Fsblues2 Course

acousticguitarworkshop.
com
RICK PAYNES
BLUES
More chapters in the story of how to play Fingerstyle Blues
FINGERSTYLE
Fingerstyle Blues 2 - Contents

elcome to Fingerstyle Blues 2! In the rst course, we explored the beginnings of ngerstyle blues using simple techniques of thumb and nger independence, for a spot of authentic blues playing.
We used several instrumentals to develop this style and from all the e mails I have received I am sure it has been a great success. Fingerstyle 2 picks up from where we left off, and we will be expanding these rst exercises and instrumentals to great effect, plus loads more ways to put you in touch with the real avour of ngerstyle blues. Fingerstyle blues has always been the true essence of guitar based blues. There is nothing more inspiring than listening to the solo, acoustic ramblings of John Lee Hooker or Big Bill Broonzy. Fingerstyle was where it all started, and still challenges and captures the imagination of millions of guitarists today. So, on with the course and enjoy! Chapter One THUMB AND FINGER WORKOUT Chapter Two FINGERSTYLE GALLERY Chapter Three TURNAROUNDS IN THE BLUES Chapter Four G TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE BLUES Chapter Five D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE BLUES Chapter Six RAGTIME BLUES - THE GUITAR SHUFFLE EXPLOSION Chapter Seven CHORD PLAYING AND FINGERSTYLE Chapter Eight COMPENDIUM OF EFFECTS Chapter Nine CHORD REVIEW
FINGERSTYLE RESOURCES RECOMMENDED LISTENING Listen and learn
Written by Rick Payne Produced by acousticguitarworkshop.com www.acousticguitarworkshop.com
CHAPTER 1 Listen to mp3
THUMB AND FINGER WORKOUT
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emember, the art of good Fingerstyle Blues, evolves around the strong use of thumb and ngers. We need to establish the 'thumb beat' and work around with our ngers. The thumb beat can take on different patterns. All the ideas are in E, but please experiment with different chords and keys.
1. The one string constant bass, great for Broonzy, Lightening Hopkins and many more:
2. Or, alternating bass:
3. Changing the rhythm of the bass:
4. Adding melody:
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CHAPTER 1 -
THUMB AND FINGER WORKOUT CONTINUED
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5. With syncopation:
6. Let it all roll:
7. With hammer on's and pull off's:
7. With hammer on's and pull off's:
Continue TO CHAPTER TWO
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CHAPTER 2 -
FINGERSTYLE GALLERY
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et's continue the workout now, in this gallery of some of the greats of Fingerstyle and Country Blues like Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy and Doc Watson.
Robert Johnson and various other Delta players used a style of pick, which featured a amenco hit. Listen to the audio le, you'll hear the hits where the x's are on the tab:
The next example uses a shufe bass, followed by a triplet pick. This is a bit more interesting than the basic shufe and similar to the pick Robert Johnson uses on Sweet Home Chicago:
Here's a Broonzy style pick using a dampened chord hit:
Continue CHAPTER TWO
FINGERSTYLE GALLERY CONTINUED
Another Broonzy pick, using a sliding 7th chord. Try palm muting when picking the bass with the thumb. This isn't compulsory but it gives a really authentic avour to your picking:
Try these picks reminiscent of Muddy Waters, Lightening Hopkins and John Lee Hooker. Again you should try and damp the bass with the palm of your hand:
Here's the above riff in A:
Continue CHAPTER TWO
FINGERSTYLE GALLERY CONTINUED
Here's a rolling Texas blues style of Blind Lemon Jefferson:
There are many variations to Texas style blues, and later on in the course, we'll take a closer look at the picking style of Blind Blake. Meanwhile, try this honky tonk blues style of Doc Watson:
Continue TO CHAPTER THREE
TURNAROUNDS IN THE BLUES
urnarounds, or the intro's and outro's that we associate with the blues, are an important part of ngerstyle. They set the tone of what's to come in the 12 bar. Quite often, the more complex the turnaround, the more complex the ngerstyle. They give ammunition to the picker and interest to the listener. The following turnarounds are just a few of hundreds you could create. Most of them are in the key of E, but whatever, feel free to experiment and change them in any way:
KEY = E
KEY = E
KEY = E
KEY = E
KEY = E
KEY = E
Continue CHAPTER 3
TURNAROUNDS IN THE BLUES CONTINUED
KEY = E
KEY = E
KEY = A
KEY = A
KEY = A
KEY = C
KEY = C
Continue TO CHAPTER FOUR
G TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE
he same techniques apply to open tuning ngerstyle as they do to ordinary tuning. A strong thumb pick and care to right and left hand nger management are all important ingredients. Open tunings however, can give even the most modest of picks a texture unique to the rootsy sounds of the blues. G tuning, or capoed alternatives like A or B, was the norm among the early Delta Blues pickers like Charlie Patton, Son House and Robert Johnson.
G TUNING: Low to high would be - D G D G B D :

Playing these small chord shapes can sound pretty authentic for blues:
Continue CHAPTER FOUR www.acousticguitarworkshop.com
G TUNING ANDF FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED
Let's try some simple ngerstyle reminiscent of the Delta. In the following example, the thumb leads the pick and the nger follows through with a brushing up action, as indicated by the arrows on the tab.
Continue CHAPTER 4 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com
G TUNING ANDF FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED
G tuning offers a great deal in the way of turnarounds too, as these four patterns demonstrate:
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D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE
tuning and it's close relative E are both great for ngerstyle blues. The two tunings are as follows: D low to high D A D F# A D E Low to high E B E G# B E Because the harmonic structure of the two tunings are the same, whatever we do in one tuning we can do in the other.
These kind of tunings are particularly good because the thumb can maintain a steady alternating pattern on the two D strings:
Or an upbeat pattern:
The top strings can offer up some great bluesy melodies:
D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED
This picking style is reminiscent of the great Texas blues players like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson and Blind Blake. Blind Willie Johnson used the top strings to great effect and often played bottleneck to accentuate the melody. This next example, in the style of Blind Willie Johnson could be played with slide (Check out acoustic guitar workshop slide course ).
Texas blues leaned more towards the jollier, ragtime styles of the blues and less intense than Delta styles. It was a style suited to the dancing and entertainment of the 'Roaring Twenties', and gave rise to many classics. Blind Blake is probably the most famous for this style, giving us Diddie Wa Diddie and Police Dog Blues to name just two. Here's the intro to Police Dog Blues:
In the second bar in the preceding pattern a G chord is played. Again, the chord shapes used in open tuning give a unique sound to ngerstyle. The most popular shapes for the three chord trick in D tuning are:
In Police Dog Blues, Blind Blake uses some great effects, like the chime bells on the open strings: Play all 12th fretted notes as harmonics:
And the octave runs:
And the train bends:
Continue to CHAPTER 6 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com
RAGTIME BLUES
n the rst ngerstyle blues course we explored a bit of Ragtime Blues. One of the pieces we chose was based on the guitar shufe style of Big Bill Broonzy. By the way were back in standard tuning!
This used the typical syncopated pick as follows. Dont worry about fretting (!) just get used to playing the pattern on open strings:
RAGTIME BLUES CONTINUED
The Guitar Shufe
Listening to the master pickers like Broonzy, or The Rev Gary Davis, it soon becomes obvious that they weren't content to stick to a simple ngerstyle tune. Pieces like the Guitar Shufe would explode into ngerstyle improvisation. As we discovered in the rst course, improvisation in the Guitar Shufe occurred in place of the C bars. Play G bar, then cut to anyone of the following three patterns:
To be inventive with this kind of improvisation it is worth reminding ourselves where these riff patterns originate. Check out the C blues scale in the open position:
It is impossible to play these patterns successfully with one nger, so try thumb, index and middle nger to achieve a good roll: T = Thumb I = Index nger m = Middle nger
Anyway, whatever ngers you use keep it logical and don't get tied in a knot. So far we have only thought about changing the C bars. Other bars can be altered to give the Shufe more avour. In the example on the following page, Rick has improvised around the Shufe using some arpeggios and 7th runs. Feel free to interpret as you wish. ( check out acoustic guitar workshop course - Pentatonic To The Blues )
CHAPTER 6 -
The Guitar Shufe - Version 2
FINGERSTYLE AND CHORD PLAYING IN THE BLUES
ingerstyle playing, usually breaks down chords into one or two note repetitive phrases, accompanied by constant or alternating bass lines. However, ngerstyle can benet from a fuller use of chords. It can add a rich texture to your playing and give the blues a new dimension. In it's simplied version the thumb might lead the chord as follows:
Or, vary the rhythm of the bass:
And use other chords in the sequence:
We can expand this idea further by expanding our use of chord inversions. This means using different shapes and sounds for our existing chords (see next page for shapes). Let's look at this with a progression of E7 chords:
And again with rhythmic variety:
FINGERSTYLE AND CHORD PLAYING IN THE BLUES CONTD
Here are the inversions of E7 on the fretboard. These are applied in the last two patters on the previous page.
The same system of E7th's can be played on lower strings, for a more bassy version:
CHAPTER 7 -
FINGERSTYLE AND CHORD PLAYING IN THE BLUES CONTD
I've put the whole idea together in an instrumental blues called 'Inversion Blues'. Watch out for the new chords diminished 7th's. (o7th) These make great connecting chords and help the piece ow together. The bass pick works well as it stands, but as an exercise you could try varying the movement of the bass and rhythm. All the chords, and more, can be checked out in the chord review section of the course.
CHAPTER 8 -
COMPENDIUM OF EFFECTS
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hroughout this course I've used various effects which enhance playing the blues and in fact all forms of ngerstyle (with the exception of palm muting) from Country to Classical. I thought it would be a good idea to take a closer look at them.
Right hand dampening or the palm mute

It is quite rare for the thumb to produce clear open notes in the blues. The right hand is normally held back against the bridge in a claw-like position to enable the palm to dampen the bass string:
String Bends
Bends help to emphasise the blues notes. In this example the G note is stressed against the open E bass string:
Hammer ons and Pull Offs

These give playing more attack and accent to phrases:
Slides
Sliding in and out of notes add to the laid back style of the blues and again helps to accent certain notes:
CHAPTER 8 -
COMPENDIUM OF EFFECTS CONTINUED
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To demonstrate how important effects are, let's try a simple blues, rst without effects (this page) and then with (next page).
CHAPTER 8 -
COMPENDIUM OF EFFECTS CONTINUED
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CHAPTER 9 -
CHORD REVIEW
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ll ngerstyle playing involves the use of chords and in this course we've covered quite a few. The following shapes have been used and are displayed here for reference and revision. Remember, the boxed numbers help you identify the chord that has been played in the previous tab exercises and instrumentals: b exercises and instrumentals.
CHAPTER 9 -
CHORD REVIEW CONTINUED
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CHAPTER 9 -
CHORD REVIEW CONTINUED
No mp3
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Fingerstyle Resources
ACOUSTIC GUITAR REVIEW

Subscribe free to Acoustic Guitar Review, the ezine for acoustic guitar players. Every month enjoy interviews, reviews, news, free tab and more. To subscribe free click here and send a blank email and youre done.
FREE MP3s
Remember successful learning also requires listening to the type of music you are trying to master. You can listen to the Acoustic Guitar Workshops acoustic blues mp3s at our download page. Click here.
GUITAR TIPS
Click here for our tips page. Useful info on tuning, buying an acoustic guitar, ngernail care, maintenance and more.
ACOUSTIC BLUES RADIO

Click here to play ACOUSTIC BLUES RADIO - Very cool! If you like Acoustic Blues, youll love this web radio station. LISTEN & LEARN
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Fingerstyle Blues 2 - Contents

FINGERSTYLE RESOURCES RECOMMENDED LISTENING Listen and learn

Written by Rick Payne Produced by acousticguitarworkshop.com www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 1 Listen to mp3

THUMB AND FINGER WORKOUT

Click here for main index

2. Or, alternating bass:

3. Changing the rhythm of the bass:

Continue CHAPTER ONE www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

THUMB AND FINGER WORKOUT CONTINUED

Click here for main index

6. Let it all roll:

7. With hammer on's and pull off's:

7. With hammer on's and pull off's:

Continue TO CHAPTER TWO

Click here for main index

Here's a Broonzy style pick using a dampened chord hit:

Continue CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER 2 Listen to mp3

FINGERSTYLE GALLERY CONTINUED

Click here for main index

Here's the above riff in A:

Continue CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER 2 Listen to mp3

FINGERSTYLE GALLERY CONTINUED

Click here for main index

Here's a rolling Texas blues style of Blind Lemon Jefferson:

Continue TO CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER 3 Listen to mp3

TURNAROUNDS IN THE BLUES

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CHAPTER 3 Listen to mp3

TURNAROUNDS IN THE BLUES CONTINUED

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Continue TO CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER 4 Listen to mp3

G TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE

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G TUNING: Low to high would be - D G D G B D :

Continue CHAPTER FOUR www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 4 Listen to mp3

G TUNING ANDF FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED

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Continue CHAPTER 4 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 4 Listen to mp3

G TUNING ANDF FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED

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Continue TO CHAPTER 5 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 5 Listen to mp3

D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE

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The top strings can offer up some great bluesy melodies:

Continue CHAPTER 5 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 5 Listen to mp3

D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED

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Continue CHAPTER 5 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 5 Listen to mp3

D TUNING AND FINGERSTYLE CONTINUED

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Continue CHAPTER 5 www.acousticguitarworkshop.com

CHAPTER 5 Listen to mp3