Need more riffs/licks in my blues repertoire...

[Phait]

I pretty much have tunnel vision and only listen to Stevie Ray Vaughan. I can play parts of Texas Flood and his cover of Voodoo Child, and a couple other song parts. See? Parts. But I find when I improvise during practice, I get stuck in this kinda thing:

 

 

 

I can improv off it but I get stuck in that whole box, anywhere on the fret board. What songs should I be learning to keep my improv more dynamic?

[1001gear]

Just listen to Robben Ford. Doesn't stuck anywhere.

[mosiddiqi]

Try and make the effort to listen to a wide variety of players...listen to the guys SRV listened to..Albert King, Freddie King, BB..all those guys, also Hendrix, Peter Green, Clapton, Page, Moore (for a more modern slant). I mean, I'm not a blues guy at all, but I've learned a lot about phrasing, bends and vibrato by listening to these guys. It's not about how many licks you know, but what you can do with the ones you do know. There is an unbelievable amount of music to be found in those pentatonic boxes!...all in the phrasing.

 

Guys like Robben Ford as 1001gear suggests make a lot of use of the Maj6 and 9 in their blues licks to add flavour..learn some of his solo's!. I notice that he also slides in to the 6 and 9 from a half step below a lot.which gives a very jazzy flavour to the lines...

[Krank'N]

For myself , a turning point in my playing was learning and then improving over a couple Deep Purple/Blackmore songs. They were "Mistreated" and "Lazy". Also learning how to use passing tones (without getting too jazzy) made pentatonics and blues scales more interesting.

[mosiddiqi]

For myself , a turning point in my playing was learning and then improving over a couple Deep Purple/Blackmore songs. They were "Mistreated" and "Lazy". Also learning how to use passing tones (without getting too jazzy) made pentatonics and blues scales more interesting.

 

Learning "Lazy" was a big education for me.

[sfarfsky]

try some BB King

[NorthernPaul]

I'd recommend a book 'Blues you can use' by John Ganapes, though judging by the date you signed up to the forum it may be a bit easy for you. There is a follow up, 'More blues you can use' but I'm only half way through the first one so can't tell you how difficult it is.

 

There are plenty of reviews on Amazon for you to decide if you think it would help, but they are good fun books, with some great tunes to learn and theory to back it up as well.

[BydoEmpire]

BB King, T-Bone Walker, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Albert Collins, The Allman Brothers guitarists - all great guys to draw from. The blues is such a wide genre. I love SRV (I have him tattooed on my back), but there so much more out there. It's a much more diverse genre than people give it credit for.

 

There are lots of good ways to break out of the boxes, probably the easiest is to learn a whole bunch of licks from guys who play a very different style of blues from SRV (like BB King).

 

For a concrete reference, use BB King's "Lucille." It's an 8 minute dictionary of his style - tons and tons of cool licks to learn in just that song.

[gennation]

Go here: http://lessons.mikedodge.com/lessons/AdvPent/AvdPentTOC.htm

 

READ the Introduction and then work through over 50 examples of how the great players, almost genre agnostic, use the Blues scale and Major Pentatonic scale from the same Root to create the sounds they get. Both scales (like G Blues and G Major Pent) work together to create the the flow of tension and resolution in your lines.

 

It's looks like your are starting to use this idea in the lick you tabbed, this batch of lessons will show you how to use that idea to its fullest. Again, over 50 examples using tab, audio, diagrams, etc...but read the Introduction as there's a good chance it will hit home for you as well as give you the objective of the lessons so you can use this idea to build your own lines, forever basically.

[jeremy_green]

Couple of threads further down the page and you would have found my lesson with a blog post addressing exactly that.

Give it a read maybe it will help. Along with all the other great advice presented here.

 

http://sixstringobsession.blogspot.com/2011/09/pentatonic-spice-adding-modal-sounds-to.html

 

P.S. Listen to Scott Henderson "Tore Down House" album and EVERYTHING by Matt Schofield. Joe Bonamassa wouldn't hurt either.

[benzem]

Try throwing in passing tones, as well as the flatted fifth, and the maj 6th(as in your ex.)

Also, move OUT of the box! Think linear.

One guy that impresses me this way is Billy Gibbons. In trying to learn some solos, I was amazed at how he makes the pent sound interesting and fresh simply by note choice and phrasing.

Also, try some minor blues stuff. Get a BT (u2b has some great stuff) and incorporate the minor scale into the pent minor.

[Phait]

Thanks a lot guys! Gonna pickup my guitar once I calm down (tl,dr)

[3shiftgtr]

my lesson with a blog post addressing exactly that. Give it a read maybe it will help. Along with all the other great advice presented here. http://sixstringobsession.blogspot.com/2011/09/pentatonic-spice-adding-modal-sounds-to.html

Good stuff here.

But if ya wanna REALLY REALLY REALLY get it goin on?

Take 3 weeks. Listen to NOTHING BUT THE BLUES. And nothing past 1972. Listen to all the originals.....Go historically....start around 1912 with Lonnie Johnson....then the acoustic guys like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bukka White, Robert Johnson....then work into the plugged in guys....Muddy and his bunch....any and everything on Chess Records....(factoid: Chuck Berry was a smokin blues player and got all his licks from his piano player Johnnie Johnson...fo real....blues albums on Chess)....The kings: B.B., Freddie and Stax era Albert. And there is tons more.

Figure out what all the metaphors meant and where the pain was coming from: when they sang about beating their woman, it wasn't their woman they wanted to beat! Get INSIDE the blues feel...cuz licks are important, but feel only comes from complete immersion. Get that {censored} dripping out of your soul. Sticking your toe in the pool is nice, but it ain't gonna fool nobody.

Just don't start drinking too much in the process! (although I don't know why, liquor just TASTES better at a blues bar)

Then go play the blues. Jams, with friends, where ever. Go see BLUES acts, not rockin blues or blusey rock...nothing wrong with it, it is just that you want to go to the SOURCE......

Then you will find it seeping in to your playing...osmosisizing if you will.....and your concept of the blues will be transformed. THEN you can start studying licks.....

Good luck!

[3shiftgtr]

I'd recommend a book 'Blues you can use' by John Ganapes, though judging by the date you signed up to the forum it may be a bit easy for you.

Great book. I've worked thru this book with many students. The REAL {censored} you need to know to play the blues in the REAL world. Mostly for advanced beginners or intermediates.

Approved.

[jeremy_green]

Good stuff here. But if ya wanna REALLY REALLY REALLY get it goin on? Take 3 weeks. Listen to NOTHING BUT THE BLUES. And nothing past 1972. Listen to all the originals.....Go historically....start around 1912 with Lonnie Johnson....then the acoustic guys like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bukka White, Robert Johnson....then work into the plugged in guys....Muddy and his bunch....any and everything on Chess Records....(factoid: Chuck Berry was a smokin blues player and got all his licks from his piano player Johnnie Johnson...fo real....blues albums on Chess)....The kings: B.B., Freddie and Stax era Albert. And there is tons more. Figure out what all the metaphors meant and where the pain was coming from: when they sang about beating their woman, it wasn't their woman they wanted to beat! Get INSIDE the blues feel...cuz licks are important, but feel only comes from complete immersion. Get that {censored} dripping out of your soul. Sticking your toe in the pool is nice, but it ain't gonna fool nobody. Just don't start drinking too much in the process! (although I don't know why, liquor just TASTES better at a blues bar) Then go play the blues. Jams, with friends, where ever. Go see BLUES acts, not rockin blues or blusey rock...nothing wrong with it, it is just that you want to go to the SOURCE...... Then you will find it seeping in to your playing...osmosisizing if you will.....and your concept of the blues will be transformed. THEN you can start studying licks..... Good luck!

 

Could not possibly agree more! My blues playing improved immensely when I really dug into the roots. You need to "get it" first. Seriously GREAT advice.

[bigboy78]

+1 For Blues You Can Use. You'll still be in a box, but it'll be a blues box. It really help me get the notes all over the fretboard and connect the boxes. The examples don't set the world on fire, but it will get some useable licks under you fingers and hopefully help you recognise them when you start transcribing the licks of the players already mentioned.

Also listen to heaps of blues. If you want to play the blues, you need to listen the blues. Not hard rock with blues licks, but actaully blues. One thing I noticed when I started looking beyond the "rock" blues (SRV, Hendrix, Cream etc) is that it is a vocal style of music. BB King was a great blues singer who also played guitar lines. Don't get hung up on flashy lines, concentrate on melody by trying to copy the vocal lines of some great blues singers. You Tube will be your friend in this.

Once you find a line you like, just play that line over & over for the full twelve bars. Either changing a note to fit the changes, or moving the whole lick to the new chord, until the lick is second nature and the sound is ground in to your brain. Then get another lick and do the same. Then play one lick on the I, and the next on IV etc.....

I'm sure in the US you have plenty of dedicated blues stations, if not I recommend GotRadio which has heaps of genre specific internet based radio. This is the only place I get to hear quality blues at my place.

[jonPhillips]

Learning "Lazy" was a big education for me.

 

You boys are talking my kind of language...