Tips for Going From Blues to Country

[justin.ramsey]

I have been a blues oriented player since I first picked up an axe. This semester at college, I have signed up for country electric guitar as a class, I know great class right lol. Well anyway, I need some help or tips to try to get ahead of the curve. Any time I try to play country it still comes off as blues. What can I do to make it seem more country?

 

[stinkey]

Submit 7:s to 6.s.

 

[vincent]

Hybrid picking is a key technique with the country style. As you include more hybrid picking into your blues licks, they should start to sound more country. Also, the bends tend to be more of an "on & off", kinda like a steel player stepping on his pedals. YouTube will be a big help learning some of those techniques.

Here's a link to a country guitar crash course. Should get you up and runnin'.

http://youtu.be/vX69kP1kTvw

 

[dmarg1045]

Listen to the music. I'd check out (if you haven't already) classic Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Waylon, etc. Also consider basing solos on the melody of the tune you're picking. Some country solos are bluesy, but many seem to be based on the major scale.

 

[justin.ramsey]

Im a big country music fan, I have been raised on country. I guess like vincent said hybrid picking is probably where I need to start. I would really like to get that classic country sound like Haggard.

 

[ottocat]

Not that I'm a country player but I've been playing one in a band periodically lately...........A respected country player friend told me "use the country Major 3rd not a blue minor third." So far I'm getting away with it.

 

[paul74]

Not that I'd class myself as a country boy but I started off mainly playing blues and have incorporated (stolen?) country based licks and approaches.

A couple of pointers:
1. Use the major pentatonic as a starting point. Common bends might be bending the 2 to a major third (a full-tone bend, not 1 1/2 semi-tones like you might do playing blues.)

2. Passing notes might include #5 hammering on to 6, min 3 hammering on to major 3 or even short chromatic runs (e.g. 2, min 3, maj 3 all hammered on if you're lazy like me)

3. If you're confident with modes try playing the mixolydian mode of the chord you are playing. e.g. play A mixolydian over an A chord, D mixolydian over a D chord etc. Try and learn the scales in different positions so you don't have to move your hand up 5 frets.

4. Use 6ths interval double stops. Listen to Buddy Whittington who has a country background, he will play double stops a 6th apart but you have to know your scales to move from maj 6 to min 6 as needed.

5. Use the bridge pickup and don't be afraid of treble. Treble is your friend!

 

[OlRedNeckHippy]

....Here's a link to a country guitar crash course. Should get you up and runnin'.

http://youtu.be/vX69kP1kTvw

Just watched some of that, he seems really good at instruction. I'll be working that one over tonight!
Thanks for the link Vincent.

 

[McGlamRock]

Lot of good suggestions so far. I'll add that to sound "country" I think one has to solo over the chord changes (as opposed to picking a scale and 'jamming out by ear'). Country music has a lot of secondary dominants that will not be brought out by using one scale. Hybrid picking, implementation of double stop licks, and using open strings as much as possible will all help you sound more country

 

[vincent]

Just watched some of that, he seems really good at instruction. I'll be working that one over tonight!
Thanks for the link Vincent.

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you are enjoying the videos.

 

[justin.ramsey]

Well I just took my first lesson. So far McGlamRock nailed what my teacher told me to do. Basically I have been a scale based player. So i walked in prepared to do some major scale type stuff. He basically said thats nice but in country we use the chords. So he had me playing lead type lines but using chord shapes instead of scales. Needless to say I struggled a bit, but my teacher was encouraging and said I had talent and that it was going to be fun working with me, so I must not be too horrible.

 

[vincent]

I think it is pretty sweet that your college has a course in country guitar. How cool is that!
Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[justin.ramsey]

I go to Morehead State College in Kentucky. We got some notoriety for beating Louisville in last years NCAA tourny. This college is known for a good music program with some real great players in it, but being in Appalachia we also have a lot of traditional type music. So Morehead developed the traditional music center, where bluegrass and country music is taught. I had wanted to take some private lessons in college, mainly because I am on full academic scholarships and dont have to pay for them, to improve my playing so I figured with my deficiencies in country music why not try that.

 

[GigsbyBoyUK]

Using chord shapes is a great next step for someone used to playing blues. Those little open A and D shapes in particular slide up the neck nicely and adding notes to them gets you lots of very nice licks.

When you start switching between the major scale, the minor scale (three frets down from whatever key the song is in) and these chord-based licks, well that's when you start to expand your options.

 

[Durtdog]

Just trade in the Fedora and bowling shirt for a Stetson and a western shirt.

You should be good to go.

 

[Charlesinator]

I'm not as musically litterate as others here, but one suggestion that I'd make concerning bends is to hit the note. In blues sloppy bending with questionable vibrato is accepted and generally passed off as "feeling." In country you are imitating the pedal steel. So precise bending is needed and there is alot of pre-bends as well. So instead of bending to the note start with a bend on the note and release. And trust me it is easier to go from country to the blues than vice versa. So work at it.

 

[justin.ramsey]

Yeah, I noticed that about the bends myself. It seems vibrato is nonexistent in country really, so I need to stop doing that lol.

 

[greggorypeccary]

Just trade in the Fedora and bowling shirt for a Stetson and a western shirt.

You should be good to go.

You forgot the major pentatonic for the minor.

 

[Danjg]

also not a huge country player but from what i hear country seems less sloppy (think the difference between keith richards and albert collins). Also I think a lot of blues really focuses on the offbeats and comes in late after chord changes, Eric Clapton still claims that he played the solo to crossroads wrong because he's too "on the beat". Whereas it seems like the good country players i hear just nail that 1 beat and time the chords changes perfectly. Oh yeah and lots of major pentatonics, mixolydian is great but deemphasizing the 7th compared to blues type mixolydian moves

 

[Charlesinator]

[Oh yeah and lots of major pentatonics, mixolydian is great but deemphasizing the 7th compared to blues type mixolydian moves/QUOTE]

Great advice Danjg. By omitting the seventh from the mixolydian (or the major scale for that matter), you are playing what has been called the "country hexatonic" scale (a major pentatonic with an added sixth) made extremely popular by the legendary Dickey Betts of Allman Brothers fame. So from coming from a blues standpoint ... Mr. Betts would be a great player to emmulate seeing as how he seems to effortlessly bridge the gap between blues and country ... or should I say what now passes for country. Lol!