Blues Standards

[Jean-Paul]

I am recently playing in a trio and we are doing Robben Ford, Gary Moore, Stevie Ray Vaughn, ZZtop and Scott Henderson blues songs, just for fun. Since I don't have a "blues-culture" I was wondering if there are Blues Standards, as there are Jazz Standards, which are challenging but also important to play to enlarge my blues vocabulary?

[ashio nz]

I just read a good article recently in Modern Drummer (with Ringo on the cover) about playing blues music. There was a good reference to the structure of the 12 bar blues, how to play for the song, use of dynamics, etc etc.

There's also some suggested albums to check out too from a listening point of view.

From reading it, the main point I got from it was that blues drumming can be hard to grasp as a concept. It's a challenge to ensure the groove is interesting and musical without it becoming too sloppy. I've always made this mistake when attempting blues covers in a band situation.

[benrand]

I don't think there are many standards because most of the songs are so similar, none are really challenging. THey might be challenging if you can't put out a solid feel without fills. Think Al Jackson. I used to tihnk of his playing as I was playing those tunes. I'd sometimes tihnk of Rod Morgenstein if I had a chance to open up a bit and play with subdivisions like he did on the Steve Morse recording...

Just add the right amount of grease, don't over do it... [img]tongue.gif[/img] Blues tunes are the easiest to fake your way through...

[ashio nz]

Agree Benrand. I also play too many licks that smell of fusion though - bad habit! Especially with texas shuffles and the like.

[LDGuy]

Again, the thing to do is listen to stuff. Buy a compilation blues CD if you need to (damnit, i can't believe i'm saying this! I hate compilation things), as they can be pretty comprehensive. But i reckon the thing is, once you've got a few tunes, you've got them all. I dont think blues is quite like Jazz, in the sense that there's so many different ways to approach Jazz and still sound good/authentic. I think if you were that "creative" (i dont think thats the right word, but it's the only one i can think of) in a blues setting the bandleader would probably tell you just to shut up.

[tombo74]

Although the stuff you play is cool and what I like to play and listen to when thinking "blues", it?s not considered as blues by "connaisseurs". I was confronted with that last summer in the blues gigs I did with an experienced singer. People didn?t appreciate much the Robben or Stevie stuff we played; and the singer had warned us. But they dug the old and more authentically played stuff.

Here are some tunes from the setlist, which can be considered as standards:

I woke up this morning (Lightnin? Hopkins ) A
Rockin? Daddy (Howlin Wolf) G
The Thrill is Gone (B.B. King) Bm
Goin? to Kansas City (Muddy Waters) E
Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon/Muddy Waters) F
I?m Ready (Willie Dixon) E
Baby, What you want me to do (Jimmy Reed) A

The challenge in blues is not technical but purely about feel.

[Jean-Paul]

Thanks for the input, especially Tombo 7/4's. And that feel you describe is the hardest part of playing blues indeed.

[cjbdrm]

I would search the Internet for popular Blues tunes.

Here's a partial list of 'no-brainers': these are some tunes I play in a Blues band:

Sweet Home Chicago
Kansas City
Red House
Thrill is Gone
Everyday I Have the Blues
Stormy Monday
Too Tall to Mambo
Pride and Joy
Roadhouse Blues
Tush
Tore Down
Walking the Dog
What I Say

[benrand]

It is hard to keep the feel going. We used to jam out on Red House nad Roadhouse Blues for what seemed like days.

Most of the stuff we played had a Zep influence...which was nice.

[cjbdrm]

Benrand- you're contradicting yourself...is it easy to fake or hard to keep the feel going?

I've playing for a long time and playing a good shuffle remains one of the hardest things to play well with the right feel. All my favorite drummers can shuffle their asses off: Jeff Porcaro, Tom Brechtlein, Steve Gadd, etc.

IMO you're not really playing Blues unless you're shuffling at least 50% of your repertoire [img]wink.gif[/img]