It's probable that the first basic blues guitar chords were not even in standard tuning, given the first tentative attempts to make music were almost certainly tried on home made instruments with less than six strings. Of course, the typical chord progression would still follow the basic rules, but the shapes and way of playing would have been very different.
Blues guitar music is a beautiful and complex genre that has been loved by many for decades. There are many variations of blues, but the main idea behind all of them is to create a feeling or evoke an emotion.
Blues chords themselves vary in structure and complexity, but there are some common chord progressions that you should know about if you want to get started with this amazing style of music!
Updated Acoustic Guitar Song List, 1990 To 2024
For this post I'm going to be talking about simple blues chord structures that are pretty standard fare for a six string guitar in regular tuning, that is E, A, D, G, B & E. This key of E blues chords are perfect for blues guitar.
Blues music is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the Deep South and was played primarily by African-Americans on stringed instruments since it emerged as a distinct form around 1900.
The term the blues originally referred to the feeling being expressed, and this emotion can be conveyed through any number of musical styles and techniques.
How To Play Blues On Acoustic Guitar
Early stringed instruments were probably very low quality to start with. It's probable that the first roots music came out of the Mississippi Delta, so the hot and humid weather conditions would have made it very difficult to keep any kind of instrument in tune.
This is why the first sounds were bottleneck or slide in open G, or open D. Open tuning was more intuitive and the slide technique of playing, where the bottleneck 'slides' up to the note, meant that the guitar didn't have to be precisely tuned.
Blues guitar chords can be any major chords used to play blues in any key, but some, like E and A, sound more bluesy than others. The chord shape and guitar tuning plays a big part too. For the purist, most blues chords add 7ths, but 9ths and 13ths can be used as well.
Video Lesson: An Intro To Bottleneck Slide Blues Guitar
On with the show, as they say ... It's a long page, so please review the content - I start from the very basics, so if you already know these, then use that menu to navigate to the section that interests you, if you are at a more advanced level.
Of course, you can play the blues in any key (if you really wanted to!) and the complexity would depend on your style, but I'm going to focus on blues in E chords and A for the most part. Bluesy guitar chords sound great in either key.
Although not couched in technical terms (because I don't really know any) the same chord groups work for the 8 / 12 bar blue chord progression, although in slightly different configuration. However, the most bluesy chord progressions are in E and A.
Fingerstyle Blues Songbook: Learn To Play Country Blues, Ragtime Blues, Boogie Blues & More [with Cd (audio)] (acoustic Guitar Private Lessons): Learn ... Blues, Ragtime Blues, Boogie Blues And More
Inevitably, I'll draw heavily on the work of the classic acoustic blues men such as Lightnin' Hopkins, Big Bill Broonzy and Robert Johnson.
Guitar blues chords in E are a great way to introduce the beginner guitarist into the world of playing blues. Blues is one of the most popular and influential styles of music that has ever been created, with roots dating back to slavery times.
First off, let's take a look at the basic chords in E , and then examine the simple blues guitar chord progressions for 'Woman Called Mary' by Lightnin' Hopkins, and 'Key To The Highway' Big Bill Broonzy style.
Slow And Easy Blues Composition That You Can Play By Yourself
These early pre-war blues songs generally started out with an intro that was an embellished form of the verse, to generate interest and set the stage, so to speak, for the lyrics, or story, to follow.
Many songs also featured one or two musical breaks during which the basic chords might be converted to chord inversions higher up the fret board to provided variation.
Often, half chords were used, so that basic chords, full inversions and single string runs adapted from both were combined for that extra exciting appeal.
Guitar Lesson: How To Play The Blues Like R.l. Burnside
Bear in mind that these guys were fingerpicking sometimes complex patterns which tended to be 'dumbed down' while they sang. However, during the musical breaks, they could really go to town with their techniques without worrying about singing or complex chords for blues guitar.
The sound can sound quite complicated, but the same common blues chord progressions are behind it all, even if the fingerstyle patterns and the rhythm changes.
Normally, the E chord progression starts with an E chord and I jam along trying techniques from famous blues men, and also surprising myself with completely new sounds! The fundamental chord progression is E, E7, A, A7 and B7.
Ac/dc Style Slow Blues
Starting with some easy blues chords for guitar, we of course have E major, which is the root and we come back to it again and again. As with all chords, there is more than one way to play it, and we'll look at that later, but for now let's stick to the basics.
The first thing you'll notice is that it's not a complex chord shape - just cluster of 3 strings across 2 frets held down by the index finger, second and third fingers.
The chord can either be strummed or fingerpicked, and when applying more advanced left hand techniques like pulling off and hammering on, the effect becomes very ' bluesy'.
Slow Blues By Yourself
As with any chord, you can either let the strings ring, or damp them off with either hand. A common blues picking pattern in many States was to hit the open bass E string with the thumb and then mute it or choke off the note with the palm of the picking hand. This is called the 'monotonic bass' thumb style.
A 'hammer-on' is when you strike an open string, such as the G string in the case of the basic E chord shape, and then drop the forefinger back on to the first fret to form the E chord.
A 'pull-off' is the opposite to this, where your hit the string fretted and then lift off the finger. Both techniques can be done with any of the fretted strings, and others, to make the sound more varied and interesting.
Finger Picking Blues: Fingerstyle Guitar Tab
It's quite rare to find a blues song with an E that doesn't eventually become an E7, mostly at the end of the second line of verse, or as a lead into the A chord.
The basic blues guitar form is to keep the E chord and then fret the B string with your pinkie on the 3rd fret, and this really is the sound of roots blues. That 7th makes all the difference and speaks directly to the soul.
In many songs the pinkie slides down one fret to turn the chord into E6, often siding back up to create a kind of a 'swing' effect, or used as part of a short single string run featuring the B and the high E string.
Video Lesson: How To Play The Blues Like Charley Patton
The trick with the blues in E, as with any chord progression guitar based, is to do you best to vary the techniques and chord extensions so that the listener enjoys the experience.
Another easy shape, in fact one of the first ones that most of us learn. It can either be played with three finger, which can be a bit restricting, or with a bar using the forefinger just laid across the 2nd.
Needless to say, you wouldn't pick the high E string fretted on the 2nd fret using the bar - that would sound quite weird and is a different chord entirely.
How To Play Fingerstyle Blues Guitar Solos (dvd Download)
Although this basic A chord shape has it's uses, it's not that common in the old school type acoustic blues, but mostly reserved for folk style picking, and very simple country and western type ballads.
No, the A chord really comes into it's own when playing the blues when we fret the high E string high up on the fret board with the pinkie and using a bar for the other strings.
The image on the left shows the same A shape but with the addition of that high E fretted up on the 5th fret. This brings several advantages.
How To Play Blues Guitar, Lesson 3 Dvd
First of all, while it's still the same chord, it's got a subtly different flavor. I sometimes also fret the next string (B) with my pinkie as well, which sounds great - if your finger is strong enough! It's a bit of a stretch, but the effect is worth it IMO.
Another advantage is that you can use that pinkie to play scales up and down while keeping the bar and just releasing it when the progression of notes demands it. It's the kind of thing you might do during a musical break and helps to add variation to your sound.
Listen to the famous turnaround in Robert Johnson's 'Me and The Devil' to hear this technique used to great advantage - I'm talking just about the A chord run down here - the actual song is in A and not E.
Easy Blues Chord Progressions In The Keys Of E, A, C & G
The really big
0 Response to "Slow Blues Acoustic Guitar Tutorial"
Posting Komentar