EZ Bluz

[Rayzcane]

Yeah, that's quite the title. For those who are just curious about this style, you may feel daunted by the 39-stringed instruments and the associated 47 different tunings......

So was I!!!! But, never fear, here is relief.... I am laughing out loud. You are gonna love this. DON'T CHANGE YOUR TUNING! Don't change your axe from a horizontal to a vertical playing position. In fact, don't change a damned thing! It doesn't matter if you have an el-cheapo guitar or a vintage treasure. WE are going to play the Bluz.

Keep what you already know and we will go from there. If you already know the 12 Bar Blues format, then great! If you don't, then that is great, too. In both shapes (3 diagrams), YOU will learn to "comp" or accompany the bluz with only your left hand. What will you do with the other hand? Well, you can put it in your pocket (have fun), play harmonica, or pick your nose. It is all good. The point is that you don't have to try to do a million things at once, at the same time, on your first day.

Look up Freddie Green on the internet. He pretty much made a good living playing these two shapes, along with a very few others. These two "shapes" are moveable all over the fretboard, allowing you to play in many different keys. For now, we will play in the common key of G.

Maybe tomorrow, if I can get off my BFA (large posterior), I'll make some tab for this, including a turnaround, and maybe even a midi file so you can hear it. You know, I could even get really ambitious and add a boogie bass line for practice! If I forget, give me a holler if you are interested. I don't THINK that I am preaching to the choir, but who knows???

The index finger plays the fattest string for the G7 chord. The middle finger (bird?) plays the fattest string for the other two chords. It is eazy, you can do this! I know you can.

It is kinda like you get the position and you are "squeezing' the strings, then releasing them right away. It is a a "four to the bar' feel, for now. You are doing this with only the left hand, for now.

Here is the chord progression:

G7 ///
C7 ///
G7 /// ////

C7 /// ////
G7 /// ////

D7 ///
C7 ///

G7 ///
D7 ///

Each chord symbol gets one beat and each slash (/) gets one beat. More to come on this.

Ray Langley

[Igos du Iskana]

hey this is fun! :D

[Rayzcane]

Here is Part Two of Ezy Bluz:

I have a attached a small midi file of the chord progression shown in the diagram in the first post in this thread.

The first time through, you will hear only the 3-note chords played as "four-to-the-bar". It is a little boring at first, but it is good for learning purposes.

The second time through, you will hear a slightly more rhythmic version. This is produced by "squeezing and releasing" the left hand chords. You don't have to completely release the chord, just slightly release the tension.

The third verse is almost identical to the second verse with two minor changes. I added a bass root note to the first beat in each measure. On the last two measures, I added a jazz turnaround using a variation of the giro progression.

Here is the turnaround:

G7 / E7 /
A7 / D7 /

Including the E7 and the A7 in the last two measures, we are using 5 different chords, but only 2 different "shapes". The E7 chord is exactly like the D7 shown in the diagram, only it is moved up two frets higher. The A7 chord is exactly like the G7 chord in the diagram, but it is moved up two frets higher. This illustrates how you can move these two shapes all over the fretboard to play in any key.

Ray Langley

P.S. Drat! Live and learn.... the forum does not allow midi files as attachments, so here it is as a low resolution .png file.

[Rayzcane]

Here is a video of forum member, HP Crazy, using the above chords while tapping on a standard guitar.... enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcbKrE1Iysg&search=touch%20guitar

Ray Langley

[rjgoos]

Ray,

Thanks for the link. HP Crazy and Adam Fulara are way high on my list of favorite tappers.

The video you linked to shows very much a "Jimmie Webster" style of tapping. The only difference I see is that HP usually used his index finger of his left hand to hit string six, whereas Jimmie would wrap his thumb around the neck and hit it with his thumb (more of a "clutch" than a tap).

You can listen to excerpts of Jimmie's playing at a web site I set up a couple years ago:

http://members.ifmcs.net/rjgoos/Public/Music/JimmieWebster/jimmie.htm


Jay

[Rayzcane]

Hey Brother Jay,

I use the term "brother" for special people. As the eldest of 11 children, I sometimes feel that I am everyone's big brother. :-) Since I have about a million nephews and nieces, I am also known as "Uncle Ray". Over the past 8 or 9 years I have created and moderated about 40 mailing lists on Yahoogroups.com. My most recent one is called GuitarTapping. So far, I am the only member on that one. Some, such as chineseastrology have more than 2000 members. A while a ago I coined a term "list angels". I bestow this "award" to those who frequently contribute and like to help others. You are a "forum angel", in my opinion.

I agree that Adam Fulara and HP Crazy are an inspiration to us all. A friend sent me a link to Adam playing a video on youtube. It was quite an eye opener....... That video with two guitar necks pumped my interest in this style.

I would be willing to plow your fields or date your ugliest sister for a copy of Jimmie Webster's book. What do you say? I hope you don't have fields!!!!

As for wrapping the thumb around the neck, well... I could never quite get the hang of that. It would have helped a lot with that nasty ole "F chord" in my fingerpicking days.

Ray

[rjgoos]

Thanks for the kind words, Ray, I do try to keep the discussions going on the old tappistry board.

Last time I checked, copies of Jimmie Webster's book were available from Dave Bunker (bunker-guitars.com). Besides being an inventor and a nice guy, he has some pretty nice touchstyle music on his site:

http://bunker-guitars.com/geo8-1-00.mp3

(I suspect Ray would like that piece)

Jimmie's book is not a comprehensive book, and was intended to be an introduction, aimed at a very broad audience, to introduce them to the concept of tapping. To me, it is of considerable historical interest, but not a manual that I follow.


Jay

[James]

Regarding attaching midi files to forum posts, yes that can be a possibility.

Although our server space is reportedly small, most midi files are no larger than an attached graphic image, and so they'd only take up a meagre amount of space.

[Rayzcane]

Jay, I checked out Mr. Bunker's site but could not find Mr. Webster's book. Since you don't use it as a manual, I guess that I don't really need it either......

James, permitting midi file attachments would be a great idea. They are small. With all of the printed info in the world, including notation, tab, Trak-Bats, and pretty colored diagrams.... we can "see" the music, but we can't hear it or feel it. Fortunately, the midi bass and keyboard renditions are pretty good on the ears. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get a decent guitar sound on midi, but will continue to work on that. How does Band in a Box get such a good guitar sound?

Ray

[Rayzcane]

Here is a simple Boogie Woogie Left Hand Pattern. It can be made to sound better and "fancier" by using more strings. But, one of the big problems we encounter on a 6 string instrument is that we sometimes find that the left hand fingers and the right hand fingers want to play on the same string, at the same time.

So, I have arranged this one so that the entire bass pattern can be played on only the 3 fattest bass strings, on a standard guitar. next time we will add a simple harmony accompaniment with the right hand. Then, we will combine both hands at the same time to play a simple bluz "arrangement".

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Hat's off to the moderators for allowing midi files.

Attached is a midi file of the Ezy Bluz Comping Chords.

Ray

[Rayzcane]

Hello,

Now that I have Megatar Toneweaver, I may not be quite as active in the Guitar Taphouse Forum. But, I would like to finish up a couple of things I started here.

Here is a midi file I just made today for the boogie bass blues in this thread.

Ray Langley

[Rayzcane]

Hello again,

Here is a midi file of the boogie bass line in this thread, along with guide tone chords. It sounds pretty good.

You can learn more about guide tone chords in "Easy Touch-Style Bassics" and "Easy Touch-Style Rhythm" at:

www.megatar.com

Ray Langley