Practice Track: Blues feel – G7 and C7

Here is a practice track in a medium tempo blues feel. It is suitable for beginning and intermediate bass and guitar players to work with.  The chords are

||: G7             |                  |                    |                   |C7            |               |                |             : ||

A distinctive feature of many blues styles is the triplet feel – each beat is divided into three parts, counting 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a etc.

Free MP3 download: G7&C7 blues feel at 80bpm

There are two rhythm guitar tracks accompanying the drums. One plays a typical shuffle rhythm accompaniment:

The other plays G7 and C7 chords on the first beat of each bar and on every beat of the bar leading up to each chord change. This will help you to anticipate the chord changes, and adjust your playing accordingly!

For bass players:

(1) Start by playing a bass line using only tonics, G for the G7 chord, and C for the C7 chord

(2) Then try using tonics and fifths for each chord.

(3) Explore using the b7 for each chord. F for the G chord, and Bb for the C chord.

(4) Explore anticipating the chord changes with chromatic or diatonic runs up to or down to the new chord root (use the mixolydian modes built on the root of each chord for diatonic runs).

(5) Use G7 and C7 arpeggios to create bass lines.

For guitar players:

(1) Use the G minor pentatonic scale over both chords

(2) Use G major pentatonic scale over G7 and C major pentatonic over C7

(3) Use G and C mixolydian modes over G7 and C7 chords respectively

(4) Use a G minor pentatonic scale but add a B (major third) over the G7 chord, and an E (major 3rd of C) over the C7 chord. These notes can be obtained by fretting, or by bending from a note in the minor pentatonic scale. Here is a diagram in third position:

The G minor pentatonic scale notes are in black, with the major thirds added in white.

Have fun!

Practice Track: C major folk rock

This is a practice track for beginning and intermediate players to play along with. It is in a basic folk rock style, but can be used by people interested in country or rock as well. You can use the track in several ways.

The chords are

||: C              |                  |G                |                 : ||

Firstly, try and strum along to the rhythm guitar, and secondly, practice playing your own solos over the rhythm track. The rhythm guitar is panned a little to the left, with a second guitar strumming a chord every two bars panned just to the right. There are two basic rhythms, with occasional variations. For the first 16 bars, the strum used is predominantly:

The strum then changes to the following for 16 bars:

The two strums then alternate each 16 bars. Note that palm muting is used to stop the strings from ringing out excessively!

The second way you can use this practice track is to practice your soloing. Use the C major scale as your starting point. This will give a basic folk rock sound. Introducing a Bb over the C chord will generate a more bluesy sound (the b7). The blues sound can be further enhanced by introducing an Eb (the b3) which can be bent partly or all the way to an E. You may also like to experiment with the C and G major pentatonic scales, over the C and G chords respectively, which will give a more country sound. Then try the C minor pentatonic scale, which will give a harder rock or blues sound.

Free MP3 Download: C&G7 practice track

Have fun!

Practice Track: Acoustic Blues in E

Here is a 12 bar blues in E which you can play along with. The accompaniment is just acoustic guitar playing basic open position chords. Use the E blues scale, or the E minor pentatonic scale as the basis for your improvisation. Try using bends on the b7 (D, 3rd fret 2nd string), the b3 (G, 3rd fret 1st string) and the 4th (A, 2nd fret 3rd string). Once you can play through confidently using the E minor pentatonic scale, try mixing in notes from the E7, A7 and B7 arpeggios when those chords come up.

Free MP3 download: 12 Bar in E – Acoustic

The chord progression is:

Enjoy!

 

Practice Track: G minor groove

This practice track is suitable for intermediate guitar players interested in rock, funk and blues grooves, and is especially good for practicing the G minor pentatonic scale. A distinctive feature of blues and blues derived styles is the use of the bend: try to get some bends happening on the b3rd (Bb), the 4th (C) and b7th (F). Use your ear and bend till it sounds good! There are just two chords, Gm7 and C9:Two Bars Gm7 and 2 bars C9Here is the practice track, with just drums and guitar. Use it for practicing lead guitar or bass.

Gm7-C9_groove_Rhythm Guitar_Drums

After playing with the above track, try the following track, which adds a bass line. How does this change what you play?

Gm7-C9_groove_Bass_Rhythm Guitar_Drums

Finally you may care to listen to the following version, which adds a lead guitar riff. Practice playing in the ‘gaps’ left by the riff, or try to play the riff or a harmony line. The riff drops away after 16 bars, leaving you 16 bars to play on your own, then comes back for16 bars. Once again, how does this change what you play?

Gm7-C9_groove_Riff_Bass_Rhythm Guitar_Drums

Have fun!

Rob

Talking About the Blues

One of the styles of music I love to play, and love to teach, is the blues. Much of modern pop and rock music owes its distinctive sound to the rhythms, harmonies and scales used by the American blues musicians. The Blues had its roots in the south of the USA, in the Mississippi delta region, and the first blues guitarists often sang on street corners. They developed the resonator guitar, made of steel, to help produce a louder sound. Look out for Son House and Robert Johnson as exemplars of this early blues. After the second world war, many people from the South moved north to Chicago and Detroit, and blues began to feature the electric guitar. Have a listen to performers like Muddy Waters, B.B. King and John Lee Hooker, who were playing right through the fifties, sixties, seventies and beyond. B.B. King still performs to this day, in his 80’s! These players really influenced the British blues/rock explosion that occurred in the late sixties and early seventies. Such big names as Eric Clapton and Keith Richards (Rolling Stones) were big fans, and through these players and their contemporaries, the blues features of the bend, the pentatonic scale and the dominant seventh chord, found their way into rock and roll and popular music, and are still a big feature in today’s rock and pop. Australia’s own John Butler is also well worth a listen, with roots in the blues! 

To play the blues, one needs to work on several areas of playing. Firstly, get the minor pentatonic scale under your fingers! Secondly, work on getting some bends happening, especially bending the flat 3rd, the 4th and the flat 7th. Thirdly work on some phrasing. A lot of the blues is based on call and response type melodies, that have their origins in the field hollers on the slave plantations of the American South. So think in terms of 2 bar phrases, with the second phrase repeating (perhaps with some variation) the first, and then going on to a new phrase! And finally, don’t forget to exercise your ears. Put on your favourite record, and see if you can play along. Even if you can pick out one or two notes here and there, it will help you to hear in a new way the music that is being played, and eventually will help you to play it yourself on the guitar!