Rig Talk Blues Thread

[rupe]

I know this forum has the reputation for being a bunch of 80's metalheads (rightfully so, and I'm proud of it ), but I know many of us have also branched out into other styles over the years...this thread is for those of us who have gone back to the blues.

Post up clips/vids/etc of your blues/blues rock playing and discuss your influences, gear choices, favorite licks, turnarounds...whatever it is you want to share
For me, it's been the proverbial experience of "the more I learn, the less I know"...there's simply so much to draw from and so much nuance to the style that anybody who thinks its limiting clearly doesn't get it IMO.

 

[carlygtr]

Learning and playing blues was a natuaral for me cause the guys I learned on, Allman Bros, Jimi, Trower, Zep, Cream, Beck, etc were all blues based rock artists....and they were all heavy on improvisation.

IMO, the best way to learn the style is to listen and play along. I always say blues is deceptively simple. At first glance seems easy. Get thrown into a blues jam you can either shine or sound like a complete hack.
It's all phrasing, vibrato, feel, improv, etc.

The only blues I got of me on YT was a demo i did for a TGP dude, who wanted to heard the varius PU settings in the new Baker I just got.

 

[glpg80]

peter green
SRV
gary moore
blues saraceno

and this musical genius:

 

[Bob Savage]

Lousy sound, but...

 

[rupe]

Here's a clip from a gig last weekend. The amp I used is just a little 8w early 60's Epiphone Pacemaker...a ripping little screamer (no effects other than my volume knob). I love that little amp but I can't usually use it as it simply isn't loud enough, but this small room allowed me to mic it up and hear myself (I can't stand my guitar coming at me through a monitor). My normal blues rig is either a Matchless Chieftain or a new Trainwreck Express (sometimes both together), and even a Friedman Marsha on occasion (yes, it can do the blues nicely).
Guitar was a Suhr Standard although my #1 is hanging behind me (TA Hollow Classic).

 

[dwizted]

Man blues for me is really my favorite type of music. All though I love Metal always have and always will, but hearing a really good blues player is what I love the most.

I have so many great blues artists but some of my favorites are Jimi that dude and what he did with his fender and marshalls still to this day send shivers down my spine. Stevie the way he glided across the fretboard man he knew his way around that thing. Billy the feeling he has when he plays and the tone still to this day is one of my favorites. BB the soul he bleeds when hes playing just touches me when I hear him play.

T bone walker, Robert Johnson, Muddy waters, Howlin wolf, johnny lee hooker and when Johnny winters plays the slide Holy shit it doesnt get much better for me...

 

[Zap]

Yeah man, this thread is right up my alley. I've been working on a couple little tricks like the really melodic Robin Trower hammer on-pull offs that you can also hear in EJ's S.R.V., and the Jeff Beck rapidly repeated hammer on-pull offs while dipping the vibrato arm that you can hear on the JBG's orange album. Was playing rhythm to Zep's "Achilles Last Stand" and the chords to Rory's "Crest of a Wave" this afternoon too. I really dig the older British stuff more than the classic American Blues, but I also like the younger guys like Bonamassa and Sayce for what they bring to the table. Gales is a cool player too, but the live show was a bit of a letdown. His studio stuff is pretty badass though. A lot of these guys take a lot of shit, but I really appreciate their heavier approach. They're all technically awesome!

 

[Zap]

P.S. This should be sticky.

 

[ConcreteVampire]

Here's a clip from a gig last weekend. The amp I used is just a little 8w early 60's Epiphone Pacemaker...a ripping little screamer (no effects other than my volume knob). I love that little amp but I can't usually use it as it simply isn't loud enough, but this small room allowed me to mic it up and hear myself (I can't stand my guitar coming at me through a monitor). My normal blues rig is either a Matchless Chieftain or a new Trainwreck Express (sometimes both together), and even a Friedman Marsha on occasion (yes, it can do the blues nicely).
Guitar was a Suhr Standard although my #1 is hanging behind me (TA Hollow Classic).

Very Freekin Cool!

Blues are where I've been heading for a coupla years now... Even, BLASMPHEMY! sold my 86 Kramer Baretta!!

I DID keep the cornerstone guitar my #1 Customized to hell and back 82 Mockingbird. So I can still get my Kahler neck thru on.

I'm parin down the Collection to classic axes, and with Jerry's new combo will be putting together a blues trio to play out with. I've had him tweek it specifically for at home use as well as an amazing two channel rig for those small blues gigs...
clips soon... (Of the amp! lol)

My next start up rock based band will definately be WAY more blues based, more UFO/Zeppelin, than my last which was dirty Crue/glam based. Kinda over it.

I've sold alot of gear in the past two months and am glad. Gettin back to basics!

 

[Jerome Allen]

Nice. Over the last 2 weeks I've started picking through a set of blues tunes for a new band. Because I'm primarily a metal guitarist, it's a change of pace.

I was fortunate to have grown up in the suburbs of Chicago, which is a big blues town.

I was about 15/16 years old when I started playing in some of the blues clubs. I would go to the "bad/ghetto" parts of town, because they didn't care how old I was. If I had $2 for the man at the door, I could go in and play. Any night I wasn't playing with my punk/metal band, I would be at The Checkerboard, Rosa's, Buddy Guys, ect. I'd also often hit Maxwell Street Market on Sundays, for the outdoor jams. I got to jam with countless "old school" Chicago Blues players and got to meet a lot of great people, like Phil Guy, Buddy Guy, Piano C. Red, Lefty Dizz, Toronzo Cannon, Buddy Miles, and more.

One funny thing I learned a long time ago about playing Blues here is...there's a huge difference between how most black players and most white players view the blues.

The white guys in the Stevie Ray Vaughn hats (almost every white guy had one, back then) HATED HATED HATED me. They would bitch and gripe and say I wasn't playing "traditional" blues because I would mix my blues riffs with my Yngwie-wannabe chops. They pulled that "but I play with feeling" crap as an excuse for their not having any chops and not really knowing how to play. I didn't play the blues like Yngwie. But, when I felt is was right, I ripped it all open and let my fingers fly.

The old black guys, on the other hand, LOVED my playing. They liked the speed and chops. Many of those old guys asked me to join their band. They wanted the flash. I was always welcome to play with guys like Lefty Dizz or Piano C. Red. They loved the excitement and something new. They had no interest in some white kid coming up and pretending to be Hound Dog Taylor after a long day of picking cotton. I could be myself, play whatever I felt, and put on a show..and they loved it.

I still have a lot of friend in the blues scene here. If any rig talkers from Chicago want to go hit some open blues jam sometime, let me know. It's always fun.

 

[ConcreteVampire]

Nice. Over the last 2 weeks I've started picking through a set of blues tunes for a new band. Because I'm primarily a metal guitarist, it's a change of pace.

I was fortunate to have grown up in the suburbs of Chicago, which is a big blues town.

I was about 15/16 years old when I started playing in some of the blues clubs. I would go to the "bad/ghetto" parts of town, because they didn't care how old I was. If I had $2 for the man at the door, I could go in and play. Any night I wasn't playing with my punk/metal band, I would be at The Checkerboard, Rosa's, Buddy Guys, ect. I'd also often hit Maxwell Street Market on Sundays, for the outdoor jams. I got to jam with countless "old school" Chicago Blues players and got to meet a lot of great people, like Phil Guy, Buddy Guy, Piano C. Red, Lefty Dizz, Toronzo Cannon, Buddy Miles, and more.

One funny thing I learned a long time ago about playing Blues here is...there's a huge difference between how most black players and most white players view the blues.

The white guys in the Stevie Ray Vaughn hats (almost every white guy had one, back then) HATED HATED HATED me. They would bitch and gripe and say I wasn't playing "traditional" blues because I would mix my blues riffs with my Yngwie-wannabe chops. They pulled that "but I play with feeling" crap as an excuse for their not having any chops and not really knowing how to play. I didn't play the blues like Yngwie. But, when I felt is was right, I ripped it all open and let my fingers fly.

The old black guys, on the other hand, LOVED my playing. They liked the speed and chops. Many of those old guys asked me to join their band. They wanted the flash. I was always welcome to play with guys like Lefty Dizz or Piano C. Red. They loved the excitement and something new. They had no interest in some white kid coming up and pretending to be Hound Dog Taylor after a long day of picking cotton. I could be myself, play whatever I felt, and put on a show..and they loved it.

I still have a lot of friend in the blues scene here. If any rig talkers from Chicago want to go hit some open blues jam sometime, let me know. It's always fun.

Amen brutha.

The core thing about the Blues, the beauty of it...

it's how YOU play it... same godamn song, (or Your NEW blues tune)

hell I ain't fast, or flashy, or "trained",... But I gots my thing, and you know it's me...

Yngwie riffs in blues... Getthefuckoutaheawiddat!

 

[Lriagan]

Along with the many, many greats listed above, I have to say that the first time I was caught by what I would consider some blues(at least at the time) was this man, who I've been a bit of a fan boy of for too long now.

https://youtu.be/yHjejiADTOU

 

[Jerome Allen]

"it's how YOU play it" -ConcreteVampire-

Yup, I couldn't agree more. I always say : 1) Be yourself when you play and 2) Have fun.

 

[tweed]

Excellent Thread!!!! And right up my alley as well.


Let's add Eric Gales to the list

 

[gibson5413]

Here's a clip from a gig last weekend. The amp I used is just a little 8w early 60's Epiphone Pacemaker...a ripping little screamer (no effects other than my volume knob). I love that little amp but I can't usually use it as it simply isn't loud enough, but this small room allowed me to mic it up and hear myself (I can't stand my guitar coming at me through a monitor). My normal blues rig is either a Matchless Chieftain or a new Trainwreck Express (sometimes both together), and even a Friedman Marsha on occasion (yes, it can do the blues nicely).
Guitar was a Suhr Standard although my #1 is hanging behind me (TA Hollow Classic).

Nice playing brother!

 

[TeleBlaster]

My band does modern reggae ska kinda stuff like Pepper, Sublime, 311, started doing covers but have been successfully transitioning into originals over the last year. Better than half of our material now is original. We do drift into blues-ish stuff but with less of a traditional flavor; Los Lonely Boys etc. Here's the first go-through on a song we collectively built around a couple riffs. We recorded this at practice a coupla months ago, the drummer had his iphone recording but I didn't know at the time. Singer is singing whatever for lyrics, lol. Obviously we've refined the song since then but it was pretty cool that it came together in one pass, I think this was the first time playing my new Cabronita.

https://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_so ... D=11830429

 

[rupe]

Great posts so far...keep 'em coming! And thanks for the compliments...my blues playing is definitely a work in progress but its coming along.

@ Jerome...I know exactly what you're saying. I too have found that its primarily the middle aged white bluesman who acts like a "blues ambassador" to the past...anything that breaks tradition is taboo, whether it be songs, licks, guitars, or amps.

 

[Badronald]

The core demographic of the blues for decades has been the "middle aged white man". There would be no blues without him.

I go through phases of really digging the blues. I was in a blues (played some Stones and ZZ Top stuff as well) band for about 4 years, so I had my fill for a while.

It'll come back around for me.

 

[SouthernShred]