Advice from the foc-u guitar fiends

[bri h]

I'm a big fan of mississipi john hurts style. Just saying 

[Hedgetrimmer]

I'm a big fan of mississipi john hurts style. Just saying 

Do you know, I've been listening to blues for donkey's years now and I still haven't got around to any of his stuff    I expect I've probably heard one or two covers though.


One of the things I like about Alvin Youngblood Hart is that he covers a lot of the old bluesmen (Leadbelly, Charlie Patton etc) very closely to how they originally played,  but he is also a brilliant vocalist, guitar player and song writer.

[bri h]

Check out pallet on the floor on you tube Nick it's .my favourite at the moment.

[Exupnut]

Great tune bri.......

[Exupnut]

We gotta have a foc-u guitar meet sometime....

[Hedgetrimmer]

Great tune bri.......

Thought so. Stefan Grossman covered that one. I would guess one of John Fahey's influences too.


Like the harsher sound of the south myself:

[noggythenog]

Can i have some feedback on this catfish keith fella please maestros?







This is superb



His name sticks in my bonce...think he played my hometown when i was a kid...seem to remember my old man on about him......what genre is he then and what style/technique etc


I dont propose to ever be as good as these guys as if that was gonna happen i would already have been playing 20 years......but i think what Mick said earlier about hindsight and learning the style for me and not wasting progress time..............see this guy though catfish.....he is basically providing all of the music with just his guitar....theres no imaging the drums or bass or whatever in between...he is everything.....thats kinda what im after i suppose if it makes sense.


Im guessing at my early stage the same advice for learning the basic chords applies

[noggythenog]

And seasick steve







These guys really float my boat of the kind of shit id aspire to playing badly, just not entirely sure what they are described as.......any other simillar recomendations???

[Hedgetrimmer]

Dark Was The Night - an old gospel tune from Blind Willie Johnson, as mentioned on the comments with that vid. Ry Cooder did a great cover of that one on the soundtrack to the movie "Paris, Texas." (Harry Dean Stanton).


Seasick is another one heavily influenced by that Mississipi delta sound (hence delta blues). Son House is another one from that mould, and picked up by people like Muddy Waters who took it to Chicago, added a full band and gave it that city sophistication that birthed the genre Chicago blues.

see this guy though catfish.....he is basically providing all of the music with just his guitar....theres no imaging the drums or bass or whatever in between...he is everything.....thats kinda what im after i suppose if it makes sense.

You need to learn to fingerpick then. That's why I play more acoustic than electric; got focced off with all the aggro of trying to put a band together, and just play by myself now, so exactly what you said...bass line, rhythm and melody all on one guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughan came closest to that on the electric for me, and I still play it, but not as much now. Slide guitar on the electric cranked up to 11 still does it though 

[Exupnut]

Learn seasick nog.....get ur self a one string diddlybow and you'll only have one string to learn lol gotta be 5 sixths easier lol

[noggythenog]

Dark Was The Night - an old gospel tune from Blind Willie Johnson, as mentioned on the comments with that vid. Ry Cooder did a great cover of that one on the soundtrack to the movie "Paris, Texas." (Harry Dean Stanton).


Seasick is another one heavily influenced by that Mississipi delta sound (hence delta blues). Son House is another one from that mould, and picked up by people like Muddy Waters who took it to Chicago, added a full band and gave it that city sophistication that birthed the genre Chicago blues.

see this guy though catfish.....he is basically providing all of the music with just his guitar....theres no imaging the drums or bass or whatever in between...he is everything.....thats kinda what im after i suppose if it makes sense.

You need to learn to fingerpick then. That's why I play more acoustic than electric; got focced off with all the aggro of trying to put a band together, and just play by myself now, so exactly what you said...bass line, rhythm and melody all on one guitar. Stevie Ray Vaughan came closest to that on the electric for me, and I still play it, but not as much now. Slide guitar on the electric cranked up to 11 still does it though 

Cheers Nick.......finger picking eh...foccin ell.....i hope the fingers are up to it......i learned to touch type once.....not that fast any more but something ill never forget and requires a bit of dexterity.....you get in a rhythym and the speed goes up.




Just going back to something....finger picking or not........i still have to learn all the chords dont i.....and then scales............so at my stage i take it there isnt any different advice about how i go about things really.....Mick maybe you could give some basic advice ie things to practice now as im learning the chords since you said you are into this style?

[noggythenog]

Learn seasick nog.....get ur self a one string diddlybow and you'll only have one string to learn lol gotta be 5 sixths easier lol

Thinking o getting some more cd's & an air guitar.....any old fool can get sore fingers eh & want to go straight from amateur to pro without unnecessary graft.....maybe an app for my phone where a virtual me does all the learning & take the praise.....waddyareckon?

[Exupnut]

Good idea mate.......I agree .....foc working fer it......ill chop me hands of and send em up to ya

[noggythenog]

The lottery

I could write a blues song about that:-


Woke up this mornin..1....2.....3....4.....said to my wife........if i won the lottery would you go halves babbyyyyy......... & leave me.....1....2.....3.....4...5....6....7.....8.......


My baby said.....1....2......hellllllll yeh!!!................i said here's a fiver fiver fiver fiver.........fuck off then

[bri h]

Noggy it does help to understand a bit of music theory so here goes.chords are simply two or more notes out of a scale. usualy the first or root and third and fith (im sure ill be corrected if im wrong ).There are 8 notes in a scale doh ray me etc. but in blues its usualy 5 which is why its a bit easier to start.like i said its only practice and god given talent that will make you a good guitarist but knowing the c major chord starts with the root of the c scale will help later. i hope. dont beat yourself up if you cant play as you want to after a week it will come in time. My time is yet to come and ive been trying for years

[joebloggs]

Seasick Steves ' Started out with nothing and got most of it left' is my life story' 

[mickvp]

Nog,

To be honest mate you sound like your on the right track, the guys are all giving you really sound advice.

If it were me, I would want to be playing something more than just  scales to start with, so what I would do is start with the major chords, learn how to finger them, and switch between them smoothly, learn how to strum them cleanly, and once I could do that I would then start picking at the strings and playing the individual notes within the chords rather than just strumming.

Once you know that then it's simply a case of expanding into minor chords, 7th chords, barre chords etc

That might not sound like much, but even at 30mins a day, there's well over a months learning in there if you consider your fingers taking time to toughen up etc.


Once you have a good grasp of the main chords (read some of the tabs for your favourite songs, some chords are used a lot more than others), you can then look into scales and see what's what with regards to making your own finger shapes and chord patterns.

Chords are the key to good fingerpicking though nog, and scales are the key to understanding how chords are built up, it's all inter related.

That's if it were me anyway.

[noggythenog]

Cheers Mick thats great mate.


Between all the replies ive got pretty much all i need and plenty to go over again.


Looking forward to it....bit of time for myself even if only 30 minutes...been so busy that even going out on the bike was becoming a real fight and when youre fighting for time like that it ends up not being as enjoyable.....the wee one is at the nursery now so my wife could go back working part time and eventually with my shifts ill end up getting whole days to myself and thats when between the gym, dog walking and general dogs body duties i fully intend on just chilling out and getting into it properly


Thanks again for all the replies and ill keep yous posted by the time the next guitar thread pops up.....oh it will....it is winter.

[johnakay]

have you thought of a 3 string cigar box guitar? a lot of blues players inc BB king started off on these.
easy to learn you can either play fretted or slide.
once you've mastered them you will no doubt enjoy playing them.
you don't have to learn cords et.you can play 1 string or 2 strings aswell

[Exupnut]

The lottery

I could write a blues song about that:-


Woke up this mornin..1....2.....3....4.....said to my wife........if i won the lottery would you go halves babbyyyyy......... & leave me.....1....2.....3.....4...5....6....7.....8.......


My baby said.....1....2......hellllllll yeh!!!................i said here's a fiver fiver fiver fiver.........fuck off then

Here's a fiver... Fuck off then.....hahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaha

pissing myself lol

BRILLANT GENIUS POST!!!

I needed that Fraser

[Hedgetrimmer]

I went into Oxford today for some guitar strings - the little local shop has closed down 


Got tempted by two guitars; glad I went on the bike, if I'd gone in the car I'd be about £800 poorer now 


Noggy, why not have a look through some of the basic course and some blues stuff on that justinguitar site right now? Might clear a few things up for you and give you a good idea of what to start with, and it might make you get cracking sooner, he's quite a good motivator, just watch a couple of his videos. Worth watching some of the more advanced ones too, get you wanting to achieve. Half the time you spend on here, or watching the telly, or just between doing stuff for the sprog, you could be strumming away. Don't put it off, don't find excuses to wait - I'm playing bits while waiting for my dinner to cook, and between faffing about on the forums. Do as Exup says and get that guitar set up by someone if it needs it - have you even tried anything yet?

[bri h]

Noggy I don't think anyone has mentioned a tuner yet they only cost a few quid and can help a lot till you can tune it by. ear.

[fazersharp]

I use a korg tuner.
I have tried by ear and each string sounds ok and also the one next to it but then when I strum it sounds way off
Cant do it by ear will stick to the korg tuner

[noggythenog]

Ive got a tuner already for the bass bri but good shout...i think itll still work with any guitar since it is just notes......theres also some online tuners or ipad app tuners i could use.


Had a deek on justunguitar nick....lallot of lessons on there and seems well structured....i also googked finger picking and there was quite a few basic teaching videos on there.......the world is my oyster, especially with the internet.


Sadly i still havent got my mitts on the guitar as I've been too busy and it is in the loft and the hatch is in the spare room full of crap so i cant get in there right now......back to work tomorrow and i foresee allot of you tube going on during the night shifts hopefully if things are quiet.

[joebloggs]

Maybe more rock and roll than blues but Stevie Ray Vaughan has to be worth a mention....