Roy Buchanan
 ROY BUCHANAN LP, THAT'S WHAT I AM HERE FOR US $15.53 
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 ROY BUCHANAN LP, IN THE BEGINNING US $18.66
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 RINGO STARR Beaucoups Of Blues U.S. APPLE 1970 LP • Stereo SEALED US $169.00
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A lot of younger players avoid the Blues in their study of music. This is a gigantic mistake! The Blues provides us with many benefits beyond what we're listening to. The Blues is the basis of the music we play, it's the most common form of music known among the most musicians, and the techniques, phrases and "licks" used in the blues are the foundation for every other style we'll play.
All American music forms - Jazz, Country, Rock n Roll, R&B, Pop, and even American Symphonic music - have their origins in the Blues. Its forms and progressions can be heard either directly or indirectly in everything done in these forms. Country, Rock n Roll, R&B and Pop are all forms of the blues in a more accessible form. Jazz and Symphonic works by American composers are Blues with a more sophisticated harmonic structure.
Because of this common origin, nearly every musician we meet is familiar with the Blues in one form or another. The basic 12-bar structure is the first thing we guitarists jam on when we first play with other musicians. It's something that we've heard so often, it's ingrained into our memories - we already know how it's going to go!
The structure of the Blues is based around the three most commonly used chords in a given key:
o The I chord (tonic/root)
o The IV chord (sub-dominant)
o The V chord (dominant)
Given these chords, they are arranged in a 12-bar format like so:
I - - - I - - - I - - - I - - -
IV - - - IV - - - I - - - I - - -
V - - - IV - - - I - - - V - - -
In the Key of C, these chord symbols translate into the following chords:
C - - - C - - - C - - - C - - -
F - - - F - - - C - - - C - - -
G - - - F - - - C - - - G - - -
Memorize this chord progression! It is the basis for every tune you've ever heard. Early Rock and roll, like Chuck Berry, Little Richard, and Elvis was this progression. This didn't change until the Beatles. Even with the Beatles, the progressions became variations and substitutions based on this progression.
As stated above, when most musicians come together for the first time, they usually play the 12-bar Blues as a first tune to get comfortable with one another. Couple with this with the pentatonic scale, and you have a good recipe for some serious jamming.
Most of us, myself included, learned about improvisation through playing the blues in various groups of people. Most of the time, these jam sessions were loosely organized with many different players coming in and out of the session. Because of the simplicity and familiarity of the 12-bar Blues and the pentatonic scale, new players are able to quickly wrap their heads, hands and heart around improvising.
To really get a feel for the Blues and how to play it, you really need to listen to the Blues. The following is a list of players you should familiarize yourself with so that you can "steal" their licks and truly say you have knowledge of what the Blues is. Have fun listening to these icons, and good luck learning the licks and phrases they played. Here they are:
Jeff Beck
Roy Buchanan
Ray Charles
Eric Clapton
Albert Collins
Robert Cray
Rory Gallagher
Billy Gibbons
Peter Green
Buddy Guy
Jeff Healey
Jimi Hendrix
John Lee Hooker
Robert Johnson
Albert King
BB King
Freddie King
Gary Moore
Bonnie Raitt
Derek Trucks
Stevie Ray Vaughan
T-Bone Walker
Muddy Waters
Johnny Winter
You'll notice that most of these players are modern/electric players. This is because the music is more accessible and easier to find. One last note, there's a variation to the pentatonic scale that Blues players use called "The Blues Scale." It's built with the following structure (first will be intervallic, then with the notes in the key of C):
Root - minor 3rd - perfect 4th - diminished 5th - perfect 5th - minor 7th - root
C - Eb - F - Gb - G - Bb - C
This scale will give you the spices necessary to cook a decent Blues stew! Ok, have fun listening to the stuff, and remember that getting the FEEL of the music is as important as learning the proper notes.
Good luck to you and your future guitar adventures!
Visit St. Louis-based performing guitarist Guglielmo Bill F. Franco at his websites to inquire about guitar lessons at: http://www.billfranco.com and http://www.myspace.com/billfrancomusic
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