Let’s face it, there aren’t a lot of guarantees in the world that are worth much anymore…
So one thing I work hard at is keeping things organized in such a way that you start with things that are “guaranteed to work.”
Even something as simple as soloing with the blues scale, or the 4 Note Solo pattern, is guaranteed to work because there are no notes that can be wrong. So if you play only those notes at any point in a blues progression, you will never sound wrong or out of key (assuming you start in the right place…)
And then there are things like my “blues rules,” and a good example is never starting a lick on beat 1…
Does that mean you really can never start a lick on beat 1? Of course not! BB King does it at the top of “The Thrill Is Gone” and it kills… but that’s BB King 🙂
What it really means is that, by and large, most licks you hear from great guitar players in your life don’t start on beat 1 (and there’s a whole historical context of work songs behind why that is) and so you’re used to hearing licks played that way – you’ve come to expect it.
And a lot of what we perceive as success (or in this case, sounding good) has to do with meeting our own expectations. So if you play a lick and it sounds like what you expect, you’re probably going to like it!
So since you mostly hear that sound of playing off beat 1, that’s what will sound good to you every time. Playing on beat 1 might sound good to you if you do it right, but it might sound lousy so it’s not guaranteed to work.
As you get better and more sophisticated in your playing, starting on beat 1 may make sense at times and you’ll know how to handle it and make it sound good.
But for now, especially if you’re new to soloing in general, stick to the guaranteed path.
29 replies to "I Guarantee It…"
Hey Griff,
Great refresher of your words of wisdom. I think if everyone here purchased your Blues Guitar Unleashed V 2 they would soon learn about How & When to play on Beat 1 or 2..Since I have purchased a lot of BGU Courses this is quite simply outlined.. Counting is a must and from my experience when I was a semi -pro drummer during the 60’s, I found it quite hard back then when I was singing songs and coming in across the beat. So now advancing with guitar and with learning, playing & practicing all the BGU Courses it just makes it so easy to just know the rules that you are teaching us.
All Good.
Michael-Sydney-Australia 9th Nov 2017.
Throughout my life I’ve dabbled with playing drums. So I would offer this thought. Metronomes are good, but as Jack Flash said above, it lacks the visual ability to know where you are in the measure. So a few years ago I started playing with drum machines and playing guitar and bass along with them. With these drum machines, I can see the LEDs light when it hits the beat and reinforces my counting. My latest love is with my iPad using some drum machine apps (I find DM1 wonderful). With that, I can go through every beat, every 1/4, 1/8. 1/16th, etc beat to create and modify my own as well as pre-made beats. It has helped me with understanding the groove, counting the groove, and playing along with the groove. So when Griff says don’t play on the 1, you can actually see when the 1 “and” comes. And, since drum machines offer a closer to reality experience, I’ll never go back to metronomes.
I am still trying to figure out this counting thing…I hear it get into the grove and play it as I mimmic the sound but I do need to learn this counting thing…I bought a metrodome with a pendillum to help with timing although I am still figuring out what number…like 4/4 or 16th or 1/8 note beats number the metrodome is put on…But I play by ear mostly and never even knew how to read music until I bought the Guitar Theory by Griff…but these markings in the leger is difficult to figure out as there are markings that …well like 7 tied to a 7 with a 5 in the middle…but anyway this is great info….
I agree with Walt, a short video demonstrating not starting on 1 would be helpful.
Like a character in an old movie once said. “Guaranteed not to fail (click) not to fail (click) not to fail!!!”:-/
Great blog Griff, I agree I did it all the time and played out of tune and never new, untill later on when I listened to my recordings I was shocked at the mistakes I could now hear.
Another good rule is not to play to much and crowd the band and the music,you guessed it I did it all the time and I’ve only just got a grip of not doing it.
The fact remains with a good teacher and some rules you can achieve a lot and thanks to Griff I’m playing better now than I ever did but also understand what I’m playing which then led to me learning some crazy jazz chords that where used in the old blues by guys like
Blind willie Johnson nd jimmy Witherspoon great stuff
It is, yet again, a good reminder of what we all should be doing. i.e. not starting on beat one. So thank you for that Griff, and thank you for all your great advice over the past few years.
I have just one ‘quibble’ and that’s about your correspondents use of grammar and spelling. Whilst I am aware that some of the folk who write to you don’t have English as a first language, many clearly do but appear too lazy to check their comments for errors. At times it makes reading those comments quite difficult. So wake up people and give your brilliant teacher some respect. Please.
GRIFF CAN SPEAK FOR HIMSELF!
Yes Griff; you know what you are talking about; thanks for being so diligent and professional in teaching and playing; thanks Dave A
Hey Griff,
Great words of wisdom from a great Blues Guitarist Teacher…if we listen and practice and follow how can we go wrong…
Thanks
Michael-Sydney-Australia
Wow. Can’t wait to get some coin together for a great big bag full of your musical brain candy.
every new thought is a new like thanks gift.
Hey there!
Good going! I appreciate your lessons along wit your teaching. I learned a lot from your programs of Blues instruction..you give more than we expect to receive.. that’s a lot of stuff!
So Griff, I Thank you!
John
good thought?but griff you taught me to experiment, and i do , and i thank you for that.joe
Rules are good – the exception usually demonstrates the validity of the rule. When you reach B B’s status you can produce great sound messing with exceptions or make your own rules. But for now I will stick with beat 2 – it works. THANKS
Rule to live by or play by and don’t forget to count it out thanks Griff !!!
WHAT CAN I SAY? I GREW UP PLAYING MUSIC WITH PEOPLE IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY. I HAD A BAND WHEN I WAS 16 AND A RECORDING CONTRACT AND OUR SINGLE HIT THE TOP 40. FLASH IN THE PAN IN THOSE DAYS. I HAVE DONE STUDIO WORK PLAYING GUITAR FOR SOME PRETTY WELL KNOWN PEOPLE. A LOT OF SONGS THAT I PLAYED ON THE SOLO WOULD ALWAYS START ON THE FIRST BEAT . IN THE STUDIO THAT WAS A THING THAT WAS A NO NO. NOW I’M NOT SAYING YOUR WRONG, BUT SINCE I STARED PLAYING BLUES, I DON’T START ON THE FIRST BEAT, BECAUSE YOU SAID SO. I TRUST YOU AND ADORE YOUR LESSONS THE GROUP “TRAFFIC” WITH STEVE WINWOOD, THERE LEAD GUITAR PLAYER ALWAYS JUMP ON THE FIRST BEAT. THEN I’M PLAYING THE BLUES AND I WILL PLAY BY THE RULES. I MAY FORGET AND START ON THE FIRST BEAT, BUT IT MIGHT NOT SOUND BAD.
What does sound bad is your shouting – or perhaps your keyboard’s stuck on capitals 🙁
Hello Albert “T”. & Group! I’m a new comer to the forum and was reading through everybody’s comments on Griff’s Great Advise and saw your reply to Paul about his all caps! If I may offer a little insight to this, I will be brief as possible. That “ALL CAP THING” Brother is nothing more than a “Perception” in the business world that someone is shouting in a letter or an email. Here is my reasoning. I work with a computer program that loves recognition in “ALL CAPS” So over time I too have gotten used to typing in “ALL CAPS”. I send out communication all the time to approx. 55,000 fellow co-workers and believe me Al I get called out on it. It’s really no big deal. The important thing is we are all here because we LOVE GUITAR and want to comment and LEARN from our Buddy Griff and EACH OTHER so we can keep cranking out those GREAT SOUNDS! ‘IT’S ALL ABOUT MUSIC MY BROTHER…KEEP BENDING THOSE STRINGS!’
in my work I write a lot of instructions in all caps and program a web site mostly in caps. it is easy to forget you have caps lock on until after you have written a whole paragraph or more. I think the shouting would make more sense if you used red color for your text so all caps doesn’t have to mean shouting. BTW you can cut and paste your typing into Word or an Outlook email and one of the tabs lets you change to lower case or upper case so you can make a quick switch before you send it out as all caps or no caps if you like.
Thanks Griff, although I knew that, was taught it, and felt that I was at times not following it, my improve & ear training, I knew I was missing something in my soloing, which I believed I was performing fairly well (sax). Just recently, it hit me that I was mostly starting on the 1, except for solos I transcribed and performed, yet others (off the cuff solos felt awkward). Thanks for the reminder to get back to the basics. I’m back on track.
Rule to live by. Blues & Jazz no start on beat 1.
How about a short video demonstrating Your point?
Hi Griff,many many thanks for all your advice,its a great help.
Very good advice as usual. Quite honestly I probably wouldn’t have paid nearly as much attention to blues if it were not for you, and that is a good thing….
seem’s like you talk to just me thank you live in rockaway beach nyc if your ever in town love to meet again thank you.
Your are absolutely right. Starting not on the down beat gives that swing grooving sound.
For me Blues is a doorway to the type of music that I really want to play, your coarse is teaching me how to understand the basics of music theory. I am plotting to go toward classic pop and then toward Jazz guitar. I have a friend who plays classic flute and I want to be able to play duets with him.
Your Acoustic blues coarse is in fact helping me to learn what I need to know to accomplish these goals.
Thank you,
H Spruit
Nothing like sticking with success…thanks…later.