
A back-to-basics approach to crafting a 12-bar solo.
Beginner
Beginner
• Learn the basic elements of a 12-bar blues.
• Understand the essential techniques that go into a well-crafted solo.
• Develop a deeper appreciation for the playing of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, and Michael Bloomfield.
Most musicians of our modern era have been influenced by the blues in some way. The blues is an important source of study that can add impact and depth to your music. Simply listening to players like B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Michael Bloomfield, and others will not only give you a better understanding of the genre but it will help to shape your own style as well.
Playing blues guitar is largely based on feel, but what exactly is it? Words can't adequately describe the blues, since it's invisible until a player animates him or herself with it. Some people seem to have it in abundance. As an 18-year-old guitarist in the early '70s, I saw Muddy Waters at the Golden Bear in Huntington Beach, California. The band worked their way through many of Muddy's most well-known songs and I thought to myself, "I guess these are just popular songs?" I didn't get it.
Then the band went into a slow blues near the end of the set and Muddy finally broke out a solo. Oh man! His red Tele came to life through that Super Reverb, and he just lit the place up. I'd never heard anyone play remotely like that. Everyone went crazy—even the other musicians on stage. It was as if the sound came from out of the clouds. The way he connected with the audience was something special. It was that night that inspired me to learn as much as I can about blues guitar. In this lesson, I'm going to share some foundational techniques to get you on the right path.
By far the most common blues song form is the 12-bar blues. You can go anywhere in the world and call a "blues in G" and everyone will know exactly what's happening. In Ex. 1, I've written out a way to comp through a 12-bar blues with a mixture of simple and complex chord voicings.
Each of the following examples progresses through a slow 12-bar blues in the key of C. I would work on one riff or exercise until I had it down, sometimes for hours. A classical guitarist I know said he practices with the goal of playing it twice as good as needed in a performance. That way even if he's having a bad night it still sounds good.
Ex. 2 is a must-know intro riff. Everything that goes into this is important to give it its distinction. Country sounds like country, jazz sounds like jazz, so blues has got to sound like blues. Practice and listen closely to as many players as you can. This riff will kick off a blues in C, but learn how to move it around so you aren't stuck in one key.Ex. 2
Bending in tune is an essential skill no matter what style you play, but it can make or break a lick like Ex. 3. When going from the 10th fret on the 4th string to the bend on the 10th fret on the 3rd string, use different fingers, like the second finger to the third finger. Then, put the first, second, and third fingers all on the 3rd string for the power bend.
Ex. 3
This next riff (Ex. 4) needs great technique in order to use it. Notice the big wobble over the last sustaining bend. Good vibrato is a very hard thing to develop. Some people rely on the whammy bar for this, but we should use our left hand. It takes arm and finger strength. Grrr!
Ex. 4
Extended blues riffs are mostly combinations of short riffs played in succession and connected to each other. Piano players can't bend notes, so they construct melodic ideas instead of relying on the kind of guitar tricks we use. There's a lot to be learned from that kind of thinking. Notice it's a simple eighth-note rhythm over the triplet hi-hat figure, which makes it tricky to get, so lay back and don't rush (Ex. 5).
Ex.5
Ex. 6 demonstrates how to play over changes. In other words, over the G9 chord I use a G minor pentatonic with a natural 3 (G–Bb–B–C–D–F) and instead of sticking with that over the F13, I move it down a whole step (F–Ab–A–Bb–C–Eb).
Ex. 6
Turnarounds usually occur in the last two measures of a 12-bar blues. It's a theme that signals to everyone that we're on our way back to the top of the form. In Ex. 7 I've written out a riff that uses a series of sixths that descend chromatically.
Ex. 7
These are some cool ideas to get you started in this rich tradition. Once you're comfortable with these licks, make sure to move them to other keys. Take your time and really focus on the feel. The blues is simple, but that doesn't mean it's easy!
This article was updated on September 10, 2021
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The ’60s Were Weird and So Were the ’90s—Thanks, Santana
Was Supernatural his ultimate gift to the world?
Carlos Santana’s career arc has been a journey. From blowing minds at the far edges of psychedelia at Woodstock to incendiary jazz experimentalism with the likes of John McLaughlin and Alice Coltrane to later becoming a chart-topping star with some of the biggest collaborators in pop and rock, his guitar playing has covered a lot of ground.
On this episode of 100 Guitarists, we’re covering everything about Santana’s playing we can fit in one neat package: How did Santana’s sound evolve? Has any other rock star mentioned John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme on morning network television? Was Supernatural his ultimate gift to the world?
In our new current listening segment, we’re talking about a Bruce Hornsby live record and a recent release from guitarist Stash Wyslouch.
This episode is sponsored by PRS Guitars.
Learn more: https://prsguitars.com.
The legendary string-glider shows Chris Shiflett how he orchestrated one of his most powerful leads.
Break out your glass, steel, or beer bottle: This time on Shred With Shifty, we’re sliding into glory with southern-rock great Derek Trucks, leader of the Derek Trucks Band, co-leader (along with wife Susan Tedeschi) of the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and, from 1999 to 2014, member of the Allman Brothers Band.
Reared in Jacksonville, Florida, Trucks was born into rock ’n’ roll: His uncle, Butch Trucks, was a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, and from the time he was nine years old, Derek was playing and touring with blues and rock royalty, from Buddy Guy to Bob Dylan. Early on, he established himself as a prodigy on slide guitar, and in this interview from backstage in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Trucks explains why he’s always stuck with his trusty Gibson SGs, and how he sets them up for both slide and regular playing. (He also details his custom string gauges.)
Trucks analyzes and demonstrates his subtle but scorching solo on “Midnight in Harlem,” off of Tedeschi Trucks Band’s acclaimed 2011 record, Revelator. In it, he highlights the influence of Indian classical music, and particularly sarod player Ali Akbar Khan, on his own playing. The lead is “melodic but with Indian-classical inflections,” flourishes that Trucks says are integral to his playing: It’s a jazz and jam-band mentality of “dangling your feet over the edge of the cliff,” says Trucks, and going outside whatever mode you’re playing in.
Throughout the episode, Trucks details his live and studio set ups (“As direct as I can get it”), shares advice for learning slide and why he never uses a pick, and ponders what the future holds for collaborations with Warren Haynes.
Credits
Producer: Jason Shadrick
Executive Producers: Brady Sadler and Jake Brennan for Double Elvis
Engineering Support by Matt Tahaney and Matt Beaudion
Video Editor: Addison Sauvan
Graphic Design: Megan Pralle
Special thanks to Chris Peterson, Greg Nacron, and the entire Volume.com crew.
A 6L6 power section, tube-driven spring reverb, and a versatile array of line outs make this 1x10 combo an appealing and unique 15-watt alternative.
Supro Montauk 15-watt 1 x 10-inch Tube Combo Amplifier - Blue Rhino Hide Tolex with Silver Grille
Montauk 110 ReverbThe two-in-one “sonic refractor” takes tremolo and wavefolding to radical new depths.
Pros: Huge range of usable sounds. Delicious distortion tones. Broadens your conception of what guitar can be.
Build quirks will turn some users off.
$279
Cosmodio Gravity Well
cosmod.io
Know what a wavefolder does to your guitar signal? If you don’t, that’s okay. I didn’t either until I started messing around with the all-analog Cosmodio Instruments Gravity Well. It’s a dual-effect pedal with a tremolo and wavefolder, the latter more widely used in synthesis that , at a certain threshold, shifts or inverts the direction the wave is traveling—in essence, folding it upon itself. Used together here, they make up what Cosmodio calls a sonic refractor.
Two Plus One
Gravity Well’s design and control set make it a charm to use. Two footswitches engage tremolo and wavefolder independently, and one of three toggle switches swaps the order of the effects. The two 3-way switches toggle different tone and voice options, from darker and thicker to brighter and more aggressive. (Mixing and matching with these two toggles yields great results.)
The wavefolder, which has an all-analog signal path bit a digitally controlled LFO, is controlled by knobs for both gain and volume, which provide enormous dynamic range. The LFO tremolo gets three knobs: speed, depth, and waveform. The first two are self-explanatory, but the latter offers switching between eight different tremolo waveforms. You’ll find standard sawtooth, triangle, square, and sine waves, but Cosmodio also included some wacko shapes: asymmetric swoop, ramp, sample and hold, and random. These weirder forms force truly weird relationships with the pedal, forcing your playing into increasingly unpredictable and bizarre territories.
This is all housed in a trippy, beautifully decorated Hammond 1590BB-sized enclosure, with in/out, expression pedal, and power jacks. I had concerns about the durability of the expression jack because it’s not sealed to its opening with an outer nut and washer, making it feel more susceptible to damage if a cable gets stepped on or jostled near the connection, as well as from moisture. After a look at the interior, though, the build seems sturdy as any I’ve seen.
Splatterhouse Audio
Cosmodio’s claim that the refractor is a “first-of-its-kind” modulation effect is pretty grand, but they have a point in that the wavefolder is rare-ish in the guitar domain and pairing it with tremolo creates some pretty foreign sounds. Barton McGuire, the Massachusetts-based builder behind Cosmodio, released a few videos that demonstrate, visually, how a wavefolder impacts your guitar’s signal—I highly suggest checking them out to understand some of the principles behind the effect (and to see an ’80s Muppet Babies-branded keyboard in action.)
By folding a waveform back on itself, rather than clipping it as a conventional distortion would, the wavefolder section produces colliding, reflecting overtones and harmonics. The resulting distortion is unique: It can sound lo-fi and broken in the low- to mid-gain range, or synthy and extraterrestrial when the gain is dimed. Add in the tremolo, and you’ve got a lot of sonic variables to play with.
Used independently, the tremolo effect is great, but the wavefolder is where the real fun is. With the gain at 12 o’clock, it mimics a vintage 1x10 tube amp cranked to the breaking point by a splatty germanium OD. A soft touch cleans up the signal really nicely, while maintaining the weirdness the wavefolder imparts to its signal. With forceful pick strokes at high gain, it functions like a unique fuzz-distortion hybrid with bizarre alien artifacts punching through the synthy goop.
One forum commenter suggested that the Gravity Well effect is often in charge as much the guitar itself, and that’s spot on at the pedal's extremes. Whatever you expect from your usual playing techniques tends to go out the window —generating instead crumbling, sputtering bursts of blubbering sound. Learning to respond to the pedal in these environments can redefine the guitar as an instrument, and that’s a big part of Gravity Well’s magic.
The Verdict
Gravity Well is the most fun I’ve had with a modulation pedal in a while. It strikes a brilliant balance between adventurous and useful, with a broad range of LFO modulations and a totally excellent oddball distortion. The combination of the two effects yields some of the coolest sounds I’ve heard from an electric guitar, and at $279, it’s a very reasonably priced journey to deeply inspiring corners you probably never expected your 6-string (or bass, or drums, or Muppet Babies Casio EP-10) to lead you to.