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Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music — No Comments
11
Aug 10

Guitar Lesson

I started working up “Blues Break in ‘G'” on Monday. It’s the third of the songs in G in Kenny Sultan’s Introduction to Acoustic Blues (2001, p. 26) and is a continuation of “Step It Up And Go.” I went over it in my lesson today with Jim Goelitz. I was confused by a chord fingering that Sultan suggested, but Jim said the way I was fingering it was better. There are still some rough spots when I play the song, but it’s mainly getting my fingers used to slightly different patterns. The songs have a very different feel than those in E and A and overall seem easier.

We also talked about chords and Jim introduced me to the concept of “half-stepping” into a chord change. It’s something I had often heard in music and even played, but I wasn’t familiar with the term. It consists of leading in to a chord change by playing a chord a half-step (one fret) above or below the next chord. This adds interest to the chording.

Blues / Electric Guitar / Learning Music — No Comments
28
Jul 10

Guitar Practice

This week I’ve focused on exercises and songs in the Key of G from Kenny Sultan’s Introduction to Acoustic Blues (2001). I’ve been practicing “Blues in G” (p. 23) for three weeks or so and am feeling more at ease with it and can play it more smoothly. I haven’t quite mastered the patterns in measures 6 and 11, but they’re getting easier. Compared to some songs earlier in the book it’s not a difficult piece, but there are new moves that my fingers haven’t quite gotten used to. My little finger, for example, doesn’t always make it from the first string to fret the third string reliably.

On Sunday (7/25), I started practicing “Step It Up and Go”(p. 25), which adds the C and D7 chord to the G chord. Again, it’s not that difficult, but my fingers are still getting the hang of it.

Meanwhile, I continue to practice scales, chords and the songs in E and A that I’ve learned. It’s frustrating to go back to a song and discover how unruly it’s gotten during the period of neglect.

Blues / Learning Music / Quotes — No Comments
29
Apr 10

4 Blues Rules

1. Have fun.

2. Play loose.

3. Play with feeling.

4. Don’t worry about mistakes.

—Kenny Sultan. Blues Guitar Legends (1996)

Blues / Learning Music — No Comments
13
Jan 10

Guitar practice

The cold weather has made practicing difficult. In particular, the second finger on my left hand and the first finger on my right hand are cracked and sore. I only practiced about half an hour last night. I worked on “Gambler’s Blues” from the Acoustic Blues book that my teacher, Jim Goelitz, gave me some time ago. I had forgotten about it,  but when we were talking about finger picking he recommended I work on that material.

I also started doing a musical analysis of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Commit a Crime,” which I really like. I believe it’s just a one-chord riff-based song in B, but I really like the riff. I’d never heard the song until I heard it on the three CD Chess Box set. When I Googled it last night, I discovered that it had been covered by a lot of musicians, including Stevie Ray Vaughan. I haven’t figured out the riff yet, but hope Jim will help me today.