Neither Vangauard records nor Skip James had high commercial expectations for Devil Got My Woman, when it was released in 1968.  After all James’s superb debut, Today! sold poorly two years earlier, despite widespread critical praise. Interest in country blues was fading. In fact, by the time Devil Got My Woman made it to record stores, the album had all but disappeared.

 What had happened, of course, was the birth of blues rock and the move by many traditional blues players to change their sound to sound more like the music of the times. The market for the blues was strong in the late sixties. Many rock fans, inspired by Paul Butterfields Blues Band, Cream, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers Band, and other groups that built their sound from a solid blues foundation, embraced the blues with a new enthusiasm.

 Muddy Waters and Howlin Wolf played rock venues and rock festivals and recorded with rock musicians. Johnny Winter brought whit blues into the rock mainstream. B.B. King had a pop hit with “The Thrill Is Gone”.

 About the only bluesmen not reaping the rewards of this new blues craze were the country artist whose music lacked the volume and thumping backbeat heard in electric blues. Despite Cream’s remake of his song “I’m So Glad.” Skip James and Devil Got My Woman never really stood a chance of attracting hoards of rock fans in 1968, Skip James played the same kind of style on Devil Got My Woman that he did when he first recorded it for Paramount label back in 1931.

By Bruce Lamb

http://www.TheGuitarWorkShop.com

A guitar is probably the most popular string instrument of today. One common thing about modern teenagers who want are creative, have an artistic setup or just want to be ‘cool’; is that they love guitar as a playing instrument. The guitar has generally six strings and is popularly one of the two broad classifications: acoustic and electric, though it can have much more strings attached to it and can come in various types such as a Hawaiian guitar and it can have many mechanisms such as a double neck guitar etc.

But those are for advanced users! Typically a guitar may look stylish, trendy or cool, but guitar lessons for beginners can be tricky. If you want to learn to play guitar for a living or simply as a hobby and you are serious about it, you need to know that playing guitar is not easy, contrary to what it looks on the screen for the greatest guitar players playing it as a piece of cake.

Construction

In case of guitar lessons for beginners, it is important to understand the general construction of a guitar. The guitar has three main parts: the body, the neck and the strings; although number of strings, length of the neck and size of the body tends to vary from guitar to guitar. Strings are attached on the fretboard (a piece of wood on the neck) and some frets run orthogonal to the strings; while each fret produces different sounds.

Other parts of the mechanism may be understood later but for now it would be interesting o know what is the difference between two main types of guitars. An electrical guitar relies on electronic amplification to make their sound audible, while an acoustic guitar uses only acoustic methods to make the sound proceed via the strings. We can hear the sound form an acoustic guitar from the hole (a round hole or F hole) that is inscribed inside the body of the guitar.

Where to learn

If you want to learn guitar, the materials and resources will never be inadequate. Search for the keywords ‘guitar lessons for beginners’ or ‘guitar workshops’ and thousands of websites will be returned for free. Also if you want to be personally taught, you can avail the guitar lessons that are given in exchange for a reasonable amount of money. So the more important decision that has to be made is not where, but what!

What to learn

Guitar comes in a diversified array of classifications and culture. So one needs to decide what to learn; for example: learn acoustic guitar or electric, learn to finger pick (playing with bare fingers) or flat pick (playing with the use of a plectrum/pick) etc. and moreover the genres of music such as blues, rock, pop, jazz etc.

Learning a guitar may not be easy but once learnt, it is a great friend to the end of your days.

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McKinley Morganfield, born on April 4, 1913 and died on April 30, 1983, more popularly known among his fans as Muddy Waters, was a reputed musician of the American blues genre. Muddy Waters was generally acknowledged as “the Father of Chicago blues”.

Muddy Waters debuted on harmonica but by the age of 17 had started playing the guitar at a number of parties where he emulated two very reputed blues artists Robert Johnson and Son House. Qualities for which he got instantly noticed were his rich baritone, his ability to add dark coloration to his tone and his wonderful ability to add a lot of embellishments to the music he played.

The real success phase for Muddy Waters the Original Huochie Coochie Man began with an association with the Chess brothers Phill and Leonard Chess who had formed a music group known as Aristocrat.

In the year 1948, his music on “I Feel Like Going Home” and “I Can’t Be Satisfied” were huge hits and that was the point in time when he began to climb the popularity charts in the clubs. After this, soon, Aristocrat rebranded their name to Chess Records and instantly, Muddy Waters the Original Huochie Coochie Man’s signature tune which happened to be “Rollin’ Stone” became a huge hit among its fans.

By the time September 1953 arrived, Muddy Waters the Original Huochie Coochie Man had started recording in association with one of the more acknowledged blues groups ever in history: This group comprised Elga Edmonds who played on drums, Otis Spann who played on piano, Little Walter Jacobs who played on harmonica; and lastly, Jimmy Rogers who strummed the guitar.

The highly acclaimed band had already recorded a number of blues classics during the time of early 1950s, with the active help of Willie Dixon who was a bassist/songwriter and the masterpieces included “I Just Want to Make Love to You”; “Huochie Coochie Man”,  and “I’m Ready”.

These songs were branded macho songs and they earned a lot of critical acclaim. These songs gave Muddy Waters a series of showstoppers and a tremendous thrust, which proved very important for a hitherto unknown bluesman who was trying to break free from the world of local gigs into the lime light of national prominence.

His beginning was not great but he had a lot of support, both institutional and from his peers who helped him with free guitar lessons and Blues Guitar lessons. It was to his credit that he utilized the opportunities to perfection to rise to prominence.

Muddy Waters, by the time he passed away, had carved out his own niche and his music and songs had inspired an entire generation and the Blues Music had begun to earn its laurels.

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Most airlines are now charging for the first checked bag a minimum of $25.00 and the second $35 and third bag is charged much more so customers are bringing bigger bags more than ever on board with them so these days the overhead compartments are at a premium. It’s a gamble traveling with a guitar and each guitar traveler will have to play there own hand by asking them selves these questions.

1. Q. How many bags including my guitar will I travel with?

A. Do the math two checked bags can cost you now $60 depending on the airline
carry on space is getting harder to get.

2. Q. Will the airline allow my guitar on board in a gig bag and will there be enough
Room?

A. The airline my have a policy to allow your guitar on board when you call them up
but it only depends if there is enough room, or how many regular bags are in the
overhead at the time you board. It is entirely up to the crew members on the plane.
They may take your guitar and gate check it which means your guitar goes onto the
pile of luggage below. Most damage to guitars on planes is from being damaged
due to excess weight on top of the guitar pushing the top or bottom of the case in
cracking the back or sound board of the guitar.

3. Q. Will they let me on with my hard shell case a bigger gamble?

A. Probably not!

4. Q. Should I buy a flight case for my guitar if I only travel one or two times a year?

A. To protect your guitar you should have a case made for air travel. Regular hard
shell cases are for transporting around town in your car etc. and not designed
for other people who don’t own the guitar. They really don’t know how fragile the
guitar is inside the case and may not know they are abusing it. They think that its
bullet proof because its inside a hard case.

5. Q. How do I know what to look for in a Good Flight case that will protect the best?

A. There are 4 things that break guitars in cases finding a case that avoids the
following problems would be the best case to travel with when flying on airlines.
Shock waves, such as what happens when a guitar case is mishandled or is
dropped or thrown and hits a hard surface. And crushing in the sides of the case
as mentioned above. And excess weight, the heaver the case the more shock it
transmits when it hits a hard surface.

Shock snaps the head stock off the neck of the guitar. The tuning keys add extra
weight to the neck and if the case is dropped and hits a hard surface the momentum
of the sudden stop and added weight to the headstock snaps the neck. This is very
common problem when traveling by air.

Most so called flight case builder use the same materials like plywood, or fiber
glass to build extremely stiff and heavy cases and haven’t re-thought or invented
or improved on the original idea. They continue to build these cases and
they don’t add enough padding inside the case to absorb shock. The excess
weight that is built in also causes the case to break it seems and snaps the hinges.
And because of the stiffness and excess weight they don’t flex enough and can’t
absorb any shock.

When picking a flight case at the very least start with this test if possible. With the
heal of your palm of your hand push against the top of the case with a guitar inside.
Most case will flex if you put pressure on the case just over the bridge of the guitar
inside. If you can feel any flex at this point it is not really a good case for air travel.
If anything hit the case at that point will destroy the top of your guitar near the
Bridge and probably case a crack in the sound board.

With the guitar inside the case make sure there is a tight fit with no movement.
Make sure the head stock has padding over and also underneath so it won’t move
or rattle around.

In closing a guitar flight case needs to be able to be light in weight, flexible to help absorb shock if possible and have more than just enough padding inside. The only solution for this is the material and design would have to be slightly larger than a traditional guitar case to provide all of these features. This type of case could also have extra room inside to hold other things like clothing etc. we have seen this type of case and to our knowledge is the only one of it kind. It is called the Clam Case and can be seen online.

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Taking guitar music lessons can cost a lot of money and making sure you are getting your money’s worth is necessary. Learning a new instrument like guitar or taking vocal lessons will benefit you or your child but here are some tips on how to ensure you are getting the most out of your lessons.

Do make sure you are choosing a reputable school or instructor. It’s true with the saying, “You get what you pay for.” If you find individuals advertising their musical expertise teaching their lessons from their home studio, it’s ideal to ask for references. As a business, they should be able to lead you to clients who can give you their experience taking lessons with them. It’s a safe move especially if you have never heard of them before.

Going through the yellow pages or searching online will give you a head start on what lessons or schools have been running for awhile now. They usually have specialized programs and have been in business practically forever. When you talk to them over the phone, they are knowledgeable and helpful. Music schools that have a long standing can usually be costly and their lessons run year long.

Choosing a private class which is usually just the music instructor and the student can be a great choice since the instructor will be giving you all their attention. Most private classes can range to an hour or less than an hour. Depending on what choice of instrument you want to learn, these types of lessons can be cost effective.

There are many group band options and guitar music lessons that are available at music schools. If you’ve always wanted to be in a rock band, here’s your chance. There are places where you can learn the electric guitar and even drums in a group setting. Canvas around and check out the band settings and price. Music schools know the appeal of wanting to be in a band so the prices can vary depending on location.

For children who are interested in taking music lessons, there are private classes and group settings depending on their ages. Start with something small with music lessons each week to see if your child is eager to pursue it. For pre-schoolers, there are now pre-school music groups where they learn songs accompanied with a keyboard. At the end of the music program, there is usually a recital for the children to perform what they have learned which is exciting for them and the parents.

Getting the most out of your guitar music lessons isn’t hard. You just have to do your research on the music schools providing the lessons. Always take a guitar music lesson on the type of music that you are interested in and don’t let anyone talk you out of it. If the cost of the lesson is pricey, there are some music schools that offer discounts or scholarships. Ask them if there is a discount if you sign up for a year. As well, checking through the yellow pages for coupons and searching online in your local city for guitar lessons is also an option. Good luck and have fun with whatever music lessons you decide to go with.

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With the diversification of instruments and musical styles, it stands to reason that there are an equally diverse amount of possible gigs. What instrument you play may limit your success. Some of the more basic ones will be covered here but do not limit your horizons by not trying out other avenues that may present themselves. I will mention several types of instruments in the following article. If any are unfamiliar to you, may I suggest a trip to your local library where taped samples of the various styles and sounds may be observed.

The Guitar is now possibly one of the more requested and versatile instruments that can play so many types and styles of music. Most commonly used in restaurants, cocktail lounges, parties, one-man-shows, and any type of show where the guitarist also is required to sing, such as a coffee shop. Sometimes they may have an electronic drummer and possibly bass pedals for rhythm. Happy hour gigs will sometimes use a guitarist, but more commonly it is a keyboard artist.

Playing keyboard is probably one of the most versatile instruments around, since it will fit in to most musical styles and arrangements.

Finding solo gigs such as small parties, cocktail lounges, waiting areas, restaurants, receptions, churches, studio recording, classical, ragtime, jazz, airports, backup for singers is a good place to get started.

Joining or accompanying another musical act or being part of a trio for another group of singers in any style is a joy.

It is not uncommon to have two keyboard artists playing in the same group. While one plays piano, the other may simulate a variety of other woodwinds, brass, flute, stringed instruments or special sound effects. Most times the player will be coordinating the arrangements as the group is playing, all without the use of a musical chart. Keyboard players are the most versatile musicians in the industry, so they have a lot more opportunities to work and are a valuable source of referrals and recommendations for bookings.

Two guitarists accompanying each other on pop tunes, playing for vocalists and other types of instruments, in clubs, restaurants, and the occasional casual get together is great fun.

Being a bass player has several opportunities available for performing. The field of classical music, concerts, jazz, and in combos with piano and guitar or brass always seems a good fit.

Rhythm is the basis of all music, and a good drummer should be able to handle many styles and variations of them. Drummers work in small combos as well as the larger bands and symphony orchestras. The more successful players are also able to sing lead and the drummer who plays well and sings will more often than not get the gig before the non-singer will.

The stringed instruments have been primarily used in the classical format for hundreds of years, but the natural evolution of music has led to more diverse uses for violin, viola, and cello. Nowadays it is not uncommon to see one of these specialty acts perform at a wedding, in a shopping mall, or a private party The three types of stringed instruments have made great advances in the jazz, rock, and pop music categories. Most trio and larger groups are handled by a booking agency that specializes in this type of music.

The Woodwind category would include clarinet and sax, flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, bassoon, and their like. Generally, the type of work involved can include symphony orchestras, studio work, jazz ensembles and large show acts. The musicians who can “double”, that is, play more than one instrument will naturally be in greater demand and usually work more than one who plays an instrument exclusively.

Brass Players in this category include ones well versed in trumpet, cornet, tuba, horn, trombone and the like. The normal types of work available may include Dixieland, jazz symphony, big band, theater acts and orchestra, and even the player that announces the parade of horses at the racetrack. Most of your gigs will come from referrals from bandleaders, agents, or contractor calls. Another way to break into the business is to get referrals from your instructor.

Being a singer In general, the vocalist should be able to perform many types of music variations just to be versatile enough to continue to work. When filling in at a gig, it may be beneficial to bring arrangements of songs that you perform well, and any styles that you are comfortable with. Vocalists do whatever work they are trained to do, and can do it a professional level.

In closing picking what instrument you have decided to learn and what type of music and the portability of the instrument you choose will make a big impact on your success at making it in music.

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I have had the amazing pleasure of taking guitar lessons on finger style guitar blues and ragtime, lap style and Slide Guitar lessons from one of the best teachers out there and her name is Mary Flower. I have also had the pleasure of producing three DVD’s for her in their different styles of guitar mastery.

I first met Mary Flower at the guitar seminars work shop that was run by two other astounding guitar player Woody Mann, and Bob Brozman and I also want to mention Trevor Lawrence who pretty much ran the back end of the workshop and is also a great player.

The three DVD’s I produced for Mary teach three different styles of blues guitar. The first one in on playing blues guitar in the Key of E. The second DVD is playing Ragtime Style of Blues guitar. The third DVD is playing guitar in Dropped D Tuning.

Many blues guitarists feel that the key at E is both the most accessible and expressive key for deep blues sounds. Blues in E is a sound as old as the blues themselves. In this video, Mary shows you how to reach deep into the blues bag by teaching the licks and tricks that have kept this genre interesting and fun.

Going beyond mere role demonstration, she also explores the 12-bar blues structure and offers tips on creating your own arrangements. Starting with the Delta style where the thumb pounds out ifs steady, compelling bass, Mary shows you how to add single notes, up-the-neck bends, moveable chords, and powerful boogie-woogie patterns. Then she walks you through a plethora of blues turnarounds, the figures that add color and spice o your arrangements when you use them as fills between vocal lines.

Mary mixes classic and contemporary songs to add variety to her teaching and help you diversify your own repertoire. In this video, she uses Leroy Carr’s “;Midnight Hour Blues”; and Big Bill Broonzy’s “Key to the Highway” (made famous by Eric Clapton) as well as her own tunes to show you how blues techniques and structures really work, and how to make them work for you.

True to Mary’s style of teaching, songs and techniques are presented in progressive order of difficulty. This video is geared to the intermediate to advanced player as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter, Mary Flower has carried on the tradition of roots music for over three decades, specializing in the blues. A longtime favorite in Denver, Colorado, she took to the road after her children were grown and quickly achieved national prominence

Mary now lives in the Portland Oregon area where she still teaches, performs locally and travels around the world playing the blues.

Today she is best known for her many CDs, concert and festival appearances, and as a prizewinning contestant in the National Finger picking Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival.

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In order to make a living on a regular basis, you will need to play your guitar well. The better you are at your respective instrument, the more demand there will be for your services, and the more opportunities will present themselves. The better that you can read music, the more bookings will be available to you. This is virtually a mandatory requirement for the higher paying professional gigs.

You should have an extensive song list in the style that you play. If you can sing and the more tunes that you can accompany vocally, the better. If two equal musicians audition for the same gig, the one that can sing the lead in more of them will usually get the booking .If you have this ability to play by ear it will also increase the amount of work you can get.

Make sure that your equipment is set for the appropriate volume levels and is properly tuned. Get to the gig early and get your equipment set up. Go to the gig before you actually have a date to get started and listen to the room. Get a feel for the audience and maybe ask who ever is playing at the gig about there amp settings while they are on a break.

You must always make certain that you are on time and dressed for the gig. Always be polite and remember the more people that like you at the booking, the more chances you will get another by referral. Always try to understand and know what will be expected of you and provide it.

The more that you enjoy what you are doing the more others will enjoy you. This leads to more work. Always be a team player, you are there for the enjoyment of the audience, not yourself, well not totally. It is always better if you’re in it for your own enjoyment. Sometimes you just have to find a happy medium. Always work together to make the magic work, and convey that to the audience.

With the diversification of instruments and musical styles, it stands to reason that there are an equally diverse amount of possible gigs. Some of the more basic ones will be covered here but do not limit your horizons by not trying out other avenues that may present themselves. Solo gigs or small parties, cocktail lounges, waiting areas, restaurants, receptions, and churches, on busy street corners in busy cities are always great places to find work. Put out a sign if you play for free saying you are for hire and give out your contact info. Have some business cards made up. FedEx , formally Kinkos you can get cards made in less than five minutes for under twenty bucks, so there is no excuse for not having them and taking responsibility for your way of making a living.

If you enjoy playing a certain type of guitar music try and find a venue that likes that type of music being played. Unless you have a huge list of the songs you have written and have played them in public for others to enjoy and have received critiques on them or people have commented on them don’t play your own stuff until the gig and audience knows your stuff and likes it. In other words don’t assume that everyone will like your own compositions.