Pay attention, class and learn from the master...






WOW quite possibly the best guitar playing I've ever heard

many thanks

And for the second lesson children...




B.B King and T-Bone Walker!

CBII

I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

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71Tele
I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

I fully agree. and for the best slide guitar blues, get some Blind Willie Johnson's singles!

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Amused

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71Tele
I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

I fully agree. and for the best slide guitar blues, get some Blind Willie Johnson's singles!

I would throw in Robert Johnson as well, to see where everything really came from. The lineage from Muddy to keith and Eric Clapton, etc., all starts with Johnson...There are two schools of thought (at least) on blues guitar (which in fact have been followed in rock): 1) The tradition of the artist/vocalist who also plays guitar. In this I would put Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, later Keith Richards and 2) the blues lead guitarist, where I would put BB King, then Buddy Guy, Johnny Lang, Stevie Ray, and people like that. I am firmly in camp 1, finding the complete artists far more interesting than the guitar virtuosos. I would rather hear Muddy Waters play two notes with his little pinky slide than a Buddy Guy solo any day.

71Tele, Amused...

Points well taken however, when I was a kid the local night clubs and pubs had stuff just like this. A musician explaining just how bad off he was and a drunk guy like Sun House (to the right sitting down) nearly falling off his bar stool!

well, actually Robert Johnson is very, very overrated - he was a great, great guitar player, but not inventive at all. the stuff he played in 1936 and 1937 was just a mix of things he'd heard from his contemporaries.

it's good the blues has such a stand-out, legendary guy like Johnson, but there were better guitarists before and after him.

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CBII
71Tele, Amused...

Points well taken however, when I was a kid the local night clubs and pubs had stuff just like this. A musician explaining just how bad off he was and a drunk guy like Sun House (to the right sitting down) nearly falling off his bar stool!

Thanks for posting CBII! I am not sure if your point was critical of Howlin' Wolf here, but The Wolf is The Man! Compare this to the polished BB King clip above.

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71Tele
I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

Of the "Three Kings", I by far prefer Freddie and Albert over BB (although I do like BB's music a lot). I think that the stuff BB recorded in the 50s was his best stuff.

I love Hubert Sumlin's playing. Just got the Howlin' Wolf tab book and have really been digging it.

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Keefan

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71Tele
I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

Of the "Three Kings", I by far prefer Freddie and Albert over BB (although I do like BB's music a lot). I think that the stuff BB recorded in the 50s was his best stuff.

I love Hubert Sumlin's playing. Just got the Howlin' Wolf tab book and have really been digging it.

Didn't know there was a Wolf tab book. I'll need to get it. Thanks.

Saw Hubert sit in with the Stones on Let It Bleed at MSG in '02 or '03 (I forget which year).

do we truly know how good of a guitar player robert johnson was? apart from the recordings he made and from witness accounts, we have absolutely no tangible evidence of how he performed in a live setting.

^^^ I don't imagine that the recordings of Robert Johnson are all that different from how he sounded live. Recording techniques back then were pretty rudimentary, no overdubs or anything like that.

Personally, I think he was a brilliant guitarist. I've never heard any other blues guitarists from back then who were as good as him, IMO.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-25 19:37 by Keefan.

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71Tele

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CBII
71Tele, Amused...

Points well taken however, when I was a kid the local night clubs and pubs had stuff just like this. A musician explaining just how bad off he was and a drunk guy like Sun House (to the right sitting down) nearly falling off his bar stool!

Thanks for posting CBII! I am not sure if your point was critical of Howlin' Wolf here, but The Wolf is The Man! Compare this to the polished BB King clip above.

Not being critical of the Wolf one bit. He was the REAL DEAL and laid down the law. That clip personifies the blues genre.

Son House had a come back of sorts (like many others) around the late 50's and early 60's. By then unfortunately, the alcohol had torn him up. Lucky for us that Delta style blues he was doing still managed to get out of his brain and make it to his fingers. What's even better, some of his material was captured on acetate before he checked out.

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bernardanderson
do we truly know how good of a guitar player robert johnson was? apart from the recordings he made and from witness accounts, we have absolutely no tangible evidence of how he performed in a live setting.

I am sorry this makes no sense ("apart from the recordings he made"), as the recordings he did were basically his live act (recorded in a San Antonio hotel room, I believe). We certainly know what Keith Richards and Eric Clapton thought of him as a guitar player.

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Keefan

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71Tele
I know it's sacrilege, but although BB's a master lead guitarist he is not who I would choose to exemplify the blues. He doesn't play chords or rhythm ever, and the arrangements with big band-style horns he has used for years really overwhelm blues music, imo.

For a more complete blues guitar master, I would put forth someone like Muddy Waters or Hubert Sumlin. BB plays kind of a "Vegas" blues, unfortunately.

Of the "Three Kings", I by far prefer Freddie and Albert over BB (although I do like BB's music a lot). I think that the stuff BB recorded in the 50s was his best stuff.

I love Hubert Sumlin's playing. Just got the Howlin' Wolf tab book and have really been digging it.

YES FREDDIE KING!







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010-08-25 19:41 by CBII.

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CBII

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71Tele

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CBII
71Tele, Amused...

Points well taken however, when I was a kid the local night clubs and pubs had stuff just like this. A musician explaining just how bad off he was and a drunk guy like Sun House (to the right sitting down) nearly falling off his bar stool!

Thanks for posting CBII! I am not sure if your point was critical of Howlin' Wolf here, but The Wolf is The Man! Compare this to the polished BB King clip above.

Not being critical of the Wolf one bit. He was the REAL DEAL and laid down the law. That clip personifies the blues genre.

Son House had a come back of sorts (like many others) around the late 50's and early 60's. By then unfortunately, the alcohol had torn him up. Lucky for us that Delta style blues he was doing still managed to get out of his brain and make it to his fingers. What's even better, some of his material was captured on acetate before he checked out.

Did you get to see Wolf in those days? Unfortunately I never did, though I got to see (and even meet) Muddy...In that terrible movie they made about Chess a few years ago, I thought the guy who played Wolf was one of the few to get it right.

^^^^ In last month's issue of Guitar Player, there was an interview with Steve Miller. He talked about his time in Chicago trying to make it as a blues player, and about Wolf some (especially Wolf's band's rhythm). I don't have the mag with me, but he said something like "Wolf's music made your body twitch in 12 different directions all at the same time". He also said that Hubert Sumlin was one of the nicest musicians in Chicago and took him under his wing and taught him a lot.

Steve Miller also said that the played in Buddy Guy's band for a few months. He quit because Buddy had a rule that every body in the band had to drink a shot before each set, and Steve couldn't handle drinking that much between 9 at night and 4 in the morning! LoL!

robert johnson sold his soul to the devil for his guitar chops, folks. please,let's have a little respect for the devil...you think he sells bad chops?

MT and Albert King - check out MT solo starts at 3.20

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OpenG
MT and Albert King - check out MT solo starts at 3.20

SMOKING!

BB King´s lead playing is so wonderful that I forget the Vegas package in an instant.

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DandelionPowderman
BB King´s lead playing is so wonderful that I forget the Vegas package in an instant.

Fair enough, but I like my blues as a complete package. Those horns just ruin it for me. I don't fault BB, playing this type of stuff has given him a nice career, it's just a long way from the blues for me...