History Of Acoustic Blues Guitar

There are a lot of reasons why I decided to create my course entitled, “Acoustic Blues Guitar Unleashed,” but one of the main reasons was to celebrate the history of acoustic blues guitar. I’ll be transparent with you, when I had the idea I didn’t have much experience playing that type of solo acoustic blues. I spent quite a bit of time researching the style with artists like Robert Johnson and Son House, then checking out what players like Clapton were doing with the songs in more modern times. I came across a great article recently that presents a history of acoustic blues guitar and a timeline of some of the key events in that history. Plus I included a video performance of Son House on solo acoustic blues guitar. I hope you enjoy it all as much as I did!

Music Radar released an article presenting a history of acoustic blues guitar through the generations. See the full article at http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/history-of-the-acoustic-blues-567109.

Blues is a wholly American music form, and as the steel- string flat-top acoustic guitar was a product of European immigrants into the United States, the two were destined to be synonymous with one another. The portability of the guitar and its closeness in tone and volume to the human voice also made it the obvious choice of the lone, traveling musician.

The blues originated in the cotton fields of the Deep South, through the work songs, spirituals and ‘field hollers’ of African slaves. But soon after the turn of the 20th century, it had become the fully-fledged form that we recognise today, with call and answer verses over a usually 12-bar sequence. WC Handy published the music to the instrumental Memphis Blues in 1912; the tune became a hit and blues transformed from what was termed ‘race’ music, into a popular style alongside jazz and ragtime.

The earliest exponents of acoustic guitar blues that we know of include Charley Patton, Son House and Willie Brown. Patton had been born in southern Mississippi before the turn of the 20th century and was playing around the Southern states by 1914, singing songs such as Down The Dirt Road Blues and Pony Blues. As well as clever rhythmic playing, his guitar style included slapping its body, playing it between his legs and behind his back. Patton teamed up with guitarist Willie Brown in the 1920s and then befriended preacher and blues man Son House. House’s own Preaching The Blues would have a considerable influence on a young Robert Johnson.

There’s a video of Son House performing a song called, “Death Letter,” on solo acoustic guitar. See the whole performance at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwjGytOVVQA.

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I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the history of acoustic blues guitar. If you’re interested in learning to play this great style of music, check out “Acoustic Blues Guitar Unleashed” at http://bluesguitarunleashed.com/get-acoustic-blues-guitar-unleashed/. There’s more coming your way from Blues Guitar Unleashed.

Thanks,

Griff