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Blues Grooves for Beginners and BeyondSAMPLE

Readable sections are shown by yellow highlighting in the table ofcontents. Not all sound files are included in this sample document.

By Darrin Koltow

www.MaximumMusician.comCopyright © 2003 Darrin Koltow

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Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 4Before You Start............................................................................................................. 4What You’ll Learn .......................................................................................................... 5Getting Help .................................................................................................................. 5The Right Hand .............................................................................................................. 5Take Your Time............................................................................................................... 5Practice Habits .............................................................................................................. 5Use the Music Samples ................................................................................................. 6

Reading Chord Diagrams and Tablature...................................................................... 7Tablature ............................................................................................................................ 9Other Things You’ll See...................................................................................................11Technique ........................................................................................................................12

Right Hand ...................................................................................................................12Left Hand......................................................................................................................12

Blues Chords and Progressions......................................................................................13Basic Chords ................................................................................................................13The Full Chords.............................................................................................................15

Blues in G..........................................................................................................................17Blues in E ...........................................................................................................................18

Ingredients of the Blues ..............................................................................................20A New Strum Pattern ..................................................................................................23

Blues in A ..........................................................................................................................25More on Seventh Chords...............................................................................................27

Not “Supposed” to Be There.....................................................................................28Playing Triplets .................................................................................................................31Portato Versus Staccato ................................................................................................32

How to Do It .................................................................................................................32The Staccato Blues......................................................................................................34

Minor Blues .......................................................................................................................35Movable Chords .............................................................................................................35

Learning the Fretboard ..............................................................................................35Movable Shapes .........................................................................................................36Movable Blues .............................................................................................................37How to Play (Almost) any Dominant 7 Chord.........................................................41

The Bar Chord..................................................................................................................43Origin of this Bar Chord Shape..................................................................................43

Rhythm Blanks..................................................................................................................49Double Bar Chord...........................................................................................................51

Origin of Double Bar Chord .......................................................................................51Combining Chord Forms................................................................................................56Apogee Slide Blues.........................................................................................................59Minor Movable Blues ......................................................................................................61More Movable Chords...................................................................................................64

The C7 Shape Revisited..............................................................................................64Two More Movables ...................................................................................................66

Movable Dominant Seventh Review ...........................................................................68The Dominant 9th............................................................................................................70Rhythm Riffs......................................................................................................................39

Hammers and Pulls......................................................................................................39A Blues Riff ....................................................................................................................40

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How Does it Work? A Puzzle.......................................................................................74Arpeggios and the Pentatonic Scale ......................................................................74The Blues .......................................................................................................................76Mixolydian Scale .........................................................................................................78

Basic Shuffle.....................................................................................................................42How it Works .................................................................................................................44The Muffle Shuffle ........................................................................................................82Souped up Shuffle.......................................................................................................82

The Backbeat ..................................................................................................................45The Boogie Shuffle ..........................................................................................................86Turnarounds .....................................................................................................................91

The Main Point .............................................................................................................94Movable Shuffle ..........................................................................................................95Adding Harmonic Variety ........................................................................................100

Conclusion .....................................................................................................................107Additional Resources................................................................................................107

Chord Reference..........................................................................................................108Notes on the Fretboard..................................................................................................47Introduction to Reading Standard Notation...............................................................48How to Get the Complete Version...............................................................................49

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Acknowledgements

This ebook is more than just one person wanting to help others play guitar moreeffectively. The inspiration and knowledge gained from other resources hashelped make this ebook helpful for you. One of those resources isGuitarNoise.com. GuitarNoise.com has lessons for guitarists of every skill level,covering many, many aspects of playing guitar. This includes advice on careers,“Scary Stories,” detailed lessons on playing popular songs, songwriting, forumsand much more. It’s hard to imagine a guitarist who would not benefit fromGuitarNoise.com materials. Visit them often, at www.GuitarNoise.com.

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Introduction

What is the blues, and how does this guide help me learn it?

There’s no mistaking the sound of the blues. It has a unique sound. Yet, it doesn’ttake a lot of effort to make the basic blues sounds. The blues is composed of afew basic ingredients, one of which is the blues scale. Two of the notes in thisscale are sometimes added to the major scale to give a blues feeling. We talkmore about creating the blues feeling under the subheading Ingredients of theBlues, in the Blues in E chapter.

A set of rhythms and a set of related chord progressions are other ingredients ofthe blues. A traditional blues progression contains three chords in 12 measures orbars, and is structured like this:

C | C | C | CF | F | C | CG | F | C | G

This is a progression in C major. Each of the chords is a major chord, but can bereplaced by a dominant seventh chord. A C dominant seventh chord is writtenas C7.

Do you need to have all of these ingredients to make a blues sound? No. Forexample, you don’t need to play a blues progression to communicate a bluesfeeling. Doing something as simple as changing a major chord or major scale’smajor third to minor, and then switching back again to major, is one way to“bluesify” your music.

This guide will show you how to create the blues using these ingredients. Whenyou can smoothly play an exercise in the guide, you’ll be playing the samesounds that the great blues players play.

Creating a blues feeling sounds simple, and it generally is. But also be aware thatthe blues is a foundation that you can create many musical layers and colorswith. For example, you can add a note to the basic dominant seventh chord tocreate a 9th chord, which has its own distinctive sound. We’ll cover thedominant nine in this guide.

Before You StartBefore you start reading this guide, it would help you to know a few basic thingsabout playing guitar. This text does cover many of the basics of playing guitar,but if you want more introductory material, see the free ebook Playing Guitar: aBeginner’s Guide, available at this web address:

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www.MaximumMusician.com/book1.htm

What You’ll LearnYou’ll first learn open and movable chords and then progress to learning riffs. Youwon’t have to memorize as many chord patterns as you might guess; this guideshows you how to turn basic, open position chords into movable chord forms,which can be used to play many different chords. This will give you moreconfidence in playing anywhere on the fretboard.

Getting HelpEach exercise in the guide builds on the preceding one, so if you get confusedat a certain point, it might help to go back and review. In any case, reviewingmaterial is a must for building real skill.

If you need more help on the basics of playing guitar, check out these otherresources: the Playing Guitar ebook at www.MaximumMusician.com/book1.htm,and the sites www.GuitarPrinciples.com and www.GuitarNoise.com

Also, you can get your questions about the guide answered by sending email tome, Darrin Koltow, at this email address:www.MaximumMusician.com/feedback.dsk . Make sure you put a meaningfulsubject in the Subject line of the message. For example, you might write:“Subject: help with straight 8ths.”

Stay with the program. You may already know how long it takes to build guitarskills. The time it takes doesn’t matter at all, though, when you’re enjoying thelearning process. If there’s a technique that’s not coming to you right away, let itgo for a while and come back later. Nothing beats persistence, desire, and just abit of belief that you can build the skill you want.

The Right HandYour left hand will have plenty of fretting to keep it busy, but your right hand --which is like the engine that produces the blues rhythms -- will also get a workout.You’ll learn how to apply a range of rhythms to get different blues effects. Thisincludes staccato and percussive strumming, straight or swing 8ths, and shuffles.

Take Your TimeSpeed is not nearly as important as the volume of talk about it would make itseem. For instance, as good as Eddie Van Halen’s guitar skills are, how easily canyou sing the intro to his tune “Hot for Teacher”? By contrast, how easy is it torecall the opening riff to Eric Clapton’s “Cocaine”? More important than speedis how and when you play notes, and your understanding of how the bluesworks. These elements will determine how effective you are at communicatingthe blues.

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Practice HabitsUsing a metronome when you practice will greatly increase your effectiveness incommunicating blues rhythms. Work with a metronome before jumping aheadand playing with the sound files. Smooth out the “wrinkles ” in your playing untilyou can play an entire exercise smoothly with the metronome. At that point,play along with the sound file.

Use the Music SamplesThe sound files that go with the lessons help you make sure you’re playing theexercises correctly.

But before we get to the lessons, you’ll want to tune your guitar. You can do thatwith the following sound files. Click on the names of these files to open them. Youcan do the same thing with other sound files and also with hyperlinks.

http://www.__TuningHighE.midhttp://www.__tuningB.midhttp://www.__tuningG.midhttp://www.__tuningD.midhttp://www.__tuningA.midhttp://www.__tuningLowE.mid

With some sound files, you may hear drum beats introducing the music. This givesyou time to prepare to play along when the actual music starts.

Much of your success in communicating the blues will come from how muchfeeling you put into it. So, remember to have fun when you play and to take thetime to listen to and enjoy the playing of others.

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Reading Chord Diagrams and Tablature

Here’s a sample chord diagram showing the C major open position chord. Ifthere’s an X above a string, do not play that string. If there’s a 0 above a string,that string is played “open. ” In other words, don’t put any fingers on that string.

By the way, if any diagrams are hard to see, use the Zoom tool in the AcrobatReader to zoom to 125% or 150%. The Zoom tool is under the View menu, and it’scalled Zoom To.

In chord diagrams, the numbers in circles tell you which finger to use. This guideassumes you are right handed, and play the guitar by fretting the notes andchords with your left hand.

Here’s an example of a bar chord:

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When you see a figure like this, make a kind of bar with your first finger, and amini bar with your third finger.

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TablatureYou’ll find both standard notation and tablature in the exercises, so don’t worry ifyou can’t (yet) read standard notation. It’s a good idea to learn it at some point,but you can use the tablature diagrams for now. If you do read standardnotation, you still need to read the tablature to see where on the fretboard toplay something. Standard notation does not show you this.

Tablature is a way of expressing music on paper. A page of tablature tells youwhat notes to play to make the song happen. Standard music notation isanother way of communicating songs on paper. Classical musicians usually haveto know this kind of notation. We’ll stick to the basics and just describe tablaturein this section. You can find a primer on reading standard notation at the end ofthis guide.

Let’s look at a piece of tablature:

Tablature

Here’s how these notes might look in standard notation:

Standard notation

Notice that the tab doesn’t tell you how long to play each note for. To find outthe note duration, use the sound files and standard notation included with theexercises.

Look at the figure labeled Tablature. Each of the long lines going from left to rightrepresents a guitar string. The top line is the high E string (the thinnest string), thenext line down is the B string, and so on. The numbers represent frets that youplay, not the fingers you use.

The first group of notes is played one at a time. The second group of notes showsthe notes stacked on top of each other, which means you play them at thesame time. This group of notes played together is called a chord. The first groupof notes is called an arpeggio. Think of arpeggios as a busted up chord.

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The numbers tell you which frets to press. A “0 ” means you play the string open,or unfretted.

Some tablature, or “ tab” for short, also tells you which fingers to use. Look forfinger indicators in some of the tabs shown in this guide.

There’s not much else to learning tablature. You can learn more about it throughthese resources:

Resources

OLGA, the On-Line Guitar Archive. OLGA (www.olga.net) is a library of files,including those for tab, that shows you how to play songs on guitar.How to Read and Write Tab, www.olga.net/faq/tabbing.phpNewsgroups: rec.music.makers.guitar.tablature and alt.guitar.tab.Free software for composing and playalong: Power-tab.net. Power Tab. Simplyan excellent composition tool, MIDI sequencer and guitarist’s playalong partner.

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Other Things You’ll See

Here are some other things you’ll see in the text:“Hammer” or “Hammer on”: this is when you pickone note, and “hammer ” your fretting finger downon another note that’s higher up on the same stringas the previous note.

Pull off: Pick one note. With the finger you used tofret the note, pull away from the string so the fingercatches the string to sound a second note. Do notpick the second note.

Slide. Put your fretting finger on one note, andmove it up a fret or two on the same string, withoutlifting your finger. That’s an example of a slide.

Repeat. When you reach the end repeat figure ,

look for the that occurs previously in the music,and continue playing from there.

��and

Down and upstroke indicators. These tell you whichdirection to move your pick in, up or down. D.S. al Fine. Continue playing from the sign andkeep going until the word Fine, which will be theend of the music.

D.S. al Fine

D.C. al Fine. Start playing from the beginning andkeep going until the word Fine, which will be theend of the music.

D.C. al Fine

Tempo indicator. This tells you the Beats Per Minute(BPM) setting to play at, which is a measure ofmusical speed.

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Technique

Right Hand

Holding the Pick

Do not hold the pick using the fleshy face of your index finger. Holding the pickthat way will sap your picking strength quickly. Instead, hold the pick so it’ssandwiched between the side of your index finger and the end of your thumb.You don’t need to squeeze tightly. You should be able to move the end of thepick up and down a bit with your other hand.

When strumming or picking, don’t hold your fist too tightly. But do curl your fingersin a little, as though you were making a loose fist.

Remember that some of the shapes you’ll make with your hands may feeluncomfortable at first, but that you’ll grow into them the more you play.

Left HandMost of the time you’ll keep the thumb of your fretting behind the guitar neck,midway between the top and bottom of the fretboard. In other words, keepyour thumb where the bulge of the neck is greatest.

At other times, you will move your thumb up over the top of the neck. You’ll learnwhen to do that as you work through the exercises.

See the pictures atwww.guitartutoronline.com/beginners/02_basics/b_hold_guitar.htm for more infoon holding the guitar correctly.

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Blues Chords and Progressions

Basic ChordsWe’re going to play a simple blues progression. To do that, we need to know acouple of basic concepts:

• Chords• Chord progressions

A chord is a collection of three or more notes played at the same time. (Whentwo notes are played, the difference in pitch between the two is referred to asan interval.) Let’s look at and listen to a simple chord.

First, the name:“G major chord, ” or just “G. ”

Then, the sound. Remember that, on most systems, you can click the followingtext and the sound will play:

http://www.__ezGmajor.mid

Here’s where you play it.

And here’s what it looks like in music notation:

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It’s Your Turn

Now that you’ve seen and heard what the G chord looks like, it’s time for you toplay it. Use your fret hand to form the shape shown in the diagram. Then, strumthe chord, making sure all the notes ring out. Use only downstrokes for thisexample, and strum just the first three strings.

You don’t need to apply too much pressure with your fretting finger. If a notedoesn’t sound, examine what’s happening with each string under and near yourfretting finger.

Practice strumming this chord with a metronome set at a comfortable speed.When you feel ready, play along with the sound file:

http://www.__strumPractice.mid

How it Works

Where do the notes in this chord come from? They come from the G major scale:

If you’ll look back to the last tablature example, or look at the notes we’replaying in our easy G chord, you’ll notice that the D is missing. This is okay. The Disn’t totally necessary to create the sound of the G major. In a little while, you’lllearn a full G chord with a D in it.

Other Chords in G Major

You’ve just seen how to make a G major chord from the G major scale. Youmight be wondering, “Can I make other chords with the G major scale besidesthe G major chord?” Yes, you can -- many more chords. For right now, we onlyneed to work with G major and two other chords from the G major scale: Cmajor and D major.

Here they are

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Now that you can strum the G chord, practice strumming the C and D chords inthe same way, first with the metronome, and then with the sound file.

Here are the sound files:

http://www.__EzC.mid

And

http://www.__Ezd.mid

The Full ChordsOnce you feel comfortable playing the easy G, C and D chords, it’s time to playthe full chords. Here they are:

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Notice the blocked A string in the G chord. Use your third finger to block it. Or,you can play the B note on the A string, second fret. This is shown in the secondG major figure above.

Make sure you feel comfortable strumming these before moving on to the nextsection.

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Blues in G

With the G, C and D chords you can now play smoothly, you’re ready to playthe first blues progression.

Before you see what this progression looks like, you’ll want to listen to it. Play thissound file:

http://www.__BluesInG.mid

As you listen, notice the change from one chord to another.

Here’s a common way of displaying those chord changes:

Notice the musical symbols in this example: the and D.S. al Coda. The D.S. al

Coda means continue playing from the and keep going until the end of thepiece.

Practice playing this chord progression along with the sound file. If you find thechords change too fast, play with a metronome first. Increase the metronome’sBPM (beats per minute) as you become quicker at changing chords.

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Blues in EHere’s another blues progression that will sound pretty close to the first one youplayed. The major difference from the blues in G is that this one is in E. We’llexplain more about the differences and similarities between the two blues afteryou can play along with the sound file.

As we did with the first blues, we’ll give the easy chord diagrams and the fullchord diagrams. Here they are:

Those chords are fairly easy to get your fingers onto, because they only use threeor four strings. But, when you’re ready, move to the full chords. Here they are:

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Practice playing with this sound:

http://www.__BluesInE.mid

Here’s the rhythm notation for this exercise.

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Use downstrokes on this, as before. Also, the rhythm pattern is the same: count“One, two, three, four,” saying one number per beat.

Use the simple chords first, then use the full chords. If you’re fingers can’t getevery note to ring, or your fingers can’t yet make all the shapes, don’t worry. Ifyou relax when you play, focus on the sound, and practice a bit every day, thesounds and shapes will come.

Ingredients of the BluesAlthough the blues in G and the blues in E might seem totally different, theyactually have a lot in common. For one thing, they use the same chordprogression, but with different chords. You can describe that progression asfollows:

Play four bars of the I chord.Play two bars of the IV chord.Play two bars of the I chord.Play one bar of the V, and one bar of the IV.Play one bar of the I, and one bar of the V.Repeat this sequence.

What’s all this I, IV, and V stuff? These are Roman numerals that refer to chords.Every key has its own set of I, IV, and V chords, which are the only chords used inthe basic 12-bar blues that we’ve been playing.

You want to be able to instantly figure out the I, IV, and V chords of any keyyou’re playing in. Here’s a chart to help you find those chords.

Scale DegreeI II III IV V VI VIIC D E F G A BC#/Db D#/Eb E#/F F#/Gb G#/Ab A#/Bb B#/CD E F# G A B C#D#/Eb E#/F G G#/Ab A#/Bb B#/C DE F# G# A B C# D#F G A Bb C D EF#/Gb G#/Ab A#/Bb B C#/Db D#/Eb E#/FG A B C D E F#G#/Ab A#/Bb B#/C C#/Db D#/Eb E#/F GA B C# D E F# G#A#/Bb B#/C D D#/Eb E#/F G A

Key

B C# D# E F# G# A#

Transposition chart

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In a blues that’s in a major key, the I, IV, and V chords can be major or dominant.A chord with a 7 in its name is dominant. For example, V7 in E means the chordB7. But a plain V means a B major chord.

How to Create the I, IV and V Chords from a Key

Now that you know what chord goes into the blues progression in any key, let’sgo into more detail to find out what notes go into the chords.

This is what you’re playing when you play an E major chord:

And these are the notes in an E major chord: E, G#, and B

Do you see that the notes you’re fretting are those in an E major? That just meansyou’re playing an E major chord correctly when you play the above chorddiagram.

To create a major chord that’s based on a major scale, use the first, third andfifth notes of that scale.

For example, we create an E major chord using the first, third and fifth notes inthe E major scale:

Notice that we’re using Roman numerals here: I, II, III, etc. This is a commonconvention when you’re talking about the notes or chords of a scale. When yousee Roman numerals in another lesson, it’s a good bet the lesson is talking aboutthe chords or notes of a scale, and not something like finger numbers or someother number.

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Notice the E major chord doesn’t contain every note in the E major scale, butonly three notes: the first, the third, and the fifth notes, or degrees.

Since we build the E major chord starting with the E note, we call the E majorchord the (I) (“One”) chord in the key of E major. This One is one of the threechords we play in a blues. The other two are the IV (Four) and the V.

Here are the notes in the IV (Four) chord in E major, which is the A major chord.

These are the same notes in the E major scale, but arranged to start on the IVdegree.

Here are the notes in the V (Five) chord in the key of E major, which is the B majorchord.

For more info on building chords from scales, see www.MusicTheory.net,www.WholeNote.com, or especially the excellent book by Mark Levine, the JazzTheory Book.

An Extra Note

In the E blues we played at the beginning of this section, we didn’t exactly playthe regular I, IV, and V (E, A, and B) major chords. We played dominant seventhchords, which have a bluesier sound than regular major chords. When you wantto make a major chord sound bluesey, turn it into a dominant seven chord.

Some Missing Notes

There’s another important point about the easy chords we first played for the Eblues. Take a look again at the easy chord for A7:

Easy A7

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This chord has only the notes C#, E, and G but a true A7 chord has four notes in it:A, C#, E and G. The A note is missing in our easy A7. Is that okay?

Let your ear tell you if the chord works to communicate the blues or not. You’llfind that, when you play the E blues with these easy chords, you’re getting a truebluesey sound, even though the chords don’t have all the notes they’re“supposed” to have. So, it’s okay to use less than the four notes than a fulldominant seven chord has -- if you make sure that the notes you do include arethe ones that sound the best.

Which notes sound the best?

Guideline: For a dominant seventh chord, the notes that sound the best are thethird and seventh of the chord. In E7, this means the G# and the D sound thebest. You can leave out the B and even the E. For a B7 chord, that means thebest notes are D# and A.

A New Strum PatternUp until now we’ve just been using downstrokes or down strums to play the blues.It’s time to get some upstrokes into our playing now. This next sound file is asimple exercise with one chord. Use it to practice smooth strumming thatalternates between down and upstrokes. Listen to it first, then play along. Use thefull E7 chord you learned in the previous section.

http://www.__altStrum.mid

Here’s the rhythm notation for this exercise:

The arrows tell you whether to move your pick up or down across the strings.

Once you feel comfortable with that exercise, let’s do a complete blues. Listenfirst, then practice, then play along.

http://www.__UpstrokeE7blues.mid

Here’s the rhythm chart for this blues:

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Rhythm chart: “Upstroke E7 blues”

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Blues in A

We’re going to do a blues in another key, A major. But before we do that, wewant to continue building our strumming skills and creating interesting strummingpatterns.

Listen to the sound file showing what you will play in this exercise:

http://www.__OhYesXr.mid

Here’s the A7 chord you’ll need for this exercise. It’s the same A7 you used in theprevious section.

Open A7

And here’s the rhythm chart:

“Oh, yes, I play the blues”

Practice this exercise until you can play it smoothly.

Let this exercise give you ideas to create your own strumming patterns.Experiment with down and upstrokes. Listen to the rhythms you hear in yourhead, and in your favorite tunes, then recreate those rhythms in your playing.

Once you can play the last exercise smoothly, let’s do a full blues in A using thesame strumming pattern. Here are the IV and V chords in A, which are D and E.We’ll use the dominant 7 forms, because they’re more bluesey than the majorchords.

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Chord diagrams for D7 and E7

Here are the sound files and rhythm charts for the blues we can call “Oh, yes: Iplay the blues.” Refer back to the exercise in this section info on the strummingfor this blues.

Here’s the sound file for this exercise:

http://www.__OhYesFull.mid

Rhythm chart for “Oh, yes, I play the blues”

To make your strumming smoother, which is important when creating newstrumming patterns, have a look at this Web site: www.GuitarPrinciples.com

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More on Seventh Chords

What’s the difference between a dominant chord and a major chord?In this exercise we’re going to get your ears to notice the difference betweenthe major chord and the dominant 7 chord. And we’re also going to make itclear how much more bluesey a dominant 7 chord is compared to the majorchord.

Notice the following chord diagrams. The column on the left shows major chordswhile the column on the right shows dominant 7 chords. Listen to the sound fileand play the chords yourself.

http://www.__MajDomDiff.mp3

Each of the dominant 7 chords has only 1 note that’s different from its majorchord. That note is called the b7 (“ flat 7 ” ). The b7 note has been highlighted in

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the diagrams just shown with the dominant chords. Here’s another view of thedifference between the major and dominant chords:

Difference between the major and dominant chords

Not “Supposed” to Be ThereBe aware that sometimes the dominant chord may sound great and bluesey,and that it also breaks some traditional rules of music. Let’s explain that.

Take a look at the C major chord. It has these notes: C, E and G. That chord isbased on the C major scale, which has these notes: C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Nowtake a look at the notes in the C7 (“C dominant 7 ” ): C, E, G, Bb. You’ll noticethat the Bb is not a note from the C major scale. Therefore, according to thetraditional rules of music, the C7 chord does not belong to the key of C major.Using a term from music theory, we can say the same thing in another way: theC7 chord is not diatonic to the key of C major.

But, rules, or no rules, the C7 finds its bluesey way into music that’s mostly in Cmajor, and sounds great when used correctly.

So, when you see a C7 in a C major blues progression, it’s breaking sometraditional musical rules. But this is one of those cases where breaking the rules isnot only okay, it’s necessary to get to sounds we call the blues. Remember to letyour ear be the judge.

Let’s practice playing a progression that points out the difference between themajor and the dominant seven.

First, let’s make sure you can play each of the following chords.

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Chords for progression explaining dominant-major difference

If you want to peek ahead to learn how to make a full Bm chord, look at the Cminor chord in the section Minor Movable Blues. Also, for the A major chord, youcan play it with just one finger instead of three: bar your first finger across strings2, 3 and 4. Let your first finger mute the first string.

Play along with the sound file on this progression. Although a plain downstrum isshown for this, you can use any of the strumming patterns you’ve learned. Here’sthe chord progression:

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Here’s the sound file:

http://www.__Dom7Diff.mid

This progression we just played is not a blues progression, but it sounds bluesey insome parts, because of the dominant 7 chord. Do you see how much differenceone note (the b7) can make?

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Playing Triplets

Here’s another way of adding some interest to the rhythm of your blues playing:apply triplets. Triplets break up the measure not into groups of four notes, aswe’ve been playing, but into groups of three notes. Listen to this example oftriplets contrasted with non-triplets:

http://www.__triplets.mid

In the first part of this sound file is a non-triplet rhythm. In the second half is atriplet rhythm applied to the same beat.

Here’s a blues in A that uses a triplet rhythm.

http://www.__tripletblues.mid

Note that the strum patterns shown are just suggestions. You might feel morecomfortable with another pattern.

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Portato Versus Staccato

You may have noticed that sometimes chords don’t ring out for the full beat.With these chords, it might be more natural to scat along by singing “doo-wop,doo-wop,” instead of singing, “nah, nah, nah, ” for chords sounding for the fullbeat.

Playing staccato means playing notes or chords that do not last the whole beat.They give rhythmic variety and punch to your playing. Let’s listen to an exampleof staccato playing and contrast it with its opposite, which is called playingportato.

http://www.__staccato.mid

The first four strums are played portato, and the second four staccato. Everyexercise we’ve played in this guide so far has been played portato. Here’s whatthe rhythm notation for these sounds looks like:

The dot under the slash is the only thing that makes the rhythm slash staccato.

How to Do ItNow that we know what staccato playing sounds like, how do you do it? In otherwords, how do you make sure the sound cuts off abruptly instead of continuingto ring? There are at least three ways that are fairly easy to apply.

Staccato Method 1

Hand damping. Try this: strum a C7 chord (or any chord you choose) with asimple downstroke. Immediately after strumming downward, muffle the stringswith any part of your strumming arm, hand or wrist. It might seem tricky at first,but move your strumming arm around, and practice this for a bit. You’ll see itbecomes natural pretty quickly.

Staccato Method 2

With method 2, your fretting hand does the damping of the strings. Play thechord again, and this time, lift your fretting fingers a little bit off the strings so thenotes stop playing. This method might be a bit trickier, because not all chordshave your fingers positioned to dampen all six strings – especially open positionchords.

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However, if you’re playing bar chords, which we’ll learn in a later section, left-hand damping is easy.

Staccato Method 3

With staccato method three, your strumming hand once again does the work.Except this time, you’re not strumming; you’re plucking.

You can call this technique the “Pick fingerpick, ” because it combines bothnormal picking and fingerpicking. Here’s how to do it: hold the pick as youprobably already are doing: between the thumb and the first finger. Now, loosenup fingers 3, 4.

Now, look at this tab carefully:

|-0-- pinky|-1-- finger 3|-0-- finger 2|-2--|-3-- pick|----

The left part of this tab shows you where to place each of your fretting fingers,and the right part shows which finger on your right hand to use for each string.Notice we have no more fingers left to cover the E note on the D string. This isone drawback to an otherwise useful technique. Possible solutions: just ignorethat note. You won’t need it in most situations. Or, toss the pick completely, andgo totally fingerstyle. Or, neglect another string instead, like this:

|-0-- pinky|-1-- finger 3|-0--|-2-- finger 2|-3-- pick|----

This technique might feel unusual and uncomfortable to you at first. That’s okay.You’ll grow into it -- and it’s worth taking the time to grow into it, because thePick Fingerpick lets you play staccato with almost no effort at all. Besides that, itallows you to play certain chords much more easily than simple strumming can.For example, look at this interval:

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This is going to be difficult to play with simple strumming, because it’s hard toavoid striking the fourth string, which is not included in the chord. If you use thePick Fingerpick, playing this chord will be a piece of cake.

The Staccato BluesHere’s a blues in G that uses staccato. It also shows the difference between themajor and dominant chord sounds.

Here’s the sound file for this blues:

http://www.__staccatoBlues.mid

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Movable Chords

Learning the Fretboard

Before we begin learning the movable chord forms, you might want to beginlearning the notes on the fretboard. It’s useful to know all of them at first glance,but you don’t need to have this knowledge: it just makes learning new materialeasier.

If you do want to learn the fretboard notes, rather than trying to memorize eachnote, simply learn the cycle of fourths, and apply it as needed to figure out anote for any intersection of string and fret. Let’s explain what the cycle of fourthsis, and use it to figure out an arbitrary note on the fretboard.

The cycle of fourths is a sequence of notes, where each note is a perfect fourthup from the previous note. This is truly useful for learning the notes on the guitar,because almost every string on a guitar with standard tuning is a perfect fourthhigher than the string previous string. For example, the A string is a perfect fourthhigher than the E string.

Here is the cycle of fourths starting from C:

C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, B, E, A, D, G

Let’s learn one more piece of info: the notes on the sixth string. Here’s a diagramshowing those notes:

Notes on string 6

With these two pieces of info, you can find any note on the fretboard. Let’s say,for example, you want to find the note on the third string, fret 9. How do you doit?

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Start by looking at the sixth string. What note is at fret 9? Db. Now, count thenumber of strings between the sixth string and our target string, string three: Thereare four strings here, including string 6 and string 3.

Use this number, four, to name four notes in the cycle of fourths beginning withDb: Db, Gb, B, E. E is the note you’re looking for: string 3, fret 9.

Each time you use this procedure, you’ll get faster at identifying the notes.Remember to keep in mind that, if you want to find a note on the second string,you have to change the procedure just a bit. Use the procedure to get a notename, then name the note that’s a half-step down from that one.

For example, let’s find the note on string 2, fret 6. Count the number of stringsinvolved: string 6 minus string 2 plus one equals 5 strings. Use this 5 on the cycle offourths, starting from the Bb: Bb, Eb, Ab, Db, Gb. Now, move one half step backfrom Gb: F. That’s the note on the second string, fret 6.

Movable Shapes

Up until now we’ve been playing using mostly open position chords, which refersto chords that have at least one note on a string that you don’t put any fingerson. You can get a lot of good sounds from using just the open position chords,but you’ll notice that you’re not making use of the remaining 75% of your guitar.You want to get the full value out of the money you paid for your guitar, and youdefinitely want to hear what sounds you can make with other parts of thefretboard. For that reason, we’re going to start learning movable chord shapes.

Once you learn movable chords, including bar chords, you will be able to playblues progressions in any key. Let’s learn the first movable chord position. Here’sthe chord diagram for a C7. It probably looks familiar to you:

C7 from movable form, root on string 5

Notice that the 1st and 6th strings are not played. How do you stop them fromsounding when you strum?

In this form, the thumb comes over the top of the neck to block the sixth stringfrom sounding. But, remember that usually the thumb should stay in the center of

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the neck, where the bulge of the neck is greatest. Also, notice that your firstfinger blocks the 1st string from sounding.

Make this movable shape now, and practice strumming it. Adjust your fingers asneeded to get just the inner four strings to ring out. You probably won’t need toadjust your fingers too much. When you form this shape, you’ll see how the firstand sixth strings naturally get blocked by your first finger and thumb.

Movable BluesLet’s practice moving this chord shape using a blues in G. Here's the sound file:

http://www.__movable1.mid

Let’s play this blues. To do so, you’ll need to know how to play the D7. It’s easy:just slide the C7 form you just learned up two frets. Here’s the diagram:

D7 from movable form, root on string 5

This blues does use one open position chord: the G7. Here’s the rhythm chart forthis exercise:

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Notice how you don’t even need to take your fingers off the strings to move fromthe C7 to the D7. By contrast, with open position chords, your fingers areconstantly shifting, coming up and coming down on different strings.

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Rhythm Riffs

Chords aren’t the only way to communicate a blues rhythm. There are melodicways, too. We can call these blues melodies riffs.

Riffs often make use of the techniques called Hammers and Pulls, or Hammer-onsand Pull-offs. Let’s briefly describe what they are before learning riffs.

Hammers and Pulls

Hammers

Hammers, or hammer-ons, are used to make a note sound without striking thestring with your picking and strumming hand. The note you hammer onto ishigher in pitch than the previous note. It’s also on the same string as the previousnote.

When you play a note like this, it results in a smoother transition from the previousnote. This is because the string does not stop and restart vibrating from theprevious note. It continues vibrating throughout.

Here’s an example of how a hammer-on is notated:

To do the hammer, pick one note, and rapidly bring your fretting finger down onanother note that’s higher up on the same string as the first note.

Be aware that usually you’ll hear a hammered note most clearly when a string isalready vibrating from playing another note on the same string. However, it’salso possible to hammer onto a note without having played a prior note. Themore force you can use in your hammer, the clearer the note will sound.

The Pull

The pull, or pull-off, is like the opposite of the hammer-on: you’re descending inpitch instead of ascending. The pull is like the hammer in that you use yourfretting fingers, not your picking fingers, to sound the note. The pulled note is onthe same string and a lower fret than the previous note.

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Here’s an example of how the pull is notated:

Here’s how to do the pull: with the finger you used to fret the note, pull awayfrom the string so the finger catches the string to sound a second note. Do notpick the second note.

A Blues RiffLet’s listen to and play a blues riff. Here’s the sound file:

http://www.__Riffs1.mid

Now, it’s your turn to play this riff. Here’s the notation for it. Pick these notes usingalternate picking: start with a downstroke, followed by an upstroke for thefollowing note, and continue alternating.

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The chords with the “5 ” in their names are called power chords. You’ll learnabout these in the Basic Shuffle chapter.

Basic Shuffle

Here’s a blues shuffle in A. Here’s the sound file:

http://www.__shuffle1.mid

Here’s the notation for it. Notice the fingering.

How it WorksHow can so few notes produce such a bluesey sound?

Although you’re playing just two notes at a time – called double stops – thesedouble stops can substitute for the I, IV, and V chords in a blues. The specific kindof double stop we’re playing here is called a power chord -- a chord with nothird. Chords are usually thought of as having three notes or more, but the powerchord just has two.

Take a look at the first bar of the blues, the A7 power chord. You’re playing notesA and E. These are the root and the fifth of a chord, which are the two moststable notes in major, minor and dominant chords. In that same bar we’re alsoplaying the sixth of the chord, which has a way of sounding a bit wistful. It gives abit of color to the power chord, which otherwise has a neutral feeling. A chordneeds to have a major or minor third, or a major or minor sixth to have some kindof “sweetness ” to it -- especially the third.

We’re also adding in the b7 of the chord, which is one of the two most blueseynotes you can add to a major chord. The other is the b3. When you combinethese notes, the major 6th and flat 7th, put it into a shuffle rhythm, and put thatin a blues progression, you have the traditional blues shuffle.

The Backbeat

A crucial part of some blues tunes is the backbeat. In words, using a backbeatmeans putting more stress on the notes that don’t usually get the stress. Listen toand play this blues that illustrates the backbeat.

Here’s the sound file:

http://www.__Backbeat.mid

Here’s the notation for this exercise:

Notes on the Fretboard

Introduction to Reading Standard Notation

You don’t need to learn how to read standard music notation to play guitar. Infact, many guitarists can’t read music. They rely on other forms of notation, andthey also learn songs by ear. If you do want to read music, start on this page.What follows is a crash course in standard notation.

Here’s how to count the rhythm of a simple piece:

How long does each note last?

One whole note equals 2 half notes equals 4 quarter notes equals 8 eighth notes:

Where are the notes on the guitar?

Note: For many notes, there is more than one place to play the note. Forexample C1 is found in these places:• fret 3, string 5• fret 8, string 6

Learn more about reading standard notation at The Introduction to ReadingMusic, at www.datadragon.com/education/reading, is an effective primer. Learntreble and bass clefs, how to count rhythms, types of rests, and other elements ofstandard notation.

= = =

Fr. 1 Fr. 3

G2D2

F1C1C1

A1E1

E2B1G1D1

F2C2

Frets 1 through 3

www.powertabscentralsoftware/powertab.net/

http://www.sregnow.com/softsell/nph/softsell.cgi/item/7753/4/startudst3melodyisaction/add_to_cart/linkid/bg1.htm

How to Get the Complete VersionIf you enjoyed learning the material in this sample of Blues Grooves, there’s much more to belearned in the complete version.While supplies last, you can download your personal copy ofBlues Grooves by clicking here.

The complete Blues Grooves covers additional subjects that give you a deeper understanding ofblues rhythm guitar. Plus, you’ll get Power Tab files (available only for Windows users) thatillustrate many of the guide’s lessons. You can edit and play the Power Tab files using the freePower Tab editor, available at powertab-central.net.

In the full version of BG we cover these additional topics, plus others:

• Rhythm Blanks. Give your blues playing a driving, percussive feel.• Combining Chord Forms. Exercises to get better at switching among the essential

movable chord forms while playing the blues.• Apogee Slide Blues. A technique to add chromaticism – and character – to your

playing.• Minor Movable Blues. A blues too seldom heard and too powerful to miss.• Several movable chord patterns. How to apply them to the blues, and where they

come from.

Also, you’ll learn these:

• The Dominant 9th. To jazz up your blues.• Rhythm Riffs. How they work, what scales to build them with. Many examples.• Right hand techniques for adding personality to your shuffle and riff playing.• The Boogie Shuffle. The infectious -- and easy to create -- sound featured in such

tunes as ZZ Top’s Lagrange.• Turnarounds: a great opportunity to apply your creativity, with several examples.

Learn the fretboard better with turnarounds and develop your comprehension ofharmony.

To learn more about Blues Grooves, please visitwww.MaximumMusician.com/bluesGroovesRhythmGuitareBook.htm. Or, contact me atwww.MaximumMusician.com/feedbackdsk.htm. Send snail mail here:

Darrin Koltow2812 North Powers Drive#69Orlando, FL 32818407 292 0871

If you didn’t understand something in this book, contact me through the info just listed. Also, youcan read more about other ebooks to build your musical success and enjoyment atwww.MaximumMusician.com. And you can learn about chords, playing by ear, and other topics ofmusicianship from Max Music articles. Thanks again for your interest and time. I wish youhappiness and success in your playing.

Darrin Koltowwww.MaximumMusician.com