Delta Blues Introduction

Home » Lessons » Learn To Play » Delta Blues Introduction

May 21

Delta Blues Introduction

Modern rock and metal music, amongst many other genres, owes much to the influences and theories behind blues.

The licks shown here sound great on an acoustic guitar, but you can clearly play them on an electric set to give a fuzzy bluesy tone.

The lesson isn’t meant to be anything in-depth but more of an introduction with the key examples of the blue sound giving you a skeleton to work from.

Modern rock and metal music, amongst many other genres, owes much to the influences and theories behind blues. The licks shown here sound great on an acoustic guitar, but you can clearly play them on an electric set to give a fuzzy bluesy tone. The lesson isn’t meant to be anything in-depth but more of an introduction with the key examples of the blue sound giving you a skeleton to work from.

The examples here use a bass groove - a very simple repeated E note to create a rhythm, that is played with the thumb. This leaves the remaining fingers to play a riff over the top. In the examples we are using the notes from the E blues scale.

E Major Scale: E F# G# A B C# D#

E Blues Scale: E G A A# B D (1 b3 4 b5 5 b7)

The b3 isn’t an exact note and should be played slightly sharp - so it should be bent slightly up so it between the G and the G#. Because blues originated before textbooks and theory (because it was a folk music essentially), it was played more by ear and what sounded right. This is what you will learn to pickup and it will give your playing a really good sound. So have a go at the following.

First of all, the bass notes. Play these with the side of your thumb whilst resting your palm towards the bridge to give a slightly muted sound. Don’t mute all the strings because we want the melody line to ring out a little.

E |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
G |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

Once you have a steady bass line (play with a metronome at a slow tempo), you can then begin to add in the melody. Use your first and middle finger in a claw like shape in time with your thumb to pick out the notes. This isn’t like classical guitar so there’s no need for the third or little finger. Use these to rest on the scratch plate or guitar body for anchorage instead. Again, the bends should be played with feeling rather then looking to hit an exact point - generally 1/4 tone bends as opposed to half or full tone.

E |--0------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------|--3---0--------------------------|
G |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

E |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
G |--3---2-------------------0------|---------------------------------|
D |------------------------------2--|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

Pretty simple hey? This is the basic scale over our bass notes. It already has a blues feel to it - but now we can work on that and add the little embellishments that really sound great. This next lick is essentially the same, but we introduce those bends.

1/4 1/4

E |------3b----------0--------------|--------------0------------------|
B |---------------------------------|--3b-----------------------------|
G |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

E |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
G |--3---2---------------0---2------|---------------------------------|
D |------------------------------2--|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

So we’re building on it? Are you getting the feel from it now? Lets now add another twist with some double-stops. This just means two notes played together.

E |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |--3-----------3-----------3------|------3-----------3---5----------|
G |--4-----------4-----------4------|------4-----------4---4----------|
D |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

E |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
B |--3-----------3-----------3------|---------------------------------|
G |--4-----------4-----------4------|--2------------------------------|
D |---------------------------------|------5---2---2------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

You can also play that by sliding up to the double-stops to give the riff more feeling. This next riff is a little more complicated. It uses open string notes, a slide, and then a pre bend. Slide up to the 4th fret of the G string with your ring (3rd) finger, then play the 3rd fret of the B with your middle finger whilst bending the 2nd fret of the G string up a semitone to the 3rd fret (A to A# - this is the 5 / b5 of the E blues scale). Then you can play the bent note and allow it to fall back to the 2nd fret

PB 2

E |------0-----------0----------------------------------------------|
B |------5-----------3-------------------3--------------------------|
G |------------------------------2-/-4-----------(3)--2--0----------|
D |----------------------------------------------------------2------|
A |-----------------------------------------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

This next example uses more slides.

Here we change from the first to the second position of the scale. This is useful if you want to work into a solo or just generally higher up the fretboard! There is a grace not before the final beat of the first bar (/5). You need to quickly catch the 3rd fret just before the last beat and slide up to the E note (5th fret) as you hit the open E on the final beat of the first bar.

1/4

E |------3b----------0---------------|---------------------------------|
B |--------------------------3---/5--|---------------------------------|
G |----------------------------------|---------------------------------|
D |----------------------------------|---------------------------------|
A |----------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0----0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

This final lick shows a descending pattern rather like the first example - but more rapid./font>

1/4

E |--3b------0----------------------|---------------------------------|
B |--------------3---0--------------|----------3-------3---5----------|
G |----------------------2---0------|--------------4------------------|
D |------------------------------2--|---------------------------------|
A |---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
E |--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|--0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0--|

That’s all we have. It’s a nice simple introduction to some blues playing. Whilst the examples are fairly basic, it will let you identify some of the trademark blue sounds. The slight bends, slides and bass line are all features that you can start working with and experimenting to work on your own blues licks.

Written by Alex on Sunday 21st May 2006 at 2:50pm and posted in Learn To Play, Lessons

Liked this article?

Why not subscribe to the RSS Feed to keep up to date with all the latest articles. You could also help share this article around so other people can benefit »