Jack here, jbf music and guitar, this quick guitar tricks tutorial is on how to bluff
Texas blues, vaugly Steve Ray Vaugh style shuffle; many of the ideas can be transferred
to blues, country and the like. I’ll break down what I played in the intro as a case
study. I’ve made a backing track to go with it, it you want to try out some of the ideas;
there should be a card to that in the top right, so yeah, lets just get into it.
Ok, kicking things off with the first trick, playing the open E, whilst fretting the E;
5th fret on the b string, I’m also sliding into this for more authenticity . A few ideas
combined in the next part ; playing slide style licks; obviously without
a slide; using Dorian and/or the blues scale as well as mixolydian. So a Mixa-dorian with
the blues note; which would be like this for E
An alternate version of the intro could be something like just to show some more options
using that scale shape There are some rough guide lines on how to use this hybrid scale:
b3rd to 3rd, resolving to the root, or 5th will be stylistically suitable. Or 3rd to
b3rd, bending the b3rd; probably more or a ¼ tone than as semi tone ; then resolve to
the root, or 5th. E7, I’m just using this voicing; there are of course others you can
use. Some Chord Vamp ideas, mute on the down, open on the up is a safe bet, ideally with
the first down being a bit less muted you’ve got a few optinos, you can left hand mute,
right hand mute or use a combination; the left hand is probably a better idea if you
want to get more in to this style of playing. The rhythm I opted for was
again letting that first down ring out more than the subsequent ones. I then used an idea
we’ve touched on; the b3rd, hammer to 3rd, then 5th . Oh yeah also good left hand muting
will let you rake more across the strings; which has a more authentic sound than, say,
precision picking . A trill on the open D to E; the second fret. Oh, yeah if you’ve
got a strat the neck/middle position might be worth using for this kind of stuff. A little
mixa dorian lick, so an octave of this; without the blues note, so less notes than before;
would look like this A great little shape to have at the ready. Here I’m using it
like this
A7, which I’m doing like this same vamp as before; the chords are really prominent
here, with the fills and licks just adding a bit more interest really. The next idea
is using dyads from the chord; so just think of an A bar chord or A7 bar chord and pick
two notes from it. Notes a 6th apart, so these, which I was playing for the intro; these which
fit into an A7, these, or if we move out of position even these, will sound good. You
can even just go up them So, yeah, you the last one was just part of A as well, if you
know your caged system think of a C shaped A major. The bend was just me targeting A’s
3rd, then ending on the A. Also, sliding into the dyads is gonna sound s bit cooler. I wrapped
up the A7 bit by raking in to the note of G, and adding some vibrato. G reinforces the
dominant 7 sound and sort of helps lead back to E7; albeit in a more dorian sort of way
Back to E7 with our tried and test vamp, this time going up that mixo dorian shape wirh
rakes to lead to the B7
I’ve got two B7 voicings; this and this. On this second voicing, I’m doing the b3rd
to 3rd, this time resolving to the b7, for a bit of edge, with that same vamp .
Over the A7, I’m using that 6th dyads idea again, playing the A7 without the G on the
high E string, then just moving it up here, which I covered before, which highlights the
A7. Makng sure to mute al strigns except the D and B. Then a little bedny mixodorian lick
. Bending the 6th to the flat 7th, to the 5th, 4th, b3rd, 3rd , root, b7th ;actually
4th, b3rd, 3rd ,root is another move worth pointing out. Again, using that G to transition
to the E7, bending it a quarter tone this time.
Then I vamped my E7 amd trilled for longer than before, then b3rd quarter tone bend
returned to my vamp and ended with probably more of a bluesy lick than anything , hammer
the b3rd to the 3rd an octave higher than I’ve done before and ending on an E, rather
than E7, for a slightly stronger ending. So I’d recommend mixing these ideas up, for
example we could do 6ths over the E7 also using that b3rd to 3rd idea there. Over the
B7 you can get away with sliding these 6th to the 4th fret and open; these aren’t dyads
from the B7, more or a decoration . And I mean over the A we could use some mixodorian
and all sorts.
Right to recap it all:
neck/middle pick up Same note on open string Slidey licks (sort of slide licks, but without
a slide) Dorian, Blues note, Pull offs b3 up to 3rd
hammer (then to 5th or root) Open 7th chords left hand muting
Chord Vamp Mixodorian trills Highlighting chords via dyads
rakes single notes with vibrato
B3rd to 3rd to b7th bendy mixodorian licks 4th, b3rd, 3rd, root
and adding in bluesier licks, maybe to round up the piece
Anyway, I’ll go through the intro demo, we’ve just dissected slowly with the tab
on screen.
If you liked these licks you might want to check out my essential blues licks there,
double down up lesson, or Jeff Beck whammy bar blues tutorial which I’ll link to in
a pinned comment and in the description. But yeah, this has been quick tricks, that’s
the playlist up there; if you’ve enjoyed it let me know in the comments, hit subscribe,
share and enable notifications with that bell on the side, if you feel so inclined, cheers,
guys.