Hello everyone, guitar lovers. Today, by tradition, we have a lesson for beginners. In this short lesson I will tell you how you can play the blues on your six-string acoustic guitar, or an electric guitar. I will also publish a diagram where you can see the most common blues chords.
If you are interested in blues, jazz and improvisation, then I would like to recommend a new educational portal natomiya-music.rf, where you can find a lot of free information and lessons on these and other equally interesting musical topics.
Actually play this musical style(blues) – not difficult, just know a few basic concepts and technician, with a little practice you can play the blues as well as B.B. King.
Chords
Below, according to the text, you can familiarize yourself with a diagram that shows the most popular blues chords. Instructions on how to read these chords and their diagrams are also included.
- The circuit consists of a grid that consists of six vertical lines (strings) and five horizontal lines (sills). As you might have guessed, these lines illustrate the strings and nuts on a guitar. Their intersection forms the frets on a six-string guitar;
- At the top of the diagram there is a letter indicating the name of the chord depicted in the diagram;
- Just below the letter, you can see two signs: a cross and a zero. They indicate a closed (not played) and open (must be played open) string, respectively;
- The diagram itself has black marks that point and show which fret you need to press to play the chords;
- Below the diagram you can see numbers from one to four. Given numbers indicate which finger is preferable to press on a particular fret when you play chords. If you count your fingers from left to right, inside palms, then the first is the index finger, the fourth is the little finger, the thumb is not indicated by a number.
Exercises
I have prepared an exercise for you that will allow you to develop your blues improvisation technique. Below you can see the tablature this exercise(a video lesson on reading tablature is also below).
You need to play like this:
Video
Below you can watch a video lesson on the topic discussed in this article.
Game techniques
I would also like to say a few words about the guitar playing techniques that blues players often use:
- Bend- a method of playing the guitar in which the note being played is raised to the required height as it is played. The duration of bends can be: short or long;
- Vibrato- a technique of playing the guitar in which sound is produced by vibrating the string. A very expressive and popular technique, very often used in blues.
That's all for today, I hope you understand the technique and techniques of playing and can play the blues.
Good day, gentlemen, guitarists. This article, which is essentially a lesson, will focus on the blues. More precisely, how to start playing it if you still don’t know how to do it. We will now take two points as a basis: improvisation and accompaniment. If you have never improvised before, it doesn’t matter, now you’ll learn.
And we’ll start, perhaps, with improvisation. First you need to learn the A minor pentatonic scale. A pentatonic scale is a mode or scale that has only 5 sounds. This scale is very often used in blues guitar playing. In my opinion, this is the easiest place to start playing blues touches. Here's the fret:
First of all, you need to learn this Am pentatonic scale (A minor). As you can see, it is played from the 5th fret of the sixth string to the 5th fret of the first string. You just need to remember its fingering - the sequence of movement of sounds on the guitar neck, or in other words - the pattern of the fret on the guitar neck.
Having played the Am pentatonic scale, you are ready to start improvising. You will do this to accompaniment. But first, I’ll say a few words about the principles of improvisation. Improvisation is a spontaneous game when you play whatever happens - as your hand takes it. This process should take place with you without conscious control. Try not to think about how to play. Just play within the given scale you just learned.
Now regarding the accompaniment. Here I present what I think is one of the most common blues chord structures:
You can record the accompaniment yourself and improvise along with it, or you can ask someone to play along with you. It is not necessary to play the accompaniment exactly as shown in the figure. Here I just wanted to demonstrate how the chords go. The fifth chord is A for two measures. Then one measure of D, then again a return to A. Next Mi and Re one bar each and... again two bars of A. Then everything repeats itself. Improvise in A minor pentatonic scale to this accompaniment.
Finally, I want to say something about repetition. You may well come up with one motive, for example, one bar long. And play it throughout the accompaniment. Changing chords will give this tune a typical blues flavor. OK it's all over Now. If you know how to play the guitar in the slightest degree, then the recommendations from this lesson are quite enough for you to start playing the blues. Take action!
Classic blues has several distinctive features:
- shuffle;
- simplified chord forms;
- cliché song structure.
Blues rhythm
A typical blues rhythm is called a shuffle. The shuffle is a triplets in 4/4.
On the second beat there is a pause instead of a note. It is considered like this: "One - and - two, one - and - two". This rhythm is distinctive feature Chicago school.
On tablature, the shuffle rhythm looks like this:
Shuffle rhythm on tablatureBelow are examples of shuffles. By the way, these are backing tracks that you can use to develop your improvisation skills.
Classic blues is played in 4/4 and 12/8 time signatures. But modern blues-rock performers successfully adapt both 3/4 and 6/8 to the blues. For example, Jack White with his version of the song “Love is Blindness”.
Blues chords
Most blues standards are built on the following steps:
I (Tonic) – IV (Subdominant) – V (Dominant).
Example practical application This diagram is a sequence of chords in the key of E minor:
Em–A–H.
You need to learn these three basic steps for each key. This way you will solve a lot of problems. For example, you can play improvisational solos in any key without any problems.
But not all blues is built on 3 steps. The following harmonies are also popular:
- Em – G – A;
- Hm – G – D – A;
- E – A – E – H7.
To decorate the composition and give it an unstable dramatic sound, blues guitarists use seventh chords, non-chords, etc. instead of triads.
REFERENCE. About minor and major blues chords
The chords create the harmony of the song, which the guitarist plays to his taste. If you're just getting started with the blues, start by understanding simple progressions. For example, Am – Dm – Em – E7. This is the same sequence of tonic - subdominant - dominant. Try it different positions for these chords and different style games.
Seventh chords, non-chords, 11th and 13th chords
Blues differs from other genres of music by its active use of chord variations. IN classical works you will encounter seventh chords, non-chords, and 11th and 13th chords. The use of these harmonies allows you to create that same blues mood in the song.
Do a little exercise. Play 2 sequences on the guitar.
At first Am – Dm – Em – E.
Then Am7 – Dm7 – Em7 – E7.
The second sequence sounds much more dramatic, but at the same time unfinished.
Use this knowledge in your creativity. Add seventh chords to add atmosphere, but don't try to build an entire song around them. Otherwise, the impression of understatement and incompleteness of the composition will be created.
Barre chords. CAGED system
Blues is music in which classical open chord positions are rarely used. Bluesmen play with the barre technique all the time. This allows them to play the same chords in different ways and alternate positions to create the desired sound of the song.
There are 5 forms (for major and minor) in order to play any chord on the guitar:
- form up
- A form
- salt form
- mi form
- re shape
Such a system is called CAGED- according to Latin letters denoting consonances.
Below are fingerings for the E minor and E major chords in each of the 5 forms. Fingerings for other chords are constructed similarly.
E chord in the CAGED system
Em chord in the CAGED system
Knowledge of the CAGED system allows you to play the desired chord in any position and from any note. To use this system, you must know the location of all the notes on the guitar fretboard.
ADVICE. About the CAGED system, pentatonic scale and soloing
You will almost never play chords in all 5 forms. Knowing the open position and barre is quite enough for you. But the CAGED system is needed to study the pentatonic scale, which, in turn, is the basis of blues soloing and improvisation.
If you want to not only play blues squares, but also come up with your own solos, then add learning this system to your guitar lessons.
3 chords across the entire guitar neck
Another way to play blues chords is to use triads instead of full fingerings. This method allows you to easily move between pentatonic boxes.
Triads are played on 3 strings. Most often the first or last.
The tablature below shows the triad forms for A minor (Am). Play them with a metronome. Make a conclusion about the difference in the nuances of sound.
Am triad forms
What is a blues riff? Simple Examples of Blues Riffs
Riff is a short musical phrase that repeats. Those parts of songs that you play in a music store when you buy a guitar are riffs.
Most of the music is based on riffs. Among the most famous "Smoke on the water", "Back in Black", "Enter Sandman".
Riffs in blues are no less important. Traditionally, they, like chords, are also built according to the scheme I – IV – V with playing this sequence.
Check out the video below for the 50 best riffs in blues history.
12 bar blues progression
One of the biggest blues clichés is the use of a 12 bar progression when constructing songs.
That is, instead of 8 bars in a verse of a blues composition, there are 12 bars. The “extra” 4 bars are formed due to the repetition of the first line. Moreover, both words and a musical phrase can be repeated separately.
All 12 bars are based on a regular blues progression.
tonic – subdominant – dominant.
Although sometimes higher or lower steps may be added.
Examples of 12-bar blues are songs JJ Cale- "Cocaine" BB King– “Thrill Is Gone”, Chizh- "Crossroads" Zoo- "Blues de Moscow".
The picture below shows the analysis of verse 1 of the song “Crossroads”. Pay attention to the Bb7 chord. This is an increased V stage. This consonance adds sharpness to the phrase.
I, IV, V steps in the song “Crossroads”
Reading the title of this article, the thought immediately arises that you take an acoustic guitar and play the blues. Of course there is some truth to this. But still, this is not what we will be talking about.
Despite the fact that on an acoustic guitar you can easily play the blues simply with chords, for example, accompanying yourself or a soloist, or as part of musical group. At the same time, you can also come up with very interesting games. But in our case, on this moment The solo performance is of greater interest. All the same, initially bluesmen performed the blues solo, accompanying themselves on the guitar.
Mojo Hand - Sam Lightnin' Hopkins
From here, over time, the manner of playing acoustic blues on the guitar developed, when the guitar part leads and melodic line, and the accompaniment line. Thus, we come to the topic of finger style blues guitar playing.
Before moving directly to the first lessons of the finger style of blues guitar, we will draw the first conclusions about how to play the blues on an acoustic and slightly structure the information written at the very beginning of this material.
And so, what can blues be like on acoustics? Here we will immediately assume that the husband is familiar with blues basics and we have an idea of what a shuffle, blues square, etc. are.
1. Blues chord accompaniment.
In this case, everything is quite simple. Knowing the structure of a blues square, knowing the tonality of the composition, we play chords with a certain rhythmic pattern periodically during the course of the piece, diluting them with bends, bass moves and other embellishments. As a result, we get a good rhythm guitar part for accompaniment.
2. Blues in the genre of boogie-woogie.
Here you get the opposite version of playing the guitar, when the basis of the part is the bass move, which is also diluted in a more complex version with various guitar moves and playing techniques. I don’t know why I’m writing ro boogie-woogie now, but oddly enough it’s very suitable for our main theme. Namely, boogie can be played with the finger style.
3. Blues solo.
Naturally, in blues solos can be played on acoustics, which can often be heard from different performers. To begin with, to play solo, it is enough to know the standard fingering of the blues scale, be able to play bends, vibrato, know a certain number of blues phrases for a sample, and you can start inventing your own.
4. Slide guitar.
This point will probably be too complex to describe in one paragraph. Considering that there is a slide guitar as an instrument and playing with a slide on ordinary guitars. But since our topic is tied to the acoustic guitar, in this context we will consider playing with a slide (bottleneck). This method playing is very common among blues guitarists.
5. Finger style.
Actually, this is the main topic of our article and several subsequent lessons. In which exercises and small compositions will be considered this style games.
To be continued