Buddy Guy seems to be a household name for us blues players, but most people don’t know how Buddy got his start and what you can learn from that.<\/p>\n
I’ve been fortunate enough to see Buddy play live a handful of times and I can tell you it’s a pretty incredible thing to see him absolutely fly through passages at the age of 77 this year (I only hope my fingers will still move like that at his age!)<\/p>\n
In fact, most modern blues and blues\/rock players, myself included, will cite Buddy as a huge influence… some have even said that without Buddy Guy there would never have been an SRV!<\/p>\n
But here’s what you need to know…<\/p>\n
Buddy got his start as a session musician with the Junior Wells Band, among others. Most of his early recording career he played small parts that fit the track, not his own brand of over-the-top blues.<\/p>\n
That’s a really hard thing to do sometimes, but it is a talent that reaps big rewards. Learning to play less is a lesson most of us can learn.<\/p>\n
And learning to play all those little pieces so that we can mix and match them to fit within any<\/em><\/strong> tune, not just one tune, is really the mark of a blues musician and not just some run-of-the-mill copycat.<\/p>\n Blues basically falls into about 5 or 6 different feels. From there the 12 bar form is pretty strict about what the chords are going to be, but there are some variations.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, with a half a dozen rhythm patterns and a good knowledge of the 12 bar blues and the possible options along the way (so that you can hear when they happen at a jam) you could be up on stage having the time of your life nearly any night of the week (at least in my part of the world.)<\/p>\n And if climbing up on a bandstand isn’t your thing, at least you can sit with a buddy or a family member and trade choruses over a beverage or 2.<\/p>\n Learn the pieces and then fit them to the song you want to play… it’ll go a WHOLE lot faster than the other way around.<\/p>\n The first 14 lessons of Blues Guitar Unleashed<\/a> are all various rhythm patterns and 12 bar blues variations. The next 15 lessons are all about how to solo in the same way as guys like Buddy Guy, SRV, BB King, Clapton, and many others. If that sounds like where you’d like to go, BGU<\/a> will get you there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nCheck out Buddy live on Letterman doing “Damn Right, I Got The Blues…”
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