Sophisticated blues

iirc, Ellis was from Texas and has a bit of twang in his tone

personally, I find him a little too genteel for my taste, but every time I put on his blues record, it's an approachable clinic in jazz-blues

and good enough for fricking OSCAR PETERSON

worth attention, even if he doesn't get down and dirty

 

learn this entire record



enough approachable ideas here to work on for a year

 

I hear ya, brother. And that made me laugh

 

Anybody tell that Tiny is playing a fat body Gibson Tenor guitar? (leaving 2 strings at home) Only way I could tell is by looking at the picture.
No idea how he tunes it. Standard would be CGDA like a mandola I think.

 

Check out Chuck D'Aloia's lesson materials. His website is https://chuckdaloiamusic.com/new-recording-lessons and you can sample some of his lessons on YouTube. It's not slickly produced, but for $50 it is an absolute STEAL and there's enough material here to keep you busy for a long, long time.

Chuck breaks stuff down into (fairly) easy to understand pieces. He'll show you some modal stuff without bogging you down with the "why" it works (although he does delve more deeply in some of the more advanced material).

I've played for a long time and his material opened a few new doors for me. Chuck is a phenomenal player too.

 

+1 on the Chuck D'Aloia material.
He is a phenomenal player that is criminally undersung.

 

It's a Gretsch tuned DGBE. Plenty of info on YouTube, I just like this guys playing.

 

You're missing something huge.
Using a minor scale type approach to blues is a distinct classic sound and has the tightest connection to old style electric blues. Most people use minor and major pents to get these sounds. The three Kings, T-Bone, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, SRV,,, those are the geniuses behind that classic electric blues sound.

But the OP wanted to step away from that classic sound and wanted to explore sophisticated blues ideas. What I presented was a common sophisticated idea that showed it's face in the 70s fusion explosion. And Larry Carlton was on top.

These three minor pents, A, D, and E minor pents should be thought of as three >colors< that are derived from the G Mixolydian. Played in steady streams of 16ths or 8ths the colors reveal themselves the best.

Go on YouTube, find a G7 backing track, and play the A, D, and E minor pents,, along with the classic G min blues scale. Mix the two ideas up. If it works for you then you will understand. But you need to woodshed, play and internalize. Put a little time into it, I want you to like it.

I could tab out examples if you like?

 

Kirk Fletcher has been named, but I’m surprised no one has mentioned Josh Smith yet.

 

It's late, I just got home, my hands hurt, I'm brain dead and too tired to experiment. Spell that out a little more, please. Parallel scales over each chord?

 

Was thinking the same thing. Matt Schofield and Josh Smith are two great blues improvisers in the modern genre.
Unfortunately I have to ignore most of the parts where they aren’t soloing, but I’m sure there are folks who like their songs just fine.

 

I know Robben has been talked to death here but this slays me

 

Buddy Whittington is a class blues player..........

 

thanks, ASKAT, no examples needed.

 

You're welcome,

 

You almost got my name correct,
ASATKat, ASAT is my G&L Special, and Kat is my little Katana amp.

 

Both of us wrong. Look at images for Guild Tenor Guitars. Tailpiece, cut-away and headstock inlay give it away. I went looking 'cause the cut-away looked too sharp for a Gretsch. This image isn't the same model but close enough.