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Premier Clinic: Blues
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Booker T. Blues
from Mark Wilson’s Blue Grooves
This month’s lesson is modeled after a classic Booker T. & the MG’s groove. In this I-IV-V in the key of E minor, the rhythm guitar doubles the hook-laden bassline, which is all that’s really needed, offering enough rhythmic and harmonic support for the lead guitar while still leaving space. To help make this shuffle flow, the guitar should mimic the strong swing feel provided by the drum part.
There are several different ways to pick this when played at a relaxed tempo: we could use down, down, up, down, down or we could use all downstrokes. Feel free to experiment in order to find a groove that suits you.
The first three notes outline an E minor pentatonic: the root (E), the flat third (G) and the fourth (A). When it changes to the A minor chord, the same lick simply shifts up a fourth, ending up with A, C and D. Split the riff by moving to the third position with your first finger centered at the third fret and the root note played with the third finger on the low E string. When moving to the V chord, or B minor, simply move this formation up to the fifth position with your first finger on the fifth fret.
The motif of this lesson’s solo is based on the E minor pentatonic scale and highlights the flat 5. The recurring theme, coupled with the heavy swing feel, is a common approach to blues soloing, and it fits right in the pocket here. This solo also features liberal use of whole step bends and downward slides.
The riff starts on the “and” of four, and is based around the 12th position. Due to the amount of bending involved, try using the traditional blues approach, substituting your third finger in place of your pinky, which will offer up smoother vibrato and bends. Also, remember to use the fingers behind the note to reinforce the bend and try dampening the unused strings with the right hand thumb.
Watch for the triplets in measure five from the solo, followed by a glissando in measure seven and finishing it off with a cool octave lick to fatten things up a bit. Try hybrid picking it for another flavor. Play around with the timing and phrasing to come up with some ideas of your own. We’ll see you next month!
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Comments, Rants and Raves
James Brown on 11/21/2007 4:20:00 PM
I really enjoy these videos especially the Blues sessions and was really looking forward to the new issue - now that it is here I can't get the video to run. I even loaded the latest version of Flash, but didn't help. Same is true on the other sessions also in this month's mag - what's up
Bob Derryberry on 12/10/2007 2:56:00 PM
The video Premier Clinic is awesome! Love the magazine both in print and online. Many times I take my PM magazine with me on a flight and end up giving it to someone who's never heard of PM. Last week I was on a flight from Denver and a guy got on with a Strat in a gig bag and I gave hime my DEC copy.
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