By Bruce Lamb

http://TheGuitarWorkshop.com

Though he used to write his name as Charlie Patton, yet popularly called Charley, is considered as the father and proponent of the American Delta Blues genre of music. This style is one of the oldest renditions of blues style of music and hence it made Charley Patton as one of the oldest known figures of American Popular Music. Said to be been born in the year 1887 and have died in 1934, Charlie Patton is still considered one of the most influential figures of American music.

Charley and the Early Years of Delta Blues: The Origin of the Genre

Charlie Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi and had passed most of his life in the Mississippi Delta. He did most of his work on Delta Blues style from here and for that reason this style was also known as the Mississippi Delta Blues style of music. Most of that area was covered with extremely fertile land, yet poverty was rampant. The socio-economic condition became the soul of this genre. The cigar box guitar, guitar and harmonica formed the base for this genre’s music.

The Unique style that separated it from other country blues: The Differentiating Factor

Although there was not much of a subsequent rhythmic difference between Charlie Patton’s style and other country blues to have originated at the same time. Most of the areas had the same cultural background, yet Mississippi Delta Blues stood out because of its harmonic structure and theme that talked exhaustively about travelling musicians’ life, sexuality and life the delta.  Women also had a part in this style, but only a few made names for themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bruce Lamb

http://TheGuitarWorkShop.com

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. Read the rest of this entry »

By Bruce Lamb

www.TheGuitarWorkshop.com

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.

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By Bruce Lamb

www.TheGuitarWorkShop.com

When you first start or begin to learn how to play the blues it is a very good idea that your first know what type of blues you want to learn to master. There are several types of blues that have been developed in this country. Many regions around the United States have their own style of blues guitar playing. There is Chicago Style of Blues, there is Texas Style of Blues, The Delta Style, also New Orleans Style of Blues Guitar, and the Piedmont Style of Blues that comes for the mid east coast up to Delaware style.

A very first and most important thing in my opinion is knowing what a progression is. The blues is comprised of a kind of pattern or order of notes that are played. This is the blues progression patterns. The blues progression is a one, four, five progression (1-4-5-). I’ll try to describe what this means so pay close attention. There are seven major notes in playing music. These notes are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Now here is where it gets kind of tricky. If some one says they are going to play the blues in the key of A, this simply means that the A is the (One Chord) or the very first chord in the song. The next chord to be played in the song would be the ( Four Chord) or the second chord that would be played. And then the next chord is the (Five Chord) this is the 1 4 5 progression.

Looking at the 7 major chords A, B, C, D, E, F, G, start counting from the left you will notice the first chord is the A chord the fourth chord is the D chord and the fifth chord is the E chord. Now lets look at a song in the key of E. Can you figure out what the progression is? Read the rest of this entry »

By Bruce Lamb

www.TheGuitarWorkShop.com

One of the first chords a new guitar player will have difficulty with is the Fm7 or F major 7th. To play this chord your fingers will get a work out but it is a chord you must learn so I would not put it off. Start off with this chord because it will help your guitar playing and you will learn and progress much faster if your hands are in playing shape.

There is definitely some stretching going on when you play this cord. This is an important lesson particularly for beginners because you will soon see that the stretching that your fingers will go through will help you with all of the other difficult chords you will learn.

I should first start off by explaining how the strings are numbered. As you hold your guitar the smallest string is the first string. Then each string is numbered 2nd, third, fourth, the fifth and then the sixth string is the top string or the thickest and bass string.

The Fm7th chord starts off with your third finger on the fourth string just above the third fret. If you don’t know what frets are, they are the little metal bars that go across the neck of your guitar. Now place your second finger on the third string just above the second fret. Now place your first finger on the second string over the first fret. Read the rest of this entry »

  Ki ho ‘alu Hawaiian Slack key Guitar got started and more,

by Bruce Lamb.

www.TheGuitarWorkshop.com

If you have ever had a chance to go to a Slack key guitar concert or festival most likely you have heard this interpretation from one of the many performers at the concert.

How did the Hawaiians come to owning guitars and learning how to play them? First off the guitar found its way to the Hawaiian Islands back in the 19th century. The Hawaiian king at that time King Kamehameha the 3rd I believe was given a few cattle as a gift from some Portuguese traders who stumbled upon the islands.

Now there are many different ideas on who actually gave the cattle to him but we do know he liked them and made it a law that no one was to harm them. Well Hawaii is an abundant land and cows being cows all they did all day long was eat and make more cows. The population grew and many of the cows began to eat the homes of the islanders, Grass shacks.

When more Spanish and Portuguese explorers began to discover the islands King Kamehameha employed some of the Spanish cow boys who were on the ships to help with and teach the Hawaiians how to handle the cattle. These Mexican and Spanish vaqueros or cowboys in English brought some of there most prized positions with them.

One thing every one knows is the these people love to sing and play guitar. Because the Hawaiian cowboys or (paniolo) in Hawaiian, has always had their own style and deeply rooted type of traditional music they fell in love with this new instrument and I’m sure they sensed that this could be adapted to there own style. At the end of each long day of chasing cattle the Paniolos and Vaqueros probably began sharing musical ideas around the campfires every night. Boy would I have loved to be around those jam sessions.

After a few years many of the Vaqueros began to head back home. Many of them stayed on and started families in Hawaii, but most longed for their own homeland. Many of the guitars that were brought over were left with their new friends and that seems to be the story on how the Hawaiians got guitars of their own. The Hawaiians began to develop their own unique style of guitar playing and tunings. Using their traditional chants and songs this type of music began to evolve into the slack key style.

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