Nearly all blues guitarists start out as rock or country guitarists, only developing their interests in blues at a later date. Thus, there are many blues guitar players who don't have all of the necessary education and background requisite to play traditional blues who rely on altered rock licks and scales to sort of "fake" a blues sound.
For the guitarist who's serious about developing his or her skill as a blues musician, there are several things that can be done to enhance and speed this process.
1. Learn some processes and methods of playing that are specific to blues music. This can mean learning specifically blues-oriented scales, and licks. Particularly valuable techniques that are a bit trickier to master, but well worth it are playing with a slide and playing in modified tunings. Many terrific blues soloists like Buddy Guy or Eric Clapton will play in an open chord tuning to facilitate slide playing.
Don't think of just major chords either, minor chord tunings are extremely versatile when it comes to blues.
Learn from the masters. If you're more into modern blues, than start your quest with Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Keb' Mo' and Buddy Guy. Once you've absorbed these giants, than start working your way backward with such artists like Robert Johnson and Howlin' Wolf.
Develop your skill with the acoustic guitar. Remember, blues started as an acoustic art form, so to discover pure blues, pick up an acoustic guitar, a glass slide, put on some recordings of the old masters, and take yourself back to the Delta!
Everybody has their idea of what the coolest and best guitar to play is. Some people go with the Gibson Les Paul while others follow in the footsteps of the Beatles and go for the Rickenbacker. But what about the guitar players themselves and the guitars they used? What guitars DID the great guitar players use? Because there have been so many guitar players, we're only going to cover a few of them and their guitar of choice.
Let's start with somebody who really doesn't stick with any one type of guitar. A perfect example of this type of person would be Eric Clapton, who just happens to be one of the greatest guitar players of all time. Today, Clapton plays mostly a Fender Stratacaster. But throughout his career he has played a Gibson L-5, Martin 000-28EC, Gibson Les Paul (during his early years) and several Guild acoustic guitars.
Everybody knows the hard rock group Aerosmith, featuring lead guitarist Joe Perry. So what is Joe's guitar of choice? Joe is another one who has played several guitars including the Gibson Les Paul and Fender Stratacaster. Joe definitely doesn't buy off the rack as one of his guitars goes for a whopping $3,999.
If you're familiar with the rock group Kiss, then you no doubt know Paul Stanley. If you're wondering what kind of guitar Paul Stanley plays, he made this quite clear in an interview when he was asked this question and responded by saying (in pure Paul Stanley style) "I can play any damn guitar I want. I choose Silverstone. The Guitars Are Great Playing, Great Sounding and Great Looking Guitars. These Are Today's Style. We Need More Kids Playing Music and Very Few Could Afford Signature Guitars Priced Over $1000. Silvertone Offers The Quality Any Guitar Player Would Be Proud To Own. I Guarantee It".
You heard it straight from Paul's mouth.
Not all musicians are so outspoken. However John Lennon was not one of those. Having once proclaimed that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus Christ, which didn't go over too well with anybody, thus leading to the burning of their albums, John Lennon was pretty much responsible for putting Rickenbacker on the map by playing only Rickenbacker guitars. Lennon had as many as five of these guitars in his brief life.
Jimi Hendrix, who is arguably the greatest guitar player who ever lived, played a number of guitars. The truth is, it didn't matter what Hendrix played. Nobody else sounded like him. But one thing that Jimi is not remembered for is probably one of the nicest things he ever did for anyone. Just before he died, he reunited with an old girlfriend who he married and gave a black Fender Stratacaster to. Now that is love.
For all the guitar players that have come and gone, there have been the guitars that they either made famous or made them famous, depending on who you ask (the guitar company or the artist himself). But one thing is for certain. For almost all of these great musicians it probably wouldn't have mattered what they played. It would have still sounded great.
Both Zack Roberts & Michael Russell are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
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