Skip to content
Anyone got some goo...
 
Notifications
Clear all

Anyone got some good minor pentatonic or Blues riffs?

28 Posts
11 Users
0 Likes
3,420 Views
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

I'm working on Delta Mood. "It follows the style of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker, and sounds a little bit heavier than the previous studies."

Margaret

Sounds like you're going great Margaret! :D Way ahead of me.

I must admit I rushed through the first few lessons..... badly... :oops: As a 'campfire strummer' I expected to find the chord parts fairly straightforward and the unfamiliar single note stuff tricky, but actually it was pretty much the other way round, as there were some chords there that I hadn't really fully nailed cleanly before (like the full version of E7 where my creaking pinky has to stretch a little further than it wants to. :( ) So I was fudging parts instead of doing exactly what was written. :roll:

So I've now gone right back to Texas Rock with the intention of nailing it down "good an' proper" this time. :)

I must admit, I can't really see myself exhausting either the knowlegde or the fun to be gained from going through this book any number of times.

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
(@margaret)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1675
 

Thanks, Chris. I won't say how (very) long I've been working in BYCU to get even to Lesson 6 (not that I even remember). I am reaching above my head with these pieces, and Delta Mood has been especially challenging for me. Didn't help that I'd practiced it one way for a while before my teacher changed the fingering he wanted me to use on it. I can play it through now, but very slowly.

I don't have any of the pieces perfected to the point I'd want to play them for anybody. I'm going to be going through the book at least twice, hopefully getting up to full speed the second trip through. But I am learning valuable techniques along the way, and memorizing the scale patterns.

BYCU is a great series that could keep me busy for years.

Margaret

When my mind is free, you know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue, the guitar's comin' through to soothe me ~


   
ReplyQuote
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3995
 

Ken, Margaret explained it perfectly. Compare "Texas Blues" and this beginner version of "Mary had a little lamb".

Margaret and Chris, I uploaded two BYCU's studies yesterday (see My first recordings), they are previous to "Delta Mood". I don't know if you visit the thread. As you know I am playing for 8 months, thus if I can do it, YOU ALSO CAN! :D

Come on Chris! Try it one more time! :D

IMHO the two first lessons are less funny than the others when you start to play single (or double) notes. Practice all the lesson sections, scales and progressions included. It helps me with my pinky stretch and also with other barre chords for other songs... Collateral effects!


   
ReplyQuote
(@margaret)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1675
 

Nice job on Swingin the Blues and True Blue, Nuno! Nice tone and very cleanly played. Sounds like you are ready to pick up the tempo a bit if you want to. Kudos on making your own backing tracks, too!

While you think the first two lessons are less fun, those two are my favorite so far. Just different tastes. :D

Margaret

When my mind is free, you know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue, the guitar's comin' through to soothe me ~


   
ReplyQuote
(@dcmarshall)
Trusted Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 41
 

Another vote for Blues You Can Use. I've just started using this book with my teacher. Some of the theory and pentatonic scale fingerings are review for me at this point, but that's a good thing - it reinforces what you know. The lessons are good too, so far. Up until this point, my lessons were kind of haphazard things - working on different techniques/chords/theory each week, without too much tying them together. Now, through this book, there's a sense of cohesion, which helps immensely.

Margaret, I'm working on Delta Mood now as well (#%@* 12/8 timing!). Hopefully, I'll get it down too.


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

Margaret and Chris, I uploaded two BYCU's studies yesterday (see My first recordings), they are previous to "Delta Mood". I don't know if you visit the thread. As you know I am playing for 8 months, thus if I can do it, YOU ALSO CAN! :D

Come on Chris! Try it one more time! :D

Hey, nice work Nuno! :D Great job after only 8 months. 8)

Thanks for the encouragement too. I'll keep at it. I really enjoy fiddling around when I play anything, and like to try a few different tacks, improvisation etc. to keep up my interest when I'm plugging through set songs or exercises. So I tried a few different ways with some of those songs.

When I first tried Texas Rock I was having difficulty always landing the pinky cleanly with the full E7 (unfortunately my pinky is 60 years old like the rest of me, and a bit set in its ways... :shock: It works OK further along the neck but at the wider frets by the nut it's still a tad unreliable on that E7). So I tried a few other options. These included using the simple two finger E7, playing it using a straight E and A instead of 7s, and using completely different fingerings but strumming less strings. They all worked, and sounded reasonably OK. But I still felt I was fudging it a bit. :wink:

I enjoy trying different approaches like that, and it helps me learn more about music and how it applies to the guitar when I experiment with 'other ways' as well as the 'as written' version. But, variations aside, I still couldn't do it properly the way JG wrote it. So it's back to the start again - and still enjoying it. N...e..a...r..l..y getting it each time now.... :D

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

I don't have any of the pieces perfected to the point I'd want to play them for anybody. I'm going to be going through the book at least twice, hopefully getting up to full speed the second trip through. But I am learning valuable techniques along the way, and memorizing the scale patterns.

+1 to all that. :D

I'm right with you on the scale patterns thing. Having spent the past couple of years just cheerfully strumming chords and playing simple traditional songs I'd never really tried solo style playing. Apart from a basic major scale in the first position I'd pretty much thought "Scales, schmales - I'll look at them if I ever find a need for them. Why learn them just for the sake of it..." Now I do have a point to it, and the business of learning them comes to life. :D

I've also been learning a very simple major scale pattern that I can apply across some of the middle of the neck and having a lot of fun just 'finding' familiar melodies and working out how to play them 'from scratch' without a score to follow. My aim is to learn where the music is by feel and by sound rather than visual patterns (although they're the obvious starting point). I like to jump around as I play scale patterns, and try and make some music rather than just grinding up and down them, so that I get the feel of all the musical jumps and intervals. And it's such a blast when your fingers start to know where to go to get the next sound rather than just which 'box position' it's looking for. I'm absolutely on the very bottom rung of the skills ladder in that regard, but when it works it's a major joy! 8)

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
(@margaret)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1675
 

Margaret, I'm working on Delta Mood now as well (#%@* 12/8 timing!). Hopefully, I'll get it down too.
The 12/8 time signature doesn't bother me any, but jumping my fretting fingers back and forth from the top three strings to the bottom three strings in every measure, and back up to the top three to hit the slide smoothly, I just can't do very quickly.

I love the heavier sound of this tune, so I'm determined to learn it eventually.

Margaret

When my mind is free, you know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue, the guitar's comin' through to soothe me ~


   
ReplyQuote
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3995
 

Thanks Chris! :D

When I first tried Texas Rock I was having difficulty always landing the pinky cleanly with the full E7.
Me too, but keep practicing. I'm also working on Wish you were here this week and it also has a difficult 4 finger chord: the G chord, [320033] voicing.

Please, let me recommend you one of my favorite posts here, it is called How to learn chord changes. :wink: :D

Usually I read it from time to time, mainly when I get troubles with a chord change. Some replies are also very good advices.

Nuno


   
ReplyQuote
(@chris-c)
Famed Member
Joined: 19 years ago
Posts: 3454
 

Please, let me recommend you one of my favorite posts here, it is called How to learn chord changes. :wink: :D

:D :D :D

I'd forgotten that!

The good news is that I seem to have just about nailed it now. There's a good exercise that I do every so often for the pinky that's very similar and which I've just about got down now. It's the old 12 bar blues pattern witth E, A and B7, but on the E you change on every beat. So each "E' bar goes E, E6, E7 E6 with a sort of Down/Up shuffle beat. And each 'A' bar goes A, A6, A7, A6. The pinky has to dart backwards and forwards between frets 2 and 3. Good exercise and good fun.

Good luck with "Wish you were here". 8)

Cheers,

Chris


   
ReplyQuote
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3995
 

Margaret, I'm working on Delta Mood now as well (#%@* 12/8 timing!). Hopefully, I'll get it down too.
The 12/8 time signature doesn't bother me any, but jumping my fretting fingers back and forth from the top three strings to the bottom three strings in every measure, and back up to the top three to hit the slide smoothly, I just can't do very quickly.
You are scaring me! It is my next lesson! :cry:

Margaret, thank you for your comments on my recordings! I picked up the tempo sometimes. These versions are at 68 bpm, the tempo of the "low tempo" versions.


   
ReplyQuote
 Nuno
(@nuno)
Famed Member
Joined: 17 years ago
Posts: 3995
 

Please, let me recommend you one of my favorite posts here, it is called How to learn chord changes. :wink: :D

:D :D :D
:lol: :lol: :lol:

Mmmm.... Chris, that progressions is very interesting! I was hearing a blues this morning and I think they used it! I'll try this afternoon.

It makes me remember a song with a similar use of the pinky, the The Little Drummer Boy. I was working on it last Christmas.

Thanks!
Nuno


   
ReplyQuote
(@margaret)
Noble Member
Joined: 18 years ago
Posts: 1675
 

Don't let my ineptitude scare you about Delta Mood, Nuno. In fact, I did a bit better with it yesterday so maybe it is starting to gel a bit for me.

I'm starting to take a look at the next one, Bending the Blues. Now that's one to scare a body. :shock: A LOT of bends all packed in together. Muting the string while releasing the bend is a trick I haven't yet mastered, and that is required repeatedly in this piece. :?

Margaret

When my mind is free, you know a melody can move me
And when I'm feelin' blue, the guitar's comin' through to soothe me ~


   
ReplyQuote
Page 2 / 2