A lot of blues guitarists look to recent blues legends like B.B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Clapton for influences in their playing. But then there are other guitarists that dig even deeper in blues history to shape their playing styles; guitarists like Robert Johnson and Lightnin’ Hopkins are on their playlists. If you are one of those guitarists that stick with the early Delta Blues, then you are definitely not alone. Delta Blues have had a major impact on blues guitarists all around the world. I found two other guitarists that share love of the early blues legends and thought I would share with you.
Delta Blues music has survived for years and inspired musicians for decades. Lightnin’ Hopkins is only one blues guitarist of a long list that are responsible for the success of Delta Blues. Check out this feature article from Guitar World at http://www.guitarworld.com/down-and-dirty-g-love-getting-down-delta-blues?page=.
The first time I heard the Delta Blues was from a John Hammond record called Country Blues. It was 1987, I was in my room with my best friend and we had hit up this great record store in Philly called 3rd St Jazz and Rock. I was searching for someone that played solo acoustic guitar and harmonica other than Bob Dylan or Neil Young. The man at the store brought out that old John Hammond record and I took it home.
I will never forget the moment when the needle of my Panasonic record player hit the wax and the thumping sounds of John Hammond performing “Statesboro Blues” came through the speakers. I was hooked. That was one of the great musical epiphanies of my life. It was like I had been searching my whole musical life to find this sound, and here it was. This scratchy old record circa-1963 was about to change my whole world.
I had been an acoustic flat pick strummer, writing my tunes and making my chords but that was all gone now. When I heard the Delta Blues John was playing, I realized that the acoustic guitar was some badass shit. Forget about chords! The blues was all about this driving rhythm with melodies and licks intertwined. It was dark, it was deep, it was dirty.
The blues was simple yet the most complex and passionate music I had heard. It was amazing how much expression and flavor was coming out of a relatively small chord palette. It got to a point where if I heard a singer songwriter play a minor chord to express sadness, I would think, “Damn, that’s cheating.” With the blues, if you want to express sadness you don’t change the chord, you bend the note, you sing it dark and get your point across.
That John Hammond record was a doorway into a whole world. Through that record I discovered the legends. Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Mississippi Fred McDowell, John Hurt, Big Bill Broonzy, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Bukka White, Leadbelly, Sleepy John Estes and many more. The world of the Delta Blues.
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All of those bluesmen are so different. The styles are so highly characterized that I’m hard pressed to say they are the same genre. Lightnin’ Hopkins, for instance, is so unique in his approach to the blues that I feel it’s his own kind of music and that goes for all those players.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m no purist, I’m no scholar, but nothing gets me more pissed when I say blues and someone says Eric Clapton or Stevie Ray Vaughan. I’m a huge Clapton and Stevie Ray fan, but come on now, the blues is Robert Johnson, the blues is Son House. The blues is one man, one voice, one guitar.
The beautiful thing about today is that you can just go onto YouTube and see this footage of all these cats performing. Where I used to wear my records and cassettes out trying to figure out what these cats were doing, now I can see this great old footage and it makes the learning process a lot easier.
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When learning the blues, I like to pick a song and really explore it. I usually find that I can get an approximation of what these guys are doing. For me, I want to get the feeling and the flavor. I want to learn something new that will inspire me to write something new. So many of my tunes and chords have come from stumbling across a cool lick while I’m trying to figure out what the hell these cats are playing. I found my own style of guitar playing and singing simply by trying to emulate the blues singers of the Mississippi Delta.
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When I approach the blues, I want it to sound different than the blues. I want to break the rules, break the form and be unique. You’ll find that once you get inside what these players are doing that for the most part they don’t stick to a 12-bar blues pattern or any pattern at all sometimes. It’s all very spontaneous and emotionally driven.
Damn, it sounds good. Can you feel it?
You got to get inside it, man.
I’ve always felt that the greatest rock ‘n’ roll players started with the blues. Don’t start with Jimmy Page, start with Robert Johnson; don’t start with Keith Richards, start with Chuck Berry; don’t start with Jack White, start with Skip James. Get it, man?
Start with the root and grow like a tree. Go back to the roots of popular music. The greatest players have the greatest influences so before you rock out, take some time to peep out the roots of rock ‘n’ roll and spend some time with this music made in the USA. The Delta Blues will take you on a journey. A journey for life.
It’s a road that keeps going. So, put on your travelling shoes, string up that beater and let your foot stomp.
Slide guitar has been a favorite for early Delta Blues players, and even today guitarists are trying to nail that authentic slide blues sound. John Hammond is one guitarist that has tried to master the Delta Blues slide guitar style. Check out this article here at http://www.guitarworld.com/down-and-dirty-g-love-slide-guitar-greats.
Slide guitar. It’s a thing, man, a real type of thing. When you play that slide, you can really make that guitar talk, you can really make it sing.
My favorite slide guitar players are the players who are from and/or play in that Mississippi Delta style. When I first heard the legendary John Hammond perform live, I was absolutely blown away by his slide work. John typically uses an old National resophonic guitar for his slide numbers and man can he play. If you’ve been reading my blogs or have ever seen me perform, you know by now that John Hammond has had major influence on my playing. Through his records I was introduced to a world of blues.
Through tracing back the artists John was interpreting and influenced by, I literally opened a gold mine of what I consider to be the most profound blues. Robert Johnson, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Bukka White, and on it goes. These artists have some serious shit.
When you first hear slide or bottleneck style guitar, I feel it makes an immediate impression. It’s not necessarily difficult to play slide, in fact it’s very simple at its root. But slide guitar looks cool, it’s different and it has an immediately recognizable sound. Oh yeah, and it’s completely badass.
The players I mentioned above play slide in a delta style, which usually starts in an open tuning. This is where things get interesting. The three most common tunings are open G, open E and open D. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Open C, A and every other note, minor or major, are fair game. Go ahead try it now. Just tune your strings into any crazy chord and you are going to have a blast.
My bass player, Timo Shanko, turned me on to this fresh open F#m tuning, which the late great Eddie Kirkland turned him onto back in the day. The key is to experiment with the tunings you learn about and discover so that you can come up with innovative chord voicing and new, never before heard of licks. Try a basement jam session on that F#m you’ll be hooked. You’ll be up all night.
Robert Johnson is hailed as the king of the Delta Blues, and rightfully so. His style is so deep and profound. His tone is so clean, his tunings complex his pocket so fat. Even though everyone knows Robert Johnson, it’s a great place to start. Listen to his song “come on in my kitchen”. Hear how he makes the slide talk.
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When I finally got turned on to Mississippi Fred McDowell, I felt like I discovered John Hammond’s biggest influence. MFMc’s driving rhythms and melodic slide work have such a deep feeling. Check out this version of “John Henry”:
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Over the past two years, I’ve become hooked on Bukka White. My latest release, Fixin To Die, is named after the Bukka White song, which is the title track. At the current moment I’m gonna have to say Bukka White is my favorite artist. I like Bukka because he literally slaps the shit out of his National while hammering on the strings with his left hand. Like McDowell, he keeps his rhythms driving and his melodies clean and crisp. That’s the key. Here is Bukka playing his famous “Aberdeen Mississippi Blues”:
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I find that YouTube is just a tremendous place to find not only this great old footage of the masters but also a great place to find lessons on what these old bluesmen were doing. Root around a bit and you’ll see what I mean.
Slide guitar is a whole different world. If you’re a guitar player, definitely experiment with your slide work. Slide playing is something you’ve got to have in your bag of tricks.
Next week, we will check out some of the great slide players of my generation on the scene this days. Slide it up!! G
Delta Blues recordings may sound out of date, but their stories will survive forever. Delta Blues guitar masters have inspired generations of rock, blues, folk, and country guitarists and will continue as long as the music is passed on.
Thanks,
Griff
17 replies to "Getting’ Down With The Delta Blues"
It’s challenging to find expert inhabitants on this topic nonetheless you sound comparable you know what you’re talking about! Thanks
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Thanks, Griff. I really enjoy your posts.
dear sir do you have a instryntion book that you teach the delta blues your whay if not do you have imone to recamendim 77 yeares old i bought a acoustic guitar and trying to teach my selfhow to play i think think delta blues will be easer but if not its the blues thank you very much jim
Whew!!! Delta is OLE SCHOOL, but its HIGH LEARNIN”!!! Thanks for the Focus Griff!
Never seen these guys perform before- Stunning!
I can’t get this old country blues (delta) out of my head, so that’s what I’ve been playing. If you don’t play with a band (most of us), you need to self accompany the bass line to get the sound. Pick up your acoustic guitar and throw away the pick. And now with your fingers, you’ll spend more time with alternate tunings. Then the slide…OMG. I’m just discovering what they already knew 80 years ago.
WOW!!! after clicking on the delta blues link i remembered the box of old vinyl i have stashed in the garage. time to break it out and turn up the volume. thank you.fred mcdowell, john hurt, robert johnson, and even sonny terry works for me. if you haven’t qllredy check out some of taj majal’s early stuff. again, thanks for the reminder. now off to the garage1
dude, dat was awesome
How about a Delta Blues course Griff? Your style of teaching & this style of music has to be a winning combination!
I know exactly what you mean. Like you, I’m by no means a purist, but also no great blues player, but I do pride myself on a great knowledge of the blues (great for me that is, as it only allows me to appreciate as much of the stuff as possible). So nothing infuriates me more than some guy at college coming up to me in his Nirvana T and a doped expression like “Whatcha lis’nin’ to?” “Blues.”
“Oh yeah, I kinda like a couple’a Clapton songs [sic]. The blues is kinda cool. You like Ray Vaugh?”
Blank expression on my part. While I don’t dispute that Clapton and Stevie can play, and can rock, they’re not blues, to me. They’re blues rock. When I listen to the blues, I don’t want effects. I don’t want too-clean to be natural licks. I want Delta. I want a twangin’, screamin’ dirty guitar, a deep, shouting, sorrowfull vocal and, well, that’s all I want. If there’s some amazing harmonica thrown into the mix, I won’t complain. And, while I don’t dislike electric blues (you can’t argue against legends like Muddy), I more often than not want it acoustic. There’s just something natural about an acoustic. Something natural about a guy sitting down and making his guitar sing, all by himself. That’s what I want. That’s Blues.
Love it G. It does a heart good. That’s all I can say.
Enjoyed everything on the menu. Yummy to the ears.
I have been a fan of these old timers since Scorcese made the films for public tv. I have a pretty vast collection of these artists. Not many people teach this type of playing. Been strumming for over 50 years and still can’t play. I would consider myself an intermediate. Been working through your cd’s and Marty’s. Retirement gives me that opportunity. Keep up the good work it is much appreciated.
Griff..this was the spot on thing I’ve ever read about the true Blues. No one can say they have heard the Blues until they see John Hammond play in a concert…just him, his guitar and his harmonica..oh, and of course that stomping foot. I’ve got chills just typing this and thinking about that show I saw in a little room in Madison, WI. He is the living direct connection to all the old Blues men mentioned in this article. Don’t ever miss him if the chance comes along. Even if he is hundreds of miles away..make the drive.
Thanks for posting this, now grab your Acoustic Guitars and pluck some wire.
Great Post Griff! Thanks a lot!
Griff dude, . . . .yours have got to be THE best blogs on the scene, where would Cap Beefheart be without this?