Instructor Posts: 13.792
Joined: 11-March 10
From: England
A lot of the guitar greats started their journey to greatness by learning from the blues masters. You may think "But what of the super shredders of the 80's and beyond?" Well, even if some of them didn't directly go to the blues, those who influenced them certainly did. What guitarist wasn't influenced by EVH or Yngwie? Schenker or Rhoads? Well, guess what?
EVH was influenced by the blues for sure. He's said before how he tried to copy as much of Eric Clapton's licks as possible but failed to sound like him.
Yngwie may not directly have taken the blues path but those who influenced him, like Ritchie Blackmore and Uli Roth, most certainly did their time taking from the blues giants.
Schenker, Rhoads, Angus Young... much of what they do is basically turbo charged blues with a bit of classical styling occasionally added in the case of Schenker and Rhoads.
So, proving our lineage to the blues is quite easy.. it's in much of what we do in Western music. But as a guitar player, why is it so important? Or, to be more balanced, why can it be so useful to us?
I'd offer 2 things for starters;
1. Learning how to 'feel' your way around phrasing with rhythm 2. Precise and emotive string bending.
In the case of the 1st thing, this is really important because we know that guitar lines don't always stick to a definite rhythm of 1,2,3,4 etc. When we learn we may play simple melodies by rote in order to get a sense of rhythm but the blues really shows that you can place your guitar lines wherever you can but still retain a sense of timing. For example, you may begin a phrase just as a bar is coming to an end, a fraction before the next bar begins. To count it or tab it would be a nightmare but you can hear it so you can try and replicate it. Sooner or later, you're DOING it.
There are also lines or runs that tumble over the beat, or begin at one pace and change to another. Listen to any blues player in the world and you'll see this almost straight away.
2. You can't play the blues without being a bender! Seriously, the sheer power of string bending is an essential ingredient of this music and by learning a few phrases from any blues player you're getting instant access to soul, taste & feel. The ingredients are there but it's up to us to make the most of them.
I've talked about these 2 aspects in the context of the blues but the point behind this post is how these 2 elements are essential to any guitar player whose serious about developing an expressive, soulful sound. You can apply these things to whatever genre of music you like to play.
If you take any famous guitar player you can usually spot those who have embraced blues phrasing and those who haven't. Of course, music is about being unique. You don't have to embrace any style of music. You don't have to learn any licks or any approach. Many players have made a career whilst not displaying any blues like tendencies but consider this; by getting some blues time into your guitar development you will only ever be a better player for it.
Ben Higgins Why We Need The Blues Jul 19 2015, 04:40 PM
