How to play chords on the guitar in a delta blues style. I love a screaming guitar solo as much as anyone, but some of my favorite music to listen to is that greasy, slow, electric fingerpicking blues guitar. Heres a quick way to get started with delta blues tuesday blues. Delta blues style fingerpicking lesson thumping bass. He created an essential body of blues guitar music, recording 29 songs in 1936 and 1937 that would exert a powerful influence on the likes of eric clapton, jimi hendrix, keith richards, johnny winter and. Monday morning blues is a twelve bar blues piece in the key of a using the alternating bassline which is common to john hurts songs. Any fingerstyle blues guitar lessons should really cover the very roots of acoustic blues, which probably originated in the mississippi delta after the end of slavery. Today, delta blues is a melting pot of traditional blues, a bit of pop and a good pinch of cajun spice.
It includes some very classic licks you can use to compose your own arrangement for this style of playing. John lee hooker was one of the true blues giants and a real groove monster. And the reason is that it is a valuable collection of solos by players like charley patton, son house, willie brown, robert johnson, and others. This lesson comes with over 40 minutes of video, pdf tabs and three audio backing tracks. Delta blues guitar lesson fingerstyle like robert johnson. I always dread trying to teach something like this because there is so much to show and im always afraid that im going to leave something. The songs and lessons illustrated in this ebook give the learner a solid foundation in beginning delta blues guitar playing. This is a straight ahead 12 bar blues that is fun to play and can really open the door for students looking to learn more about delta style playing.
Basically, it tended to strike just one string, or two, without moving between two or three in a. After the fundamentals, you have the chance to learn the intricacies of blues, country and rock. Delta blues the delta blues style comes from a region in the southern part of mississippi, a place romantically referred to as the land where the blues were born. A musical and cultural history of the mississippi delta by robert palmer, escaping the delta. Hurt could be viewed as a bach of the delta blues due to his flowing syncopation.
This month is an introduction to blues fingerpicking in the delta blues style thumping those bass notes and picking melody notes on top. In this guitar lesson, youll learn how to play a solo delta blues guitar composition thats played fingerstyle meaning no picks with the right hand. The blues you can use books have been great, but i agree that there isnt much that i can find that i consider intermediatelevel books. Ive gotten several requests to cover the song hard time killing floor blues, by skip james. You dont need a resonator guitar like the one im using a regular acoustic will do just fine. The bass lines played in this style differ from the delta style in that they alternate between chord tones instead of having a monotone bass note driving a single chord tone. Delta blues guitar is a book that has been around for quite awhile, that is, it has stood the test of time. Become a premiere member to access this fulllength video and all of the instruction at my site.
Ive had several requests for more of a delta blues style lesson so i thought id compose a little piece and show you how to play it. Surprisingly, the vital few will carry you 80% of the way. Obviously theres a large body of music that falls into this category, which can be further broken down into such substyles as delta blues, texas blues, ragtime, piedmont, and boogiewoogie. Learn to play an easyish blues loosely in the style of robert johnson.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but these are the styles well cover in this lesson. Its got that delta blues, robert johnson kind of feel to it. The sounds of chicago blues trace back to when migrant workers from the south moved north to bigger cities to seek employment. In its earliest form, the style became the first black guitardominated music to make it onto phonograph records back in the late 20s. Just great stuff for teaching beginning to intermediate fingerstyle blues. Delta blues guitar lesson fingerstyle like robert johnson blues. Grossman a debt for his efforts in preserving and teaching this vital style of music. Facebook, and on the delta lou youtube channel to meet other blues fanatics. Capture the authentic sound of delta blues slide guitar. Delta blues guitar video lesson by ivan milenkovic. Down home blues in e delta and chicago style blues. Delta blues guitar 3 cd set taught by stefan grossman. However, its not just a book as audio samples for every lesson are available from. Any way you look at it, delta blues is influential on blues music and lets be honest, its a ton of fun to play.
Looking for recommendations for delta blues method books. The list starts with general books of the blues essential reading, followed by blues artists in alphabetical order, interjected with blues books on particular themes. Take a look below to check out the different teachers that cover blues. Willie browns future blues in an open g tuning d g d g b d presents many of the hallmark licks that were. Delta blues style finger picking and use of the bottleneck slide is essential to learn when studying the various playing styles of the artists from this important musical genre. Big bill broonzy 26 june 1898 14 august 1958 was a prolific african american blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. Acoustic blues workshop level 1 delta blues lesson. Some argue that delta blues is a region theyre correct and others tout that the sound rather than the place define the genre theyre correct, too. Try to memorize the piece while practicing it so you have something to play on the beach, on your front porch and to perform for friends and family. This lesson teaches you how to play a robert johnson inspired delta blues song. Ill explain it slowly and step by step so its easy to understand for guitar players of all levels. What they brought with them was a rich tradition of delta blues, but than amplified that with an electric guitar along with added instrumentation.
To get you started, have a look at a very typical piedmont blues progression. That was back when i was teaching 50 or more lessons a week. The mississippi delta style of bluesor, simply, delta bluesemphasized solo performances by singers accompanying themselves on guitar and relying on a host of distinctive techniques, such as the sliding of a bottleneck or metal object such as a knife along the fingerboard to bend notes, the use of melodic phrases on the guitar to respond to the voice in. In this lesson, well have a look at a delta blues style tune in e that will help you get the basics of the style down. Dvd 3 slash style, billy gibbons style, robin trower style dvd 4 robert cray style, dan auerbach style dvd 5 jimi hendrix style, carlos santana style dvd 6 david gilmour style, johnny winter style dvd 7 michael schenker style, jimmy page style, eric clapton style jam track audio cds. Delta blues slide guitar is a complete guide to the techniques and music of bottleneck acoustic blues a genre that can be traced back over 100 years to the mississippi delta. In this lesson were gonna explore a really cool regional blues style, that was played in the mississippi delta by guys like robert johnson and son house, and is a lot of fun to play. One of the coolest things about this style, is that you can play it completely by yourself. The books includes basic fingerpicking around chords, including melody notes to augment the basic chord notes, bassline runs, picking rhythms, chord inversions up the neck, the structure and patterns of blues music, vamps introductory phrases, blues singingplaying, and finishing on number of blues tunes. In this video guitar lesson from youtube user deltabluestips, youll learn the very basics of deltastyle blues. Delta blues fingerstyle guitar lesson ep145 active melody.
Easy robert johnsonstyle blues acoustic guitar lesson. Learn to play the guitar with these fingerstyle blues songs. Deepen your knowledge of delta blues with this indepth guitar lesson. There are many fine books on the blues, so i thought i would share with you my recommendations. Delta blues style fingerpicking lesson thumping bass and melody. Delta blues guitar stefan grossmans guitar workshop. Blues style course level 1 and level 2 blues mini courses. Pioneers like howlin wolf and muddy waters paved the way for many british artists who created a pop influenced blues style. Free guitar lesons w pdf tab masters of delta blues guitar.
Theres no question that delta blues is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The best acoustic blues guitar lessons to learn how to play in the style of the greatest bluesmen such as robert johnson, big bill broonzy, son house and many others. So what ive tried to do in this lesson is to give you a way into the johnson style in the form of a reasonably approachable piece. Delta blues also goes by the moniker mississippi blues, but either term refers to the blues style of playing that came out of the delta region of mississippi, the fertile cottonproducing area of the state not to be confused with the mississippi river delta.
Visit to download the tab for this lesson and also to check out other blues guitar. The mississippi delta of the 1920s1940s was a treasure chest of powerful blues performances. Delta blues licks that will make you sound awesome tuesday. I figure delta blues has to be one of the best ways to start. In this lesson, well look at a slowpaced delta blues style number. The roots of electric blues are found in the sounds of the windy city. Popularized by artists like son house and skip james, delta blues is not only one of the oldest forms of blues music, it is among the most stylistically distinct and technically rewarding to play. The song is played fingerstyle with the right hand no pick was used. Delta blues is a very distinctive blues style, one of the first blues styles known.
Mississippi john hurt you got to walk that lonesome valley. It is truly a unique culture and the blues music is awesome. He demonstrates this turnaround in the key of e major. Heres a great little riff similar to what jimmy page might play if bring it on home had been recorded in a delta blues style. Here is a great delta blues study piece ive created for those of you looking to dig into this style a bit more. If you mange to get this together then youll be in a. Again, demonstrate this style to students and ask them to listen for it. Take a moment to watch the following videos of a few greats in this style.
At delta lou music, we preserve the american blues and the lost art of slide guitar through our freedownloadable lessons and our community commentary of the american delta blues circa 19201939. Beginning finger picking for the delta blues guitar. In this lesson you will learn some typical john lee hooker riffs and licks in spanish tuning open a or open g that every blues guitarist needs to know. Master acoustic blues guitar fingerpicking and soloing. Blues has been a major inspiration for jazz, bluegrass, country, rock and as such is very important for every guitarist to study. On this page youll find all my free tabs pdfs the videos for these tabs are on the page free guitar tabvideos if you like the free tabs on this page, please consider donating via paypal using the button below. With delta blues lessons you learn how to play the most used chords in the delta blues and the most common rhythmic variations. This style tended to be more basic than later picking patterns, and the main characteristic was how the thumb moved. My son was a teacher for tfa in the delta and lived in clarksdale for a couple of years. The more we visit, the more i appreciate the people, their struggles and their history. This is not a difficult fingerstyle composition because the bass thumb stays on one string at a time, matching the chord that youre playing.
A complete guide to authentic acoustic blues slide. I purchased some stevie ray vaughan tab books and one with a play along cd that can be slowed down, but lets face it, going from a beginners book to. A robert johnsonstyle acoustic blues anyone can play guitar. Delta blues lessons how to play blues guitar burninguitar. And while you can certainly play some cool blues by strumming some. The song is played fingerstyle with the right hand no pick. Its where blues guitar was first heard over 60 years before led zeppelin, eric clapton and others brought it to the masses. Perhaps i havent looked hard enough or know where to look. Delta blues giant robert johnson may 8, 1911 august 16, 1938 is one of the most fascinating and mysterious performers in music history.
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