By G. Springfield

The Acoustic Blues guitar was brought to the world by the stature of Robert Johnson, Bill Broonzy, and the Rev. Gary Davis. Finger-picking acoustic blues uses the thumb to touch serious notes, whereas the first and the second finger are used to reproduce the melody. Rev. Gary Davis was a player of acoustic blues that used his thumb to tear the cords and only his forefinger to reproduce the melody. Lightnin ‘ Hopkins was another Acoustic player Blues who grew up listening to music of bands, but learned to play the guitar in form isolated of other musicians.

Many blues players have seen equal success in playing the acoustic guitar as well as the electric guitar. A clear example is the success of Eric Clapton had with its disc MTV Unplugged, but there many others who had the same successes. Jimi Hendrix even played some acoustic blues songs.

The secret to play a blues song in either acoustic or electric guitar lies in learning a sequence of basic chords. To one, four, five progression – for example, C, F and G and G, C and D, generally are the acoustic sequence of chords of blues guitar.

Listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt it is a good way to begin and learn to play the acoustic blues. You can also search the Internet for lessons that teach you how to play acoustic blues guitar like the great blues musicians of the past, but a general introduction to the acoustic guitar fingerstyle is the best way to start learning how to play the acoustic blues guitar. The technique to learn is called ‘Travis Picking’. The basis of this style is to use the thumb, first, second and third right finger to gather the cords in a predetermined sequence and the left hand positions the chords. This type of guitar style was popularized by Chet Atkins. He would be a good musician to listen to to quickly pick up on this style of playing the guitar.

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By G. Springfield

Mississippi has long been well-known as ‘ The cradle of the Blues’. Recently Mississippi has established the ‘Mississippi Blues Trail’ with regional markers to birthplaces to the homes of the legendary players’ plantations of the blues. An excursion in the Mississippi Delta takes visitors to where the blues began.

Clarksdale is generally a good place to begin the Mississippi Blues Trail. Being the cradle of Muddy Waters, Clarksdale, MS he is definitively the most cultural community of the blues in Mississippi. If you are looking for real blues you must look far beyond Beale Street in Memphis. You will have to leave this well-known area to find the true blues. Places like Po’ Monkey in Merigold. Merigold is to about 50 miles south of Clarksdale.

Ok, so you are ready to embark on your Blues Trail Tour? But where do you you start? A great place to start your adventure is the ‘ Shack Up Inn’ (www.shackupinn.com) just outside of Clarksdale, The tour truly is a trip in the time to the days of the plantation. The Shack Up Inn has refurbished ‘Shot Gun’ houses that were taken from ‘ Hobson Plantation’. The prices are very reasonable and houses have a complete kitchen and other nice amenities. From here, you are not far from the Blues Museum of Clarksdale. Here you can obtain area information and directions to all types of places of interest including many famous blues clubs. You can also go to the Cat Head Mini Blues Fest, which is put on each year in October. A great website for more information on this is www.cathead.biz.

The Sunflower River Blues & Gospel Festival Clarksdale Usually takes place in August. The Festival features many top Blues legends and top Blues acts from all the country, some of the south’s best barbecue, as well as arts and the crafts. This festival has been named one of ‘ Top 10′ festivals in the country. You can get more information at their website www.sunflowerfest.org.

On the other side of the bridge of the Mississippi river is Helena, AR. Every year in the second weekend of October there is another cool festival to attend known as the ‘Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival’. Many people say that Helena ,Arkansas is one of the best places in the South to hear real blues music. What started out as a small festival has gained a reputation throughout the nation and always draws a big crowd. Despite all the growth, the festival organizers have remained loyal to their roots. The festival is still dedicated to the Blues as performed by the musicians that were directly or indirectly influenced by Sonny Boy and his contemporaries. These artists include Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, Robert Lockwood, Jr., Billy Branch, Kim Wilson of The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets featuring Sam Myers, Charlie Mussellwhite, Frank Frost, Sam Carr and a host of others.

By G. Springfield

Ray Charles was born Ray Charles Robinson on September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. He was the son of poor parents. His life was a tragic history. His mother had to raise to him and his brother by as a single parent. When Ray was five years old, he was witness to seeing his younger brother pass away after being suffocated in a bathtub of laundry.

Ray Charles first become blind when he was five years old. Two years later, at the age of seven he was completely blind. Although there is no confirmed reason as to why he lost his sight, many believe it was from either glaucoma (a disease of the optical nerve) or an infection in his eyes from soap water.

He studied in the St Augustine School for Blind and the Deaf and during his years in school, both of his parents passed away. Before he got out of school he was able to write and play music. He even performed live with bands before he finished school.

In 1947 at the age of 17, he traveled to Seattle. He signed with Swingtime Records and had his first hit Confession Blues in 1949. That song, along with Baby, Let Me Hold Your Hand were his only 2 hits with this record label.

Then in 1952, he signed with Atlantic Records. He had 2 big hits early on with Mess Around in 1953, and It Should Have Been Me. I Got A Woman hit the top of the charts in 1955, and then had a string of hits up until 1059 that included such classics as Drown in My Own Tears, This Little Girl of Mine, The Night Time (Is the Right Time), Mary Ann, and Lonely Avenue.

After 4 years with the Atlantic Label, Ray soon got a better record deal with ABC. Songs he released under the ABC label included Hit the Road Jack, Unchain My Heart, and Georgia on My Mind.

Ray Charles developed a Heroin habit during his successful days on tour, and in 1965 he was arrested for possession of heroin.. He was able to avoid a full jail sentence by agreeing to got to a rehab. He continued being successful while he was rehabilitating. Crying Time N º 6 in the charts. Georgia On My Mind became the song of the state of Georgia.

Ray Charles continued active and successful until its death on June 10, 2004. In 2002, he played in the first event in the Colosseum in Rome since AD 404. He was inducted to the Songwriters Hall of Fame by its blues fan singer Van Morrison, with whom Ray sang one of Van Morrison’s most famous songs, Moondance. He gave his last performance on April 30, 2004 to sing the two songs that he most known by — America The Beautiful and Georgia On My Mind.

He had one album that was released 2 months after his death called Genius & Friends. The album was done in collaboration with many hand picked performers and was a best-seller.

By G. Springfield

Muddy Waters, McKinley Morganfield in real life was born in Issaquena County, Mississippi. He is often referred to as ‘the Father of Chicago Blues’ and is one of the greatest blues guitarists of all times. The magazine Rolling Stone places Muddy Waters at no. 17 of the top 100 great guitarists. He was born on April 4, 1913. His nickname of ‘ Muddy’ it was coined by his liking when playing in the mud.

The first musical instrument that he learned to play was the harmonica. He fell in love with the guitar by the time he turned 17 years old. He was inspired by two blues artists of the south: They were Son House and Robert Johnson. It was Son House that influenced greatly in its heavy, heavy style of voice, its color of dark tone, and its company/signature, the almost solid personality, but it was Johnson which they contributed to his embellishment, imaginative techniques of more agile slide and rates.

Muddy married with Mabel Berry the 20 of November of 1932, but Mabel left him when he has his first-born child with another woman by the name of Leola Spain. Muddy Waters began its career in the 1940’s with Silas Green in 1941 by singing and playing the harmonica. After his collaboration with Silas Green, he met and played with Allan and John Lomax. His first two recordings were released on the Testament label.

In 1943 one of the main men of Chicago Blues Big Bill Broonzy helped Muddy break into the competitive Chicago market by allowing Muddy to open for Broonzy’s shows. Muddy got his first electric guitar in 1945 to help him be heard over the noisy Chicago crowds.

His popularity rose over the coming years. He worked with many other musicians over the next few years such as Leonard and Phil Chess, Sunnyland Slim and that ‘ Gypsy Woman’ and ‘ Little Ana Mae’ in 1947. In 1948 his two songs ‘ I Can’ t Sees Satisfied’ and ‘ I Feel Like Going Home’ became great successes. Soon after Muddy wrote one of his most famous songs “Rollin Stone’ and in the 1950’s he played in a band that several hit songs such as “Hoochie Coochie Man” (Number 8 on the R&B charts), “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (Number 4), and “I’m Ready”. These three were “the most macho songs in his repertoire,” wrote Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone.

In 1954 was the height of his career. The success of his band lead to other artists in the band being able to break away and enjoy solo careers of their own. Little Water Jacobs was able to write down its success in ‘ Juke’ when he left the band of Muddy in 1952. Another member of the band, Rogers, also resigned in 1955 to work alone with its own band, and Otis Spann enjoyed success in the mid 1950’s. As well.

Muddy then moved to England and kept a somewhat low profile. Muddy’s long-time wife Geneva died of cancer on March 15, 1973. A devastated Muddy was taken to a doctor and told to quit smoking, which he did. Gaining custody of some of his “outside kids”, he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in suburban, all-white Westmont. Another teenage daughter turned up while on tour in New Orleans; Big Bill Morganfield was introduced to his Dad after a gig in Florida. Florida was also where Muddy met his future wife, the 19-year-old Marva Jean Brooks whom he nicknamed “Sunshine”

On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band’s farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring a performance of “Mannish Boy” with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.

In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Muddy, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. His “comeback” LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter’s production. Former sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award-winning album and a brief but well-received tour followed.

On April 30, 1983 Muddy Waters died in his sleep, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. At his funeral at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, throngs of blues musicians and fans showed up to pay tribute to one of the true originals of the art form. Two years after his death, Chicago honored him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 E. 43rd Street near his former home on the south side “Honorary Muddy Waters Drive” More recently, the Chicago suburb of Westmont, where Waters lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home “Honorary Muddy Waters Way”.

By G. Springfield

Join me for a moment if you would to examine the joys of the blues guitar and the great influence that it has had in modern music. The key to the blues guitar is to make your guitar sing what you are feeling. The Blues is one of the most interesting and fascinating music types to learn. It has a colorful history, interesting people and is a form to express feelings unlike any other style of music. In essence, the blues is a narration of the history of the experiences of life and has very diverse subjects that go from trips to the events of day.

Although the Blues so is not as celebrated as other genres of music, it can be crude and without censorship and can be one of the best places to let your creativity fly as a guitarist because there are many different sub-specialties within the scope of the blues guitar. There are the Blues of the Mississippi Delta as well as the blues of Chicago and California.

The most influential and popular blues guitarists of all time include BB King, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Eric Clapton. Many of their songs were inspired by the blues and produced an original and completely new generation of great guitarists. Unfortunately, many people do not realize the influence the blues has had on modern music. It has been said time and time again that the blues always has been the cornerstone of many of the most popular styles of music played today.

Learning to play the blues requires one to take a multifaceted approach that includes playing smooth curves, hammer, the serve, and many other standard playing techniques. This is what separates the blues into its’ own unique class. First of all the blues rarely or never follows a normal set harmony. It is a free flowing type of sound that is played with repetitive simple scales known as pentatonic scales. There are other scales used in playing the blues, and I urge you to learn more about them by researching books and other information online. I also encourage you to buy a professional endorsement of blues tracks for the blues guitar to take your game at the next level.

By G. Springfield

When learning another language, many experts recommend that you submerge yourself in the language. The same principle is true when to learning to play the guitar. You should listen to the great guitarists of the past. They can be an inspiration source to encourage you to continue practicing, and to provide you with a source of goals as you learn. In my opinion, here are the ten best guitar players of all time in no particular order:

1. Jimi Hendrix -one of the most innovative and best remembered artists. His creative impulse, technical capability and effects such as the wah-wah and distortion transformed forever the sound of rock and roll. It was his innovation and its ability to play the guitar in any position, with any part of the body, that constantly it places to him like one of the best guitarists of all time.

2. Eric Clapton – Clapton, is also considered one of the greatest guitarists of rock and one of the major blues guitarists, but he has also earned acclaim for his classical guitar concerts. His style is smooth but precise, and the chords almost seem to flow from his fingers.

3. Robert Johnson – recorded his songs for the first time on November 23, 1936 in San Antonio, Texas. Although many modern guitar players complain that Robert Johnson was outside time and tone and his voice is hard to understand, his style was different from any other guitarist at the time. Legend has it that Johnson sold his soul to the devil to be able to play guitar.

4. Eddie Van Halen – the speed of the light and the innovating sounds of the guitar of Eddie Van Halen are easily recognizable. They are still more impressive if you consider that he was totally self-taught, who never had had a professional lesson of any kind.

5. Stevie Ray Vaughan – Born on October 3, 1954 in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Texas. Vaughan’s blues style was influenced by many blues guitarists. Foremost among them were Albert King, Otis Rush, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and Jimi Hendrix. Vaughan’s older brother Jimmie Vaughan has stated that Johnny “Guitar” Watson was the guitarist he and Vaughan studied the most. Vaughan also cited his brother as an influence.

6. Tony Iommi – For many people, Iommi is considered the first true metal guitarist, using a great amount of distortion, but maintaining total control over the sounds he produced. Its fire style is still more impressive because he is lacking the end of two fingers that demands the use to him of rubber prosthesis to play.

7. Jeff Beck was born on June 24, 1944. He is an English rock guitarist. He was one of the three noted guitarists — the others being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page — to have played with The Yardbirds. – Many consider that the guitarist Jeff Beck to be one of the most distinct sounding guitarists in the world, able to produce incredible unique tones with what seems to be so little effort.

8. Jimmy Page – also an English guitarist to play with The Yardbirds. He has the unique ability to write incredible guitar riffs that are so intricate that few others can play them perfectly as he can.

9. Randy Rhoads – was an American heavy metal guitarist that is better well-known to play with Ozzy Osbourne. Rhoads was perfect and precise in each note he played and did it with a great depth of feelings. He was not only a great guitarists, but he was a good song writer.

10. Joe Satriani – was born July 15, 1956 in Westbury, New York, and is an American multi-instrumentalist, known as an instrumental rock guitarist, who has been nominated for Grammy Awards. Early in his career, Satriani worked as a guitar instructor. Satriani has been a driving force behind other musicians throughout his career, as a founder of the ever-changing touring trio, G3, as well as performing in temporary positions with other famouns bands such as the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple.

Although this is arguably not the definitive list of the best players of the guitar of all time it is an excellent point to begin with. When listening to the players listed here those that are learning to play the guitar can find inspiration.

By G. Springfield

If you want a truly great blues experience, visit your local blues bar for a live performance. You will be particularly rewarded if you are able to do so in a place like Chicago or Memphis. Other than a live performance, there are few other places to experience the blues. Here is a list of my top 10 favorite blues movies.

Finding a great movie that features blues music is not easy. In fact just putting this list together was harder than I thought it would be and only goes to show how little good blues music is featured in film. For blues on film, we want to see some of these artists in action, or get a heavy dose of blues throughout the film.

10. Kingpin (1996) Although the film is very funny, it is not about the blues. The best part about the film for blues fans is the credits at the end. As they roll Blues Traveler performs a live music video of “But Anyway.”

9. Lady Sing the Blues (1972) Dianna Ross stars as Billie Holiday and sings her way through the blues in this better than average bio picture. It’s by far the best thing that Ross has ever done on film, and it’s hard to beat Billie Holiday for the blues. Her life story explains a great deal about the nature of the genre.

8. Mo’ Better Blues (1990) A Spike Lee film, he captures a credible back-story of the musician Bleek Gilliam’s life. It’s a bit more jazz than blues, but the two genres many times cross over. Until there’s some more films that focus specifically on the blues, this will have to do.

7. Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead (1995) A mob story not a blues story, but no matter what you think of the movie there’s a great scene with the house blues band. And yep, that is the world’s greatest guitar player on stage – the great Buddy Guy. To hear Buddy play the blues automatically bumps this movie into the top 10 best movies of all time.

6. Sounder (1972) This better than average family film has a great blues soundtrack throughout by Taj Mahal. The film is a coming of age story about a boy growing up in the 1930’s as a sharecropper in Louisiana.

5. Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) As a sequel goes, not the best by any measure. It does however give you the chance to see several blues artists in a music video, and in my opinion that’s the only worthwhile thing about the film – other than sticking around to watch the credits in which they had a mass blues ensemble singing over the credits. Just a sampling of the performers is self-explanatory: Aretha Franklin, Jonny Lang, B.B. King, Lonnie Brooks, Taj Mahal, and Blues Traveler.

4. O Brother Where Art Thou (2000) Music is so integral to this excellent Coen brothers film that it deserves a listing even though most of the songs are bluegrass related. However, when the escaped prisoners pick up Tommy Johnson at the Crossroads that authenticates the blues roots of the film. Also, the fact that roots rock artist T Bone Burnett is behind the original music of the film, there are plenty of Delta blues elements.

3. Crossroads (1986) Walter Hill’s film loosely based on the great Robert Johnson’s legendary deal with the Devil at the Crossroads contains some great blues music. Arguably, this is the best blues soundtrack of all time, highlighted at the end with the guitar battle with Steve Vai that helped a few young metalheads realize how important the blues are for hardcore guitar players. It also helped revive Robert Johnson’s career, some 50 years after his pre-mature death.

2. Genghis Blues (1999) This documentary is a first effort by young filmmakers Adrian and Roko Belic that took them to a remote region in the geographical center of Asia to record blues artist Paul Peña as he takes part in a Tuvan throat singing competition. It is amazing to see and hear as the singer is able to create harmonic effects with his voice by singing two or three notes simultaneously!

1. Blues Brothers (1980) If asked to name the one film that has given the biggest popular boost to the blues, it has to be this classic comedy. Belushi sings the blues surprisingly well. He just has got the soul for it. Dan Aykroyd obviously loves the blues. The movie is set around Chicago, and there is no better place for the blues. And the set pieces absolutely rock with the blues and soul legends that they engage: with the diner rocking with Aretha’s “Think” and the streets of Chicago giving it up for John Lee Hooker’s “Boom Boom” and Ray Charles’ “Shake a Tail Feather.”

Well, we all know the big names in Blues from the past – guys like BB King, Ray Charles, and Muddy Waters. But what about the modern day blues artist? Where do you go and who out there is really continuing to push the envelope when it comes to modern day blues? I have compiled a list of who I believe to be some of the best current artists that play the blues.
1. Ben Harper
2. Shemekia Copeland
3. William Elliott Whitmore
4. Ana Popovic
5. Kelly Joe Phelps
6. Joe Bonamassa
7. Roxanne Potvin
8. Todd Sharpville
9. Anthony Gomes
10. Susan Tedeschi
All of these blues artists are unique in their own way. Some come from Canada, some play the banjo. Ana Popovic is from Yugoslavia, while Ben Harper dabbles into reggae and rock. One thing is always consistent all of these blues musicians – they have soul and they know how to spread it.

By G. Springfield

If you are interested in learning how to play the guitar, then you need to look for advice that shows you how you can learn the various techniques to play the blues guitar. This is because the blues is often considered by many to be the root of all the types of music. Through history, many people think that the blues actually originated in Africa because the blues were first sung by the slaves of the plantations in the South and the Mississippi Delta.

At night the songs that were sang were interpreted and represented in a scene by several musicians to concentrate on blues lyrics and sounds, with the guitar being the main instrument. It was only after a hard days work that the slaves had the opportunity to enjoy time in the company of their friends and relatives in song. These activities were celebrated normally in what were called ‘ juke joints’. These places became the main gathering place for entertainment in the evenings for the plantation workers in the Mississippi Delta.

Highway 61 is popularly well-known as the Blues Highway, since it stretches from the jazz point of the blues of New Orleans to Memphis, a town noted as the home of the Blues in the US. In addition this route goes on in to Chicago which also has a legacy of great blues music.

The blues guitar has strongly influenced the structure of modern music. It is important to understand and develop a foundation of knowledge of the guitar, as well as understand the great history of music before beginning to play your own blues music by learning the basic scales of blues music. There are many sources on the Internet that can show the scales and teach you how to play them properly. With this respect and understanding for the blues, you can only then know how great the music has become.

In the 1920’s and 1930’s blues guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Are House, Robert Johnson, and Lonnie Johnson were the most influential blues musicians of the time. They used a slide tone bar that changed the sound of the music that came from the guitar. Most of their music was solo improvised guitar music.

In the 1940’s the style of blues changed to more of a bigger band type sound that included a rhythm section. After World War II in the 1950’s the blues guitar became electrified and amplified. This type of music came out of the Chicago area and was characterized by the sounds of Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed. All these players grew up in Mississippi, but many migrated to Chicago. The blues bands of this time typically had the main electrical guitar as well as a harmonic and a rhythmic section. Many times the bands would have a saxophone as well which added more dimension to the sound.

BB King and Freddie King were a couple of the most popular names in blues in the 1950’s. They were somewhat unique at the time because they did not make use of the slide tone bar when they played the guitar. BB King has been considered by many to be one of the biggest blues guitarists of all time. Freddie King has been called the king of the guitar of the Boogie Woogie.

Other artists from Chicago such as T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker were creating what some called the California Blues. T-Bone Walker was born in Scythes, and Hooker was born in Mississippi. The California Blues was a smoother sound than the Chicago Blues and is something of a melting pot of Chicago blues, jump blues, and some of jazz swing.

In the 1960’s the blues gained much in popularity with the general public thanks partly to Paul Butterfield Band Blues and what later the Movement of British blues would be called. Groups like Fleetwood Mac, Cream, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Rolling Stone, and the Yardbirds released several classic blues songs. Many of these songs inspired American blues artists of rock like Janis Joplin, Jimmy Hendrix, and Johnny Winter.

Meanwhile in Chicago Albert King, Buddy Guy, and Luther Allison created a blues style that became known as West Side Chicago Blues. Their bands were dominated by the amplification of electrical guitar blues and strongly influenced later artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Johnny Lang, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

In the 1980’s the blues enjoyed a great resurgence in the United States. The Texas Rock Films of Stevie Ray Vaughan and The Fabulous Thunderbirds brought the blues to the radio stations of American rock. Eric Clapton, who originally gained his fame with the band Cream and John Mayall, continued making great classic blues records. Many famous, legendary guitarists of blues such as Buddy Guy and BB King continue sharing the scene with the new generation of guitarists of blues like Robert Cray, Joe Bonamassa, Walter Trout.