Started recording some stuff this afternoon, intended on laying down a clean version of Freddi King’s Hideaway on my recently purchased Blues Deluxe Amp, but it just wasn’t happening. Then I ended up in this G Blues Shuffle that sounds not bad – a few mistakes along the way, but not a bad version – what do you think?
[mc id=”205″ type=”audio”]Blues Shuffle In G[/mc]
Filed under blues guitar, Jeff Smith by on Aug 19th, 2012. Comment. 
Gibson recently published a listing of their top 10 list for current/new blues guitar greats…obviously this is subjective, and I wanted to give my opinion…
First, let’s look at their list:
1. Joe Bonamassa
2. John Mayer
3. Jack White
4. Eric Gales
5. Don Auerbach (The Black Keys)
6. Davy Knowles
7. Kenny Wayne Shepherd
8. Derek Trucks
9. Johnny Lang
10. Ben Harper
I agree with about half of this list, but here’s who I would swap/add
1. Joe Bonamassa – no argument here, this guy is rooted in the blues and can take it in so many directions with his talent
2. Derek Trucks – have to have him second, pure genius and with Susan Tedeschi he’s moving beyond his roots
3. Kenny Wayne Shepherd – yup, SRV is alive in well in the spirit and guts of Kenny Wayne
4. Gary Clark Jr – how can this guy be missing…so dynamic, skilled, pure foundation in the blues holding a ton of potential
5. Davy Knowles – definitely
6. Walter Trout – Blew me away in his latest concerts, the guy has found something special of late
7. Jimmie Vaughan – only because I think he is still re-inventing blues by keeping true to the roots, think he still has at least one more innovative CD in him, perhaps in a collaboration with someone else on this list
8. Doyle Bramhall II – hugely creative, great pedigree, played with Clapton for years, watch for him in the next few years
9. Buddy Guy – Yes, still MODERN after all these years!
10. ?????
Who would you pick as #10?
I’m on the fence with guys like Jack White, Johnny Lang, Colin James, and from my area there are guys coming up like Tony D (MonkeyJunk), David Gogo, and JW Jones…these are names you will hear more from in the coming years.
What would your list be? Leave us a comment.
Filed under New Blues by on Aug 12th, 2012. 2 Comments.
Great local Ottawa, Ontario blues guitar talent JW Jones released his new video for “Aint Gonna Beg”, shot in Ottawa it features a ton of local Ottawa scenes in the background including: Classic Mayfair Theatre, Metropolitan Brasserie, Karters Corners Go-Carting…pretty cool when you can fit your hometown landmarks into your own video.
Oh ya, pretty darn good song too with some nice guitar work. If you haven’t hear of JW before, he is definitely one of Ottawa (and Canada’s) premiere blues guitar players…here’s the video:
Filed under blues guitar by on Aug 12th, 2012. Comment.
One of the most important parts of listening, understanding, enjoying and playing the blues is respecting the past. The blues is a living and breathing evolution in the human condition as reflected through the instruments and voices of blues music through the years.
To really understand and be able to play blues guitar, you’ve got to have a deep emotianal tie to both your instrument and the music…it just HAS to be that way to be real.
There’s no better way to really GET this than to look at some of the real blues guitar greats…
This first video “Death Letter Blues” should hit you right in the GUT, it sure did me as I watched it over and over again…I literally could not take my eyes of Son House as he tells the story about learning of a love lost but only then to recount the feeling he has that love was lost long before his girl ever died (because she never really loved him like he loved her).
Watch this and tell me you aren’t moved!
Just as we learn from the past, one of the reasons I love blues music is that the masters continually pass the torch onto willing disciples – that’s what’s happening in this video “My Black Mama”where a young Buddy Guy sits in with Son House…amazing stuff!
Talkl to me people – leave me a comment.
Filed under Blues Legends by on Jul 19th, 2012. Comment.
It’s hard to imagine any band lasting 50-years largely still intact but it is especially incredible when that band is a rock & roll band and even more fascinating when you consider it is the Rolling Stones!
Though not nearly the vital influence on Rock & Roll they once were, the Stones have managed to continue their legacy respectfully, still managing to stay in the top tier of bands (not relegated to playing festivals, country arenas and fairgrounds as many of the “had their day” rock bands do today).
You can thank leading man Mick Jagger for that as he is singly responsible for navigating the Stones through the last decade (some would argue their entire career) from a creative but mostly business, publicity and marketing point of view.
It is rare to see a passionate and capable creative rock & roll star rooted properly in the blues who also is educated and smart with money, business savvy and has the balls to stand up for what he knows to be right.
What I personally would really like to see from the Rolling Stones put some of their energy toward in the next few years is helping to boost the blues…after all, that’s where they have come from.
It was great to see Mick and the Presidential Gala a few months back helping to give celebration to Black History Month…but there is much more that the Stones can (and should) be doing to help boost the profile of some of the last living blues icons AND ensure the future of the blues so the next generation of rock&roll bands can be steeped in the same deep musical foundations that led to the incredible success of the Rolling Stones.
In any case, happy 50th Birthday to the Stones. Rock on…Mick, Keith, Ron, Charlie
Filed under blues guitar, rock and roll by on Jul 12th, 2012. Comment.
I always make it a top priority to catch Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi each time they come to town, happily each time I am more impressed.
Formed back in 2010, this Royal Couple of the guitar blues combines skill, dedication and passion to their craft…definitely a situation where 1+1=3
Two things I noticed at this year’s show from previous years…
1. Tedeschi’s guitar work is now a more featured part of the act – even though the band is now an 11-piece juggernaut, there is still more room for Tedeschi to shine with her passionate vocals and gritty guitar work. Nice job!
2. Derek Trucks is evolving even further into other guitar (and song) styles with the addition of horns, a flute and some very entrancing (is that a word?) guitar work (think Santana!) he is clearly not a man that lacks creativity. Some of it missed, but much of it hit BIG time.
Here is a clip of Rollin and Tumblin that features the considerable talents of Susan Tedeschi…hope they come back next year.
Leave us a comment if you have had the chance to listen or see Trucks or Tedeschi…let us know your thoughts.
Filed under Blues Festival, blues guitar by on Jul 12th, 2012. Comment.
Here’s a funky little blues guitar shuffle in E I put together earlier today…this is my Stratocaster played through an older Fender “The Twin” amp with a Blue Daddy Goudie FX box boosting the gain and tone notch.
I played this with my fingers so I could gets some simultaneous base line walking with fills as I went…sounds pretty good for no backing.
This entire song is played in the open E position with a walking base line in E that looks like E-G-B-C-E played with my thumb while my bottom second and third finger played the higher E and B strings of the E-cord – same position but moved to A and then finishing in the V position of the I-IV-V blues progression on B back down to A and back to E.
The fills are various E blues scale fills including some open string type stuff that you may find Freddie King cooking up on Hideway and such.
What do you think?
[mc id=”164″ type=”audio”]blues-mix-2-clip2[/mc]
Leave a comment, love to hear from you guys.
Filed under Jeff Smith by on Jul 8th, 2012. Comment.
It’s Christmas time here in Ottawa again!
What? Christmas in July?
Christmas time for Blues Junkies like me – it’s Ottawa Bluesfest time again…and even though the Festival gets bigger and more diverse each year, there are still some great blues moments I’ll be taking in.
One of those happened on Thursday evening when hometown heroes (and recent Juno award winners for Best Blues Album “To Behold” – a solid mix of rocking blues, soul and funky R&B that defines the MonkeyJunk sound) collaborated with New Orleans performer Johnny Sansone for a deep-fried blues set joined by the Texas Horns.
After some MonkeyJunk original songs to heat up the set, Johnny Sansone (a giant of a man by the way) joined them for a smoking rendition of “Corn Whiskey”.
If anyone doubted they were in for an authentic Southern blues experience despite the Northern roots of MonkeyJunk, those doubts were quickly erased. The crowd built and for another 1-hour we were treated to a heated exchange of blues guitar from Monkey Junk guitarist Tony D, funky base and soul from Steve Mariner and steady back-beat of drummer Matt Sobb.
You all know I’m all about blues guitar, but Johnny Sansone is perhaps one of the lesser known blues harp players (at least I haven’t heard as much about him as say Sugar Blue or the late Paul Butterfield or even Kim Wilson of the Fabulous T-Birds)
HINT – see that MonkeyJunk and Johnny will be playing together at Ottawa’s ultimate blues destination – The Rainbow Sunday July 8th – you will want to check that out if you can.
Here is a small taste of what we saw – if you get the chance to see either MonkeyJunk or Johnny Sansone – take that chance for sure.
Jeff
Filed under Blues Festival by on Jul 7th, 2012. Comment.
Came across this video sharing the details of Jimmie Vaughan’s guitar setup…if you are a fan of Jimmie you know that he is a minimalist (that’s what they called Steve Jobs by the way…so nothing wrong with that!)
I’m a huge fan of Jimmie Vaughan’s simple, clear, biting tone – but find at times he could use some more sustain and little more low end.
Indeed, in this setup we see why he gets such a “thin” tone…it includes often setting the Fender Strat pickup to one of the lower positions, setting the tone to high treble and playing the guitar “cold” (not at full volume) as well as his amplifiers are set with presence and treble extremely high (almost full) with Bass way down near 3-4.
Interesting talk with his guitar tech, always learn from these setup reviews:
Filed under jimmie vaughan by on May 11th, 2012. Comment.
I have to admit – a great Texas Shuffle a la Stevie Ray Vaughan or Freddie King before him just gets my blood pumping.
I have a son that is just now learning guitar, and though today’s generation is into all of this Electronic Dance Music stuff, I have to admit he even taps his foot when he hears a good blues guitar shuffle come on.
It’s one of the very first things we often learn on guitar (after mastering the basic chords), but getting a great blues shuffle down has as much to do with timing, feeling, swagger (confidence) and right handed picking technique as anything technical.
Here’s a great Kenny Wayne Shepherd number that features a bad-ass Texas Shuffle, tell me if this isn’t the coolest sound you have ever heard!
Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Shotgun Blues by Zone19
Doesn’t that make you want to go pick up your guitar and try to get that timing down, not to mention the great fills between chords…how’s your Texas Shuffle coming?
Filed under texas blues by on Apr 29th, 2012. Comment.
