This is a lick I heard Mike Bloomfield do and I just love it… it’s a move that I find myself doing, but I didn’t realize just where I’d stolen it from đ
So we’re gonna do two things today – first, I’m gonna show you the lick…
But then, I want to show you how to practice it using a blues in C. It’s not enough just to learn the notes, you have to know how to use it and why you are playing the notes that you are playing!
Hope you dig it:
And here is the TAB for the lick if you want it:
41 replies to "Mike Bloomfield IV to I Lick"
Mega!
fast not last…
Griff,
Have you played with Tommy Katona yet? He has some lightning last licks as well…
From what I understand, in the first part of the lick, you use the F major pentatonic blues box 4 and the second part is a minor pentatonic box 1 of C.
Thanks. A real privilege get a peek at this blues legend.
Nifty! A bit jazzy as well.
Don’t forget half the tracks on the first Super Session album were Steven Stills. And a fine job he did!
Hey, Griff,
Do a lesson on that sweet vibrato and how to practice to get it.
Craig.
Hopefully youâll be offering a new course on Mike Bloomfield soon (Hintđ)
Great lesson as usual
Is that a 335 Or 339 ?
Griff, On top of all the other great stuff you show us, thank you for bringing attention to Mike Bloomfield. A lot of today’s blues players may not know him but he was a phenomenal guitarist with a unique style (listen to “Mary Ann”).
As always, great stuff.
Many times I got to see Bloomfield play with the Butterfield band. Butterfield Bloomfield And Elvin Bishop how great is was love to have those days in Chicago back
Hey Griff,
The link wonât open up…
Love Mike Bloomfield. He did a couple of albums with a group called the KGB. Excellent stuff.
Anyone interested …. check out a couple of albums:
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965)
If You Love These Blues, Play ‘Em as You Please (1976; reissued on CD with Bloomfield-Harris)
Note: Guitar Player Magazines actually sold albums for awhile. This album was featured one month. This album is worth a listen as Bloomfield show cases different blues styles.
Super Session, Bloomfield, Kooper and Stills (1968). This album has since been remastered, with new editions featuring several Bloomfield performances not included on the original album, including “Blues for Nothing” and “Fat Gray Cloud.”
The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1968)
Great Lick for the wall of Knowlege…
Hey Griff, you gave me quite a scare when you said it was Friday, ( I have Thursday off because I have to work Saturday this weekend ) I had to pause the video and look at my calendar. Great lick, I like that you always explain where it sounds best and why. Thanks
It is a cool one Griff . I had a very cool practice alone on my acoustic just a day ago. It all started with the way that You played Here comes the sun by the Beatles. I found three other ways to play it in different keys . Experience playing I believe is the key . I am going to keep going to that as a reference point and work on that . Would this be playing in modes ?
PB was my neighbor way back when, in Woodstock NY. The PBBB was just awesome. Thanks for putting this out there.
Thanks Griff, nice lick.
Really enjoyed the lesson Griff.
Can you tell us what the backing track was that you used in the very beginning of the video and make it available for us?
Thanks,
Steve
Lick will not play
Video wonât play for me
Griff,
What notation editor do you use to make the TAB PDFs?
Thanks!
I use Sibelius.
Griff,
Love the riff, still curious about the theory behind this riff and what pattern it’s based around. Why it works where it does as opposed to any point in the progression?
thanks for all the great lessons!
Hey Troy, I try to understand the theory part also but am still learning that stuff. It is a combination of major pentatonic box 2 and minor pentatonic box one. The last note bending on the 11th of the B string you are bending to a C note so it is a strong note to land on going to the I chord. If you ended on a different note I think you could make it work going from the I to the IV or IV. If you analyze the other notes you can figure out why they sound good over a particular chord. For example the 10th fret of the B string is an A which is the Major 3rd of the F chord which is the IV chord in the key of C. I try to look at each scale position and see where the chord tones are for that position. Then it is the same no matter what key you are in.
Todd
Love Bloomfield. Saw him with the Flag. So,…I’m old. I have a LOOPER, but…I’m too old to learn how to use it, apparently. Electro Harmonix Canyon. HELP!
I’ve tried. Really.
I think Peter Green was drinking from the Bloomfield river of knowledge during the middle 60’s, just like most everyone else. While I can hear Bloomfield when we play this lick, I can also hear Greeny loud and clear.
Chris G in Sunny Oz.
Your setup sounds sweet! Been hunting the sound.
Mike Bloomfield was da man ,just like you!
Nice lick Griff. Thanls.
I still have a few vinyls record from the Paul Butterfield Blues band.
when i was just starting out with playing music, i listened to the man.
Him, Clapton and Dylan, wher my idols . I saw him do littel wing by hendrix, and it was assume.
i used my old stage name from the 60’s. love the lick griff. remeber hearing a style of it also.
thanks Griff, enjoy our sunny weather here in so cal.
Isn’t that a nod to the major scale box 2?. Thanks for everything! đ
Believe it or not, because it’s over the IV chord, I think of it more as a box 5 nod. Box 5 Major has a root on the 5th string and goes along with the standard “A shape” barre chord.
But that’s just how I look at it – do what works for you, there’s no right answer
Man, youâre videos are so awesome, I feel funny asking this. Not good form to mess with perfect, but could you just kick a âquick lookâ description of your rig-setup with the intro. -Thanks!
I’m playing the 335 through a Lovepedal Super Six-SRV Mod pedal into a Super Reverb setting on my Eleven Rack (which is a digital modeler.) I’ve been using something similar to that for the last few years and it’s been working well.
Great lesson, as always, Griff! Thanks again for simplifying the seemingly complex.
Great lesson as ever. Really like Mike Bloomfield especially his work with The Electric Flag. Any chance of doing the lick or even the Solo as it probably is really at the start of Killing Floor just after the sax intro? Cheers
I’ll add it to my list, thanks for the suggestion.