Thank you so much for sharing your wealth of knowledge and helping me to grow with my playing and enjoyment of the blues and music.
My question, during your lesson on Blues After Hours you mentioned there was a backing track somewhere that could be used for practice. Is that posted/could you help me find it?
I have been dabbling with your song "Gee, I wish". Love it. Is there a current lesson that provides some insight into your solo area? Specifically, your soloing before the chording section of the solo. I like your use of arpeggios in the solo and notice you have used arpeggios in other songs. Your use of the arpeggios is a T-bone Walker thing - right?
Hi Tom, But I need to understand a bit better what you mean. Maybe you could show me in a video or pick a song that includes the type of playing you are speaking of? Thanks,Duke
Hi Chuck, Paying attention to the differences in sublties of picking, bends, vibrato etc is my best advice for your question. Take one aspect of it at a time when you practice. Thanks, Duke
Hi Wayne, I try to pick songs that have at least something different in them. They may be the same chords sometime but there is always a different turnaround of some substitue chors that make each song different that the other. It could be the style of rhythm that's different but always something. Thanks, Duke
Yeah... but, Albert King said: "Every body one day t'another have the blues... y'see the little baby layin' there in the baby bed... can't get that milk bottle fast enuff..."
We're thinking about putting together some chord charts for favorite tunes and standards. Would be great to know if you enjoy this one. Georgia on My Mind is one of my personal favorites and I thought it would be fun to relax after a long day and play along with Ray.
Watch the cap's (capacitors, the blue ones) if you go with a DRRI, they can leak and break down very quickly. I would hope the newer models have fixed this.
One must become very sensitive to how the tongue moves and its placement in creating bends. You may be surprised to find that you need very little tongue arcing to create any bend you wish. What you need to do is find the "sweet spot", or that exact place on the roof of your mouth to which you "aim" that arc in your tongue. These areas may be defined by places where you perceive your tongue arcing towards when you say "T", "D", "K" and "Guh". This is a good start to give you reference points to aim for and also improve your awareness of what is really going on. The lower the note, the further back you need to place your reference point. Trouble bending lower notes may mean that your tongue is pointing towards "D" when it should be aimed more towards "K" or "Guh".
Really enjoying Rick Estrin!.....Just touching base and patiently waiting your return. You Sir, are not forgotten...lol Thanks for giving us all of yourself teaching wise and the offering of other exceptional instructors.........My hat is off to you...Robert
Hi Larry --- thanks for the thoughts on doing the TB bends. I'm actually working on that right now and your tips are very helpful. I think I was using the front of my mouth / tongue too much. I also have trouble bending the lower notes. Do you think that could be related?
Wow, what a fantastic story - I have seen some video and read some things about him playing in California and apparently he was just barely getting along playing in bars - I'm sure he did appreciate that guitar. What a moment though when he played the lick you copied. What an experience too, to get to play with him. The first time I saw him in a video playing with Eddie Taylor I was just blown away by the elegance and expressiveness of his playing - fast too - but not just a lot of fast notes. I'm going to have to go back and listen to those Sonny Boy 2 and James Cotton records now that I know he's playing on them. It's funny, you can listen to a lot of those old records and you hear the guitar work and say - wow - that is great - who is that? These guys have a whole range of riffs that, to me, just define electric blues guitar. They did not do ten minute solos but you always remember the songs. I played sort of an intermission acoustic set a couple of years ago at a concert that was all blues - not Clapton and Buddy Guy - but another tier down of headliners and a big outdoor crowd -- and they all played a ton of notes, very fast, above the 12th fret, 15th fret, all the way up the neck -- but I can't actually remember any song. They would introduce a song - "this is my favorite blues song", sing one verse and then it just sounded like every other song they played. I saw Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker play in a small club in the 70's in Detroit - about fifty people there - they played all night -- must have been five or six sets -- alternating -- and I can still remember individual songs -- Waters had been in a motorcycle accident and was actually on crutches - and still did impecable sets -- with that incredible band, the most professional performance I have ever seen in my life -- Hooker got too drunk to play the guitar about 2:00 am and sat on the edge of the stage and clapped - he was still great though. Luther Tucker, to me, retained all the great classic sound that preceded him but took it technically another step. One of those guys you hear and say - yeah - if I could just play like that -- would be enough. You have the great Eddie Taylor lesson, but would be great to put together something that emobies Luther Tucker's contributions. He was extremely under appreciated. To me, when his fingers started roaming that guitar it just took the song to a whole different level. I would have loved to see the look on your face, though, when Tucker played that riff.
Vinny, Eddie Taylor and Luther Tucker are two of my absolute favorite blues guitarists. Both have influenced me greatly before I even knew who they were. In the 60s they never showed who the players were on the album on the covers. So for years I was learning Eddie Taylor licks off of Jimmy Reed records and Luther Tucker licks off of Sonny Boy 2 records along with the verve James Cotton records which featured Luther without knowing who I was copying! I have a funny story, I was touring in the late 80s with Kim Wilson's Blues Explosion and Luther and I were the guitarists. One night during a solo did that fast picking thing that Luther did on Sonny Boy records. A little later Luther did the same thing only much better and I then realized it was him I stole that lick from. I didn't play that lick for the rest of that tour, believe me! I gave Luther a blue Stratocaster during that tour that looked like the one he played with James Cotton. He was moved to tears and I was happy he appreciated it so much. Years later some guys who played with him often in California thanked me for giving him that guitar. They said when he broke a string on a gig he would play the rest of the night with 5 strings! So they were very happy he had a second guitar to play that had 6 strings on it. LOL!
The curious should make it a point to try all different brands and make your own determination of what feels best for you. I tried a Manji and was pretty impressed. My harmonica of choice is Golden Melody at least 18 years old or older, although the new ones seem pretty good to me, too.
Over the years, I've changed from one brand/style to another as my understanding and technique evolved. Started w/Marine Bands (when they cost $3.75 each). Moved to Special 20's when I got tired of wood combs swelling. Then I was on a Lee Oskar kick. Ended up loving Golden Melodies after studying w/Howard Levy, as that was his harmonica of choice at the time.
Remain fluid as your skills improve. Don't be locked into one choice in regards to the instrument you play.
