin’ And Rockin’” was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry’s final top-40 hit in both the U.S. and the UK. Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions which was one of a series of London Sessions albums which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf. Berry’s second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until 1979′s Rock It for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.

In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went. Allmusic has said that in this period his “live performances became increasingly erratic, [...] working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances” which “tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers” alike. Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Chuck Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career. Springsteen related in the video Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro. Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. At the request of Jimmy Carter, Chuck Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.

Berry’s type of touring style, traveling the “oldies” circuit in the 1970s (where he was often paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service’s accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader. Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—doing benefit concerts—in 1979.

Still on the road (1980–present)

Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop. In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry’s sixtieth birthday, organised by Keith Richards, in which Berry reveals his bitterness at the fame and financial success that Richards achieved on the back of Berry’s songs. Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.

In the late 1980s, Berry bought a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air, and in 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies’ bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. Berry’s biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees. It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house did find videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor. Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana. He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, two years’ unsupervised probation, and ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.

In November 2000, Berry again faced legal charges when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including “No Particular Place to Go”, “Sweet Little Sixteen” and “Roll Over Beethoven”, that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.

Currently, Berry usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis. In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, MD.He presently lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis. During a New Year’s Day 2011 concert in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.
Legacy

While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, “Maybellene.”

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

A pioneer of rock music, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle. With songs such as “Maybellene” (1955), “Roll Over Beethoven” (1956), “Rock and Roll Music” (1957) and “Johnny B. Goode” (1958), Chuck Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high-school life, and consumer culture, and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music. His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll; and, in addition to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry’s songs. Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive – he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists, and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Charlie Christian, and T-Bone Walker, to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitar musicians would acknowledge as a major influence in their own style. Berry’s showmanship has been influential on other rock guitar players, particularly his one-legged hop routine, and the “duck walk”, which he first used as a child when he walked “stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical” under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when “performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk.”

The rock critic Robert Christgau considers him “the greatest of the rock and rollers,” while John Lennon said that “if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.” Ted Nugent said “If you don’t know every Chuck Berry lick, you can’t play rock guitar.” Among the honors he has received, have been the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000, and being named seventh on Time Magazine’s 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all-time. On May 14, 2002, Chuck Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.

Berry is included in several Rolling Stone “Greatest of All Time” lists. In September 2003, the magazine named him number 6 in their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. This was followed in November of the same year by his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight being ranked 21st in the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The following year, in March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth out of “The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time”. In December 2004, six of his songs were included in the “Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”, namely “Johnny B. Goode” (# 7), “Maybellene” (# 18), “Roll Over Beethoven” (# 97), “Rock and Roll Music” (#128), “Sweet Little Sixteen” (# 272) and “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” (# 374). In June 2008, his song “Johnny B. Goode” ranked first place in the “100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time”.

Blues Power - Shuffling On: Shuffle Rhythm Patterns

2012-02-03T11:15:00.000-05:00

The shuffle feel is the essence of the blues. Every blues guitarist should know how to play at least a couple of different shuffle comp (accompaniment) patterns. I'd like to introduce you to three basic patterns that you can solo over. The shuffle is based on a triplet rhythm with the middle note missing. To get a shuffle, first tap your foot at a medium tempo and play three notes for every beat. Then take out the middle note, leaving the first and third. This lopsided feel is the shuffle. For simplicity's sake, shuffle rhythms are often written using straight eighth notes with an indication to play with a shuffle or swing feel (TAB FIGURE 1).

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Blues Power - Shuffling On: Shuffle Rhythm Patterns

Fender Bass And Other Great Guitar Center Deals

2012-02-03T11:05:00.001-05:00

If you play the guitar or even if you just love the sound, you know the name Fender bass. Ever since Clarence "Leo" Fender founded his guitar works in 1946, this brand has been a standout for the guitar in general and the electric guitar specifically. It's always popular for professionals and amateur musicians alike.

His predecessors made electric guitars however "Leo's" were the first to be both a musical and monetary success and he possessed the original functioning prototype of the dense-body bass which has become the foundation of most all rock bands. More often than not, you'll also probably discover that it is a Fender bass in that rock group, as well.

If you are considering electric guitars for a holiday gift, or any time you need a Fender bass or other guitar, there are few better options than The Guitar Center using its online store at guitar center com. They have an amazing selection of Fender instruments in addition to nearly every other brand that exists, and some very appealing prices and offers.

For early-bird shoppers, why not get a Fender bass now with no payments until 2009? With eligible purchases, there are no payments or interest for a full fourteen months, and if paid off prior, zero interest which is hard to match. Even if you're not looking for a present, it will be tempting to treat yourself! Check out the website for complete details.

Feel free to visit one of their other stores and test out the Fender bass or guitar of your choice. Be sure to check the website for their amazing web-only special deals. New arrivals come in often and they carry all of the necessary guitar accessories. You can order strings, cases, and most everything else you would want from the comfort of your own computer.

Choosing a musical instrument as a gift for a loved one or a treat for yourself is a wonderful idea. The Guitar Center has a vast inventory of stringed instruments available online to make shopping easier than ever. They are affordable as well, with instruments available for well under $400.

Daniel Wright

Blues Power - Climbing to the Top: Playing Turnarounds

2012-02-02T11:24:00.000-05:00

The turnaround is the last two bars of the progression, where the tune gets ready to "turn around" and go back to the top. TAB FIGURE 1 depicts a 12-bar blues in the key of A with a common turnaround. What makes the turnaround especially challenging is that the soloist must compose a strong finishing statement while playing over rapid-fire chord changes. The solution to this sticky problem is to memorize several turnaround licks-this will allow you to pull them out of your trick bag when needed. Let's see how they work.

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Blues Power - Climbing to the Top: Playing Turnarounds

Fender Bass: Still #1 After All These Years

2012-02-02T09:25:00.000-05:00

Special effects due to amplification and multiple sound options have made electric guitars popular since their invention. One that is particularly popular is the Fender Bass, not only because if you buy bass guitar, your looking for quality and sound, but because the name itself is so familiar to many music fans and musicians.

The brand has been around for 61 years since "Leo" Fender perfected his electric solid body bass and opened the California based company in 1946. Other companies had sold electric basses, but his was considered the first successful mass-marketed one. Today, the headquarters are in Scottsdale, Arizona, and the guitars are manufactured in Korea, Japan, Mexico and Corona, California. The company was sold to a larger corporation but eventually repurchased by the employees.

You can be certain that any Fender Bass will be an excellent instrument and carrying the standard and guarantees of the brand with it. However, choosing just the right instrument for any one musician may be an intimidating process due to the number of options and choices to consider.

Price is always important for any purchase, but in this case it is more important to find the instrument that best fits both your style and they way you plan to use the guitar. Some styles of necks, frets, keyboards, and body shapes will be good for one, but bad for another player. The sound also varies with the type of wood used to make it, as well as with the different designs and even the coating of the instrument.

Some guitars are better suited to rock music and others are intended for the more mellow sounds of jazz, and you can find a Fender Bass to meet either style, or many other styles like blues and country music. A list of those stars playing a Fender Bass or other style guitar from the brand will demonstrate how respected and versatile the brand is. Artist Freddy Fender renamed himself in honor of his guitar brand!

Even small details like a coating or no coating on the fret board will change the sound and even a good guitar can sound less desirable on a poor amplifier. It is important to get the best equipment you can afford that meets your needs rather than trying to settle for some instrument that will never make you happy. The only real way to choose a Fender Bass model is to try them out and see which one is the best fit, then to shop for the best price and finance if necessary.

Try out the models to see if you want a jazz type, a classic precision line, or another design by going to the company website to locate dealers in your area. People generally find several that are what they are looking for this way, and can then narrow down the choices by price and look. There are also deals to be found on the internet, want ads, and pawn shops.

Daniel Wright

Blues Power - Texas Boogie: Stevie Ray and the Shuffle

2012-02-01T11:43:00.000-05:00

Stevie Ray Vaughan earned respect as both a blues and rock player-a musician who could bridge the two worlds in a single solo. As with all great guitarists, his rhythm playing was as strong as his leads. He excelled at a style of shuffle playing that has its roots in earlier players, yet he was able to turn it into a personal trademark. This column is dedicated to Stevie's memory.

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Blues Power - Texas Boogie: Stevie Ray and the Shuffle

Martin Guitar - Top Quality Yields Top Sounds

2012-02-01T11:40:00.000-05:00

For well over a century and a half, The Martin Guitar Company has been continuously producing acoustic guitars that are acknowledged to be the finest for playing music in the world. The Company has, through the years, managed to survive with each succeeding generation from C. F. Martin, Sr.'s Stauffer influenced creations of the 1830s to recent developments introduced by C. F. Martin IV. Continuous operation under family management is a feat bordering on the remarkable, reflecting six generations of dedication to the guitar maker's craft. In or out of the music industry, C. F. Martin has few rivals for sheer staying power.

The story behind one of America's most famous guitars began on January 31, 1796, in Markneukirchen, Germany, with the birth of Christian Frederick Martin, Sr. Born into a long line of cabinet makers, Christian Frederick took up the family craft at the early age of 15, when he left his hometown and traveled to Vienna to apprentice with Johann Stauffer, a renowned guitar maker.

Accepted business practices in the early days of making a Martin guitar were far removed from today's methods and reflected a simpler society. Barter was common in the retail trade. C. F. Martin's personal records contain numerous entries of trading musical merchandise for everything from a case of wine to children's clothing. New York City's teeming Lower East Side was a harsh environment that was a world apart from the pastoral Saxony where Martin and his family grew up.

The following years were a period of significant development for C. F. Martin guitar makers. In addition to products sold by Ludecus and Wolter in New York, company records indicate that numerous shipments were made to the then centers of trade, which were primarily shipping posts and those cities served by the canal system, since the railroad had yet to evolve.

Martin's shipping records made frequent mention of sales in Boston, Albany, Philadelphia, Richmond, Petersburg, Nashville, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and New Orleans. Business in the period was obviously satisfactory, for in an advertisement in 1850 the company declared, "C. F. Martin Guitar Maker, respectfully informs the musical public generally that the great favor bestowed upon him has induced him to enlarge his factory, in order to supply the increasing demand for his instruments."

Martin Guitar has always adhered to the highest standards of musical excellence, and it has also been managed very competently. This probably explains the company's remarkable success throughout its many years in business. Their choice of products and their marketing have changed over time, but the company's basic attitude to guitar-making has always been the same. Frank Henry Martin is known for having said to potential buyers, "A good guitar cannot be made for the same price as a poor one, but nobody regrets the extra cost of a good guitar." This statement of policy was uttered almost eighty years ago, but it still accurately reflects the attitude at Martin Guitar.

Daniel Wright

Mobile And Music

2012-01-31T11:33:00.000-05:00

On the move most of the time and want to get and stay connected all the time? Also want to get entertained wherever possible? What if there is a solution which allows you to remain in touch with your near and dear ones and at the same time be pampered with fine music? What if such a solution comes in a pretty inexpensive way? Surely we all would like to jump for it. Would we not? Well, here is a magic wand which will help you talk to your friends and will also bring you your favorite songs and music. The mobile-music marriage has comes as a great blessing for all music lovers. We can all ride our passion without any loss of time.

In fact the way music has transformed in recent decades is phenomenal. Today music, mobiles and multimedia are all available at one platform and the thin line between distinct technologies is only getting more and more blurred. We can download music on our mobiles, copy it on our PCs and then make CDs for our convenience. What a way to love and appreciate music.

Let us discuss some of the ways with which you can use your simple mobile instrument as a hi-fi system and a powerhouse of music. The mobile-music market is growing fast as more and more people are having mobile phones to get connected. Mobile music does satisfy this very important need for entertainment. Be it a college going teenager or a high flying executive, it is catching up with the imagination of all those who have a passion for music. It is also a great stress buster for those leading a hectic life.

Most new generation phones are equipped with music players that support music stored in various digital formats such as WMA, MP3, M4A and AAC. You can also download the tracks over the air and play it to your liking. It is worthwhile to opt for a phone that has a microSD card of 1 GB to download music software and store your favorite songs and music albums. You can also connect a headphone to the instrument to do multi tasking and to listen to your favorite music without any interruption. In fact if you own a car, no need to have a separate car audio, as your mobile can comfortably serve as one.

The Digital Music Player is the new in thing for those on the move. Today a number of companies in the field such as Nokia, Samsung, Sony and others are making instruments which cater to this very important segment of the market. A few of these phones come equipped with the latest music software to further enhance the quality of music. The mobiles companies are also having tie-ups with the media companies for giving you the latest content. The market is huge and ever evolving with not only music but also clippings of your favorite TV programs, news, sports, weather forecast and other contents available on the fly. A win-win situation for every body.

So if you also want to join the bandwagon, it is not too difficult. Just get a music enabled phone and download your favorite music. You have got the perfect answer to your quest for entertainment all the time. Can it get any simpler? Maybe not in the near future at least. Beyond that - only time will tell.

Sarika Kabra

Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping

2012-01-31T11:29:00.000-05:00

When Jimi Hendrix emerged as the major new force in rock guitar in 1967, his style was so revolutionary that many listeners didn't realize just how deeply rooted in tradition his playing was. His personality on the instrument was so strong that he virtually swallowed up his influences. On "Red House," you can hear traces of a style that dates back to the very first master of electric blues guitar, T-Bone Walker.

T-Bone laid down a style of slow-blues "comping" (rhythm playing) that has withstood the test of time, having been handed down to each new generation of blues guitarists for over 60 years now. By learning something of his style, you'll be one step closer to not only understanding Hendrix, but also to developing your own style.

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Blues Power - Walk, Don't Run: Slow Blues Comping

Saxophone Blues Scales

2012-01-30T12:42:00.000-05:00

If you're a saxophonist interested in playing any type of blues based music including rock and roll and even jazz then you need to use the blues scale as your number one tool to make things sound right.

A little history
If you want to investigate back to the beginnings of the blues as it came about in America just start with W.C. Handy, who was a black composer active in the early 1900's when the blues form began to get popularized in large part because of his instrumental compositions "Memphis Blues" (1912) and "St. Louis Blues" (1914). Of coarse the blues oral tradition can be traced back to the mid 1800's.

The blues scale
Because our western music has it's roots in European classical music the music theorists needed to notate the blues scale as it was naturally played and sung into an understandable notation which could be analyzed and played by western trained musicians.

The simplest way to explain it's theory is this:
Simply take the traditional major scale; C D E F G A B C and flatten the 3rd, 5th, and 7th. Now it looks like this: C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb C.
(Please look at the example on my website for the full musical notation). Notice the E, G, and B have been flattened, they are the 3rd, 5th and 7th notes of the C major scale and flattening them makes the scale sound minor thus giving it the "blues" or sad sound as opposed to the "major" or happy sound.

For us sax players these flat notes are perfect to incorporate a "growl" sound to further emphasize that "bluesy" expression or make it a bit more nasty. Two other things to notice; the 3rd and 5th can be played as a flat or not but the 7th generally is only played as a flat and not the major 7th in this type of scale or musical genre. (for some audio examples please refer to the website version of this article).

So now our basic major scale of 8 notes is now a blues scale of 10 notes. There are other variations to this blues scale; the basic version for example is a 7 note scale: C Eb F F# G Bb C (the F# being the same as the Gb). Adding the D, E natural and A give us more musical possibilities and will not change the basic sound of the blues scale. Even adding a flat 9th ( D flat) was a favorite thing Charlie Parker did a lot and is a good way to jazz up your phrases.

The blues progression
Of coarse this is all just words and notes and theory. You have to apply it and in any blues music this is done over a musical progression thats 12 measures in length, thus the term "12 bar blues".

We're in the key of C so the first 4 bars will be the C chord. The 5th and 6th bars change to the 4 chord which is F (4th note in the C scale).
The 7th and 8th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). The 9th and 10th bars change to the 5 chord, which is G. The 11th and 12th bars change back to the 1 chord (C). There are variations in this 12 bar pattern and can be seen on the website version of this article.

When starting out you can get away with just playing the same C blues scale over the entire progression but try to emphasize 1 or 2 of the notes in the F and G chord to make things a little more interesting. For example, over the F chord play an F or an A note to emphasize the harmonic color of the chord a little more.

In conclusion
The blues mean different things to many people ranging from musical styles to a way of life or philosophy. The blues do have musical influences from Europe and Africa but it is truly an American musical form and tradition fully rooted in the black experience of the post-war southern United States.

I want to be clear that when I talk about the blues or the blues scale I'm not only referring to this type of musical tradition and style but include funk, R&B, country, jazz and pop. Like the old saying goes; The blues had a baby and they names it rock and roll and from there came just about every form of pop music in western history since that explosive time in the mid 1900's

And so, I think it's safe to say that the blues scale is easily one of the most used and important scales for all types of western popular music.

John Ferreira