Jamming

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Charlie_13

Guest
I have just had more fun with my guitar than I have ever had in my life.
I received my SWS the other day and read through top to bottom. Most of the first twenty pages were things that I could use and that were comfortable for me to do.
Page twenty one has "Blues block (BB)#1) and a short lesson
to show you the notes and the root note in the key of G.
Page twenty two has that note "Before you move on"
and if your like me, you remove that little tag on your pillow
that says "Do not remove", Well, "Don't move on"!
"Practice it along with a jam track if you like", is what it says.
This is like "In the beginning God created heaven and earth and everything else and on the seventh day he played blues.
If you haven't downloaded Griff's free eighty jam tracks then do it, do it now, don't wait, now.
I went to the jam tracks for G and picked a slow one called
"Baby talk blues" clicked it on and closed my eyes, put my fingers on the two strings in the right position, remembered where the root note was, it's marked in the book with a heavy dot and a circle around it, with the root as home base
I just started sliding ,bending both up and down,hammering, pulling off ,graceing, and shucking and jiveing.
It's been hard to send this note to you guys as I'm still giggling and laughing. I also used the jam track "Good girl blues" with the same sucsess. Play with those four notes
and when you stop giggling send me a note.
If I had payed ten times the amount for this course and it only went to page 22 it would have been worth it.
Huggs and kisses Griff you made my day, month, year, life time.
My wife thought it was a solo in the course and told me it was good, I already knew it was, it felt soooo good.
Got to go now and get another jam track in G and for the first time turn up the volume and shake the roof.
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
Good for you LCW.  I have had a few of those moments in the last few weeks but was doing the whole scale still, not the 4 note option, so I will have to try that!

Nice post.
 

Steve G

St. Simons Island, GA
Another "AHA" moment.  It's what we live & breath for.  Good for you LCW & thanks for sharing the moment with the rest of us blues junkies.
 
B

b0b_b4rk3r

Guest
Hey LCW....what a great feeling......hope I get to experience that one day..... :cool:

Sounds like you are really fired up...... :cool:

[glow=yellow,2,300]If you haven't downloaded Griff's free eighty jam tracks then do it, do it now, don't wait, now..[/glow]

I haven't yet......can you point me in the right direction?....

Cheers,

Bob

BTW...are we gonna be hearing a recording of this.....I'll be looking out for it... ;)
 

Ray_UK

Blues Newbie
Way to go LCW  [smiley=beer.gif]

What you describe is what I'm waiting for to happen to me, sounds fantastic to hear how great it was for you. Thanks for the inspiration! :)
 
M

MandyC

Guest
Thanks Little Chilly Willie

Bob is downloading the tracks now so I'll just copy them across.
I've just started playing SWS. Worked through to Solo #1. OK with hammer-ons and pull-offs, slides not too bad but bends need a lot more work. Don't think the 3/4 bend sounds too good!
I've already had a go at noodling with the 1st blues block though and it is such fun!!
Apart from very sore fingers! :'( you weren't kidding Griff!
 
C

Charlie_13

Guest
I have made files for each key that way I can go to the right spot for what I need.
So once you download them, sort them out for an easyer time of finding the right track.
Thanks for the feed back guys and dolls.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Charlie, that's great news. I'm really enjoying the heck out of SWS too. I'm messing with Solo #3 now and Griff shows you a little thing with the picking had that's driving me crazy. I can play the piece with just a pick, but he suggest that you try using a pick and your middle finger (kind of like BGU Lesson 9 - How-How-How).. It's pretty quick and doing it with my fingers is tough, but fun, but tough, oh and fun!
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
Charlie,

I went home last night after reading your post and did something very similar.  Basically I took all of the different Jam tracks in G that I had on my Tascam and played them while trying to adjust the rhythm and tempo of the Solo 1 lead.  A slightly different twist on what you did but I did not have all of the Solo 1 tricks under my fingers yet, so I was able to just go by the tab.

No less fun.  Sometimes it took a little while to get the tempo down as there was a lot of variety in the style of rhythm track and varying tempos, but it was a great and fun exercise.  Perhaps the BEST part of the whole thing is that you really cannot play a note that sounds bad if you stick with the basic four notes.  They may not be the best possible at all times, but just about any of the four notes sounds good at any spot of the solo.  That makes it a lot more fun. 

Lastly, either I sounded ok or I have finally got my wife trained.  Last night was the first time ever where she did not walk up and just start talking and asking me questions in the middle of working on a lesson.  She normally just starts asking me to do stuff right in the middle of a song.  I never actually do it and never stop until I am done, but the training might finally be sinking in..... :)
 

TonyS

Blues Newbie
Please forgive my ignorance guys but where can I find these jam tracks you are talking about.  I seem to remember reading about a load of jam tracks when I first started with BGU the first time but I've been asleep a few times since then and somebody comes along most nights and erases my memory.  Would be great if you could point me in the right direction.  Cheers
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
Please forgive my ignorance guys but where can I find these jam tracks you are talking about.  I seem to remember reading about a load of jam tracks when I first started with BGU the first time but I've been asleep a few times since then and somebody comes along most nights and erases my memory.  Would be great if you could point me in the right direction.  Cheers

Tony,

Look 6 replies up and Steve M posted a 4 shared link to them ;)
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
I have made files for each key that way I can go to the right spot for what I need.
So once you download them, sort them out for an easyer time of finding the right track.
Thanks for the feed back guys and dolls.

LCW,

Did you figure out the keys for the ones that were not labeled as such?
 
C

Charlie_13

Guest
No 560 I did not, but I will try to use other keys for box 1 and when I find one that works I will change its name and add it to the right file for that key.
Clear as mud.
LCW ;)
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
Just wondering cause I was trying to organize my backing tracks by "key" and I have about 25-30 that don't have the key in the title.  I was hoping there was an easier way than trial and ERROR!  ;)
 
C

Charlie_13

Guest
560 try this it worked for me. If Griff sees this he might agree or tell me I am full of it.
Page 21 SWS
The pattern BB#1 and the root note in that pattern.
Start the jam track and noodle with that pattern on the E and B string, see if it sounds good if not move up the neck or down till you find a place your noodling seems to work, let your ears find it.
When it sounds right then the root note on the B string should be your key.
Clear as the Mississippi.
 

kgarkie

Been living the blues.
560 try this it worked for me. If Griff sees this he might agree or tell me I am full of it.
Page 21 SWS
The pattern BB#1 and the root note in that pattern.
Start the jam track and noodle with that pattern on the E and B string, see if it sounds good if not move up the neck or down till you find a place your noodling seems to work, let your ears find it.
When it sounds right then the root note on the B string should be your key.
Clear as the Mississippi.

You mean the ole Muddy?  Maybe at the headwaters. 
 

560sdl

Blues Newbie
560 try this it worked for me. If Griff sees this he might agree or tell me I am full of it.
Page 21 SWS
The pattern BB#1 and the root note in that pattern.
Start the jam track and noodle with that pattern on the E and B string, see if it sounds good if not move up the neck or down till you find a place your noodling seems to work, let your ears find it.
When it sounds right then the root note on the B string should be your key.
Clear as the Mississippi.

You mean the ole Muddy?  Maybe at the headwaters. 

Yea, cause I always get "somewhere close" to it sounding right but you could still be off by one note either way when it first starts to sound right...........I guess it would just get narrowed down.

The next question is:  Does the 4 note solo work equally well in the major and minor jam tracks or do we have to change using the relative minor thing?

In other words, does the G "BB1" work for G and Gm or just one?
 
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