Anyone playing in the "King of the Blues" contest?

[chet]

I walked into a GC just when one was over last week. I hope to be able to watch one this week. Will report my findings.

[petebradt]

Nope, guitar karaoke holds no interest, the backing tracks are lame and three times too long, and it's all about soloing, which is very lame.

[lostpick]

made it to the store finals...

this competition is so much fun to watch..

Chet...check it out...enjoyable night out

[chet]

I wouldn't automatically condemn it myself. It's really a chance for a guy on the street to "show his stuff". Guys who work for a living don't really get a chance to do that very often. A lot of people don't have the time to devote to getting even a gigging bar band together properly. Myself included.
I'm looking forward to watching the "competition" and have invited a coworker to come with me to watch this Tuesday.
JAM ON, BROTHERS!!!!


PS: (and SISTERS!!")

[fierce_carrot]

Three friends of mine entered, all of whom have years of experience playing the blues so I went to check out the round they were in. Word had gotten around from previous rounds that it was more of a "shred fest" than anything else and thats really what it turned out to be. If you are a minimalist style player like BB King or Jimmy Vaughn, stay home, you don't stand a chance. I was very disappointed in what I saw.

How does one judge the blues? Is Anson Funderburgh a "better" blues player than Coco Montoya? One may have a preference for different styles but it ends there. One style is not "better" than the others, it's just different.

[rockawayrocks]

My guitar teacher made it to the store finals tomorrow night. He's playing his 15 year old Strat Partscaster instead of his Custom Shop Tele, though. No matter....he could play a turd with strings and make it sing.

Here's his link:

http://www.paulgargiulo.com/

Tom

[FredDairy]

Ugh, the whole idea ranking blues guitarists seems to go against what the blues is all about to me.

[Stephens]

Fierce carrot is right. It is more of a shred fest than a real blues contest. I was considering entering until I saw a clip of the guy who had won the contest last year. He had a few blues licks mixed in with some horrible shred runs that would make any of the blues great turn over in their graves. I have no interest joining a contest that if legends like Buddy Guy, Albert King, BB King, Albert Collins and SRV had entered today- they probably wouldn't make it past the first round. Just my 2 cents.

[tele12]

I have enjoyed the two rounds I have seen in my local GC. Was certainly not a shredfest, the shredders didn't go far. The winners all were solid decent blues players ,this might have something to do with the fact two of the judges play in a local blues band.
P.S, If anyone is playing in the competition play through the Crate Palomino amp the tone is so much better than any of the others (Marshall stack, Fender Twin and Peavey classic 50) this is probably because the Crate is smaller/lower wattage than the others.

[chet]

I'd say it depends on who the judges are and what the particular players are like.
Nevertheless- I wouldn't take it too seriously and won't tomorrow night. I just wanna watch.

[jcayer]

You might be interested in this:

Hubert Sumlin, a very funny and interesting man...

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FSbkDVzHoA

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CM0A...elated&search=

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwsCa...elated&search=

[lostpick]

he beat the guy with with
the shiny slide guitar...

[Guitar Louie]

watched my store finals last night. everybody chose a typical blues amp but one guy played through a marshall parked right next to the judges table. I think he would have won but he seemed to irritate one of the judges with his sonic choices.

[greggorypeccary]

Originally Posted by jcayer

You might be interested in this:

Hubert Sumlin, a very funny and interesting man...

He is the KING of the blues!!! Saw him last spring, totally awesome!

[photoweborama]

I got cut the first night.. Sacramento really needs new judges. I'm not saying I should have won, but the winner the night I played was just not up to par.

His timing was off, and he was just not getting it. There were a lot better players than him there that night.

[esquirej]

I've been judging the Arlington Heights/NW Chicago store rounds and will be back to judge the district along with 2 other very capable judges. It's been tough.

There have been some really talented guitarists...but very few blues players. We spent the entire store-rounds just BEGGING for a standout blues player...but to no evail. I mean, COME ON!! It's Chicago!!

We finished the Arlington Heights store competition last night. The guy who won is a technically great guitarist...but not a blues guy. I'm curious to see what happens in the district in 2 weeks. Maybe some of the other stores have produced a real blues man (or woman).

Oh...and just a little tidbit. We did see a very talented, budding young player in the second week. He unfortunately missed the cut...only because of inexperience and some choppy playing. But watch out next year! I think he was 14 or 16 years old and had only been playing for a short time. But he had his BB T-shirt on and was showing some real potential! Just not quite there yet.

[reverbbb]

Same thing in Plano, TX. Some VERY talented players with blues basis for their licks. Very nice tone, sweeps and ghost note tricks. Some just absolutely smoked in speed and accuracy. But I never felt the blues from their performance. Yet, these young virtuosos win every time. They basically get high marks for their technical skills and the fact that they are so young to know such cool stuff.

I have been saying this for years (and as already mentioned), folks like Hubert Sumlin and BB King would never win these contests. They are not technical enough or youthful it would appear.

Another observation is that I have never seen a black judge at any of these KotB contests. I think the results would be considerably different if judges had a in depth background in the blues culture. Most of us non-black players/judges have only a glimpse of the blues culture and we mostly learned it from the radio playing white/English artists. We generally only observe the blues culture, not live it. Our best effort is to imitate the blues as we see and appreciate the real blues artist.

I have seen REAL blues. You know it when you see it. And I rarely see it outside of the black ethnic culture - but I do see it occasionally.

These KotB winners -absolutely stunning players that out perform me in nearly every catagory. But I have difficulty calling a 16 year old shredder "King of the Blues".

[rockawayrocks]

My teacher won the store finals last nite in Totowa, NJ and is moving on to the districts.

Two of the 3 judges were black, and the 2 best players were my teacher, and a black guitarist with a homemade Strat. His name was Mark Bowers, and he was a helluva technical player, but he, like most of the other players in all 3 rounds, picked what seemed to be the slowest, and easiest of all the pre-recorded backing tracks. Paul, my teach, played a very uptempo country/blues rockabilly type number that had the judges and crowd boppin'.

I'm excited for him.

http://www.paulgargiulo.com/


Tom

[reverbbb]

That's good to know Tom.

I am not saying that there are no black judges, just I have not seen any selected in my district. Last year, there was actually a goth-punk dude that was a judge. He actually cheered DURING the contest when a contestant (machine gun shredder) broke out with his two handed pull off tricks - not blues at all, but he placed.

Likewise, I am would not consider every black judge/player to be blues influenced. So, one has to be careful about who they pick for judges. Hopefully they are knowledgeble.

[esquirej]

Originally Posted by reverbbb

I have been saying this for years (and as already mentioned), folks like Hubert Sumlin and BB King would never win these contests. They are not technical enough or youthful it would appear.

Another observation is that I have never seen a black judge at any of these KotB contests. I think the results would be considerably different if judges had a in depth background in the blues culture. Most of us non-black players/judges have only a glimpse of the blues culture and we mostly learned it from the radio playing white/English artists. We generally only observe the blues culture, not live it. Our best effort is to imitate the blues as we see and appreciate the real blues artist.
"King of the Blues".

One of my fellow judges is black. He sees things the exact same way the other two of us do. When it's not there, it's just not there.

[electricbody]

Originally Posted by jcayer

You might be interested in this:

Hubert Sumlin, a very funny and interesting man...

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FSbkDVzHoAated&search=[/url]

I love the fact that there's a guitar for 14K behind Hubert when he's talking about his mother buying him his first guitar for $8.

[Jeffscreamedcorn]

I judged one preliminary round it Boston. My night wasn't exactly inspired, but I heard other nights were better.

Hubert is the balls. My bud Eric Mingus works with him regularly with Elliot Sharps blues project.

[chet]

Didn't get a chance to witness the store finals on Tuesday- I had my own "blues" (personal problems).
Like I said- people shouldn't get too worked up about the competition. Some judges wouldn't know good blues playing if it hit 'em over the head.

[Larry F]

Originally Posted by Jeffscreamedcorn

My bud Eric Mingus works with him regularly with Elliot Sharps blues project.

I don't normally associate Elliot Sharp with blues. I'm curious about this.