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Rethink your Approach to Blues Guitar

Rethink your Approach to Blues Guitar
Rethink your Approach to Blues Guitar

The internet is such a valuable resource for modern guitarists all over the world. I recently came across this interesting post about music philosophy and his approach to blues guitar by guitar teacher John W. Tuggle on his website http://www.learningguitarnow.com, great site for learning slide blues guitar and thought I’d share it with you:

“Am I crazy!  A little, but who isn’t?

There comes a time when you’ve learned so many new concepts, scales, techniques, etc. that you have to take a step back and stop thinking about the technical side of music while you’re playing.

It’s true that you must learn about the technical aspects of playing blues guitar. And at some point, you must spend some time just playing without thinking about scales or anything. Your approach to blues guitar is vital in setting yourself up as a well rounded guitarist.

Scales Are Not Music

I’ll say it again.

SCALES ARE NOT MUSIC

Just in case, you didn’t hear me.

SCALES ARE NOT MUSIC

Ok, I think you get the point.

You can get so bogged down in learning the technical side, that you forget what the blues is all about in the first place.  I’m guilty of this as well.

Do you think Duane Allman was thinking about what scales to play when he performed Statesboro Blues or the solo in Stormy Monday?  I highly doubt it, and you can tell because his playing is very non-scalular.  Is that a word?

Derek Trucks stated in an interview that when he practices now, he just sits around and tries to come up with cool licks and riffs.

If you have a practice regimen in place and regularly practice your scales, you must spend some time just playing without thinking.  Finding the balance between them is the key I believe.

Nothing to Say

After I had been playing for a few years, my playing suffered from too many scale-like passages.  I practiced scales for about an hour a day for a couple of years and in the process I gained a lot of technique with not much to say. I then really got into blues playing and found it very hard to get the same emotion out of my guitar that Buddy Guy got on his Damn Right I’ve Got the Blues Album. I wore that one out I tell ya.

Now there’s nothing wrong with practicing your scales and I highly recommend it. And there will come a time when you have to spend some time playing what you feel, instead of what you think.

The saying in baseball, “You Play Like You Practice”,  is applicable to guitar as well.  If you practice scales and technical aspects all of the time and don’t balance it out with playing what you feel when you perform you will sound like a technician, not a musician.

This is what I think separates a lot of the players today.  There’s so many people who are technically amazing, but honestly, they don’t do anything for me.  There are however some who are technically amazing and play with tremendous feel.

A Few Blues Examples:

Joe Bonamassa

Matt Schofield

Eric Gales

Just to name a few.

Next time you sit down to practice, spend at least 15 minutes just playing without thinking about it.  You might be surprised at what happens.”

This is such a valuable observation. Music at its most powerful is inextricably suffused with emotion born of real-world experience. Tapping into this emotional aspect of your playing- effectively shutting off your brain – can make you playing, particularly your improvisation, all the more powerful.

* Has played in the UK with the band Lightning Type on stages like the Camden Barfly, Dublin Castle and The London Astoria
* Has recorded at Beethoven Street Studios, previously owned by Seal, through a mixing desk once used by David Bowie, with one of Brian May's amps
* Has played with local rock superstars Cassette
* Has been teaching for the last 10 years to all ages and levels
* Listens to and enjoys playing ALL styles of music
* Has spent years refining the POWER STANCE for maximum on-stage rocking
* Has dedicated himself to the lifelong pursuit of ULTIMATE TONE: The Way of the TONE Master
* Has never played "Guitar Hero"

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