Acoustic Guitar Player

Here’s a country blues scale that can be used for improvisation.  You’ll notice the fingering is a little unusual at first.  I recommend that you might try the other version of the scale first, the one just beneath this one.  If you entered the site via a search engine you will find it at this address http://the-guitarplayer.com/?p=77 I have written it with this fingering because if you are playing down near the head of the guitar using open strings and open chords, you could find it really useful.  But as I said try the other one first.

To download the printable pdf file click below:

E Country blues scale - fingering for acoustic guitar free tab and notation

E Country scale is really a C sharp Blues scale.  This scale works, if you play folk, country, acoustic rock any thing at all in the key of E with the basic chords E A B or B7 this scale will work beautifully for improvisation. 

I have written the scale ascending (from lowest sounding notes to high).  As I am aware that people like variation and can become bored and even sound extremely unmusical with scales ascending and descending, I have played around with the descent of the scale t make it musical.  Remember, music is to be musical not mechanical.

 To Download the printable pdf click the link below:

E country blues scale free download tab and music notation

Over the years I have worked through many of the Stefan Grossman books.  His contribution to the development of the guitar is often not recognized by many players.  His arrangements and tutorials are very well written and even after 20 years or  more of owning his books I find things that are useful references.

Complete Country Blues Guitar Book By Stefan Grossman. For Guitar (Fingerpicking). Solos. Complete. Blues. Book/CD Set. 260 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (94710BCD) Level: Beginning-Intermediate. See more info…

Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Country Blues Guitar Transcribed by Stefan Grossman. Guitar tablature songbook and examples CD for acoustic guitar. Series: Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar. 96 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing. (AP.25983) See more info…

Acoustic Country Blues Guitar By Dave Rubin. Guitar Educational. With notes and tablature. 80 pages. Published by Hal Leonard. (695139) See more info…

I was sitting around this morning and listening to an album that I haven’t listened to for a few weeks now.  I like acoustic guitar recordings a lot, but I also like to explore other material.  The album that I was listening to was by the Norwegiuan sax player Jan Garbarek, Tunisian Oud player Anouar Brahem and percussionist Shaukat Hussain. I noticed that the first song was a Norwegian folk song that had been turned into an improvisational piece. 

 It got me thinking, maybe I could write a simple guitar arrangement of the tune, the melody was short but quite interesting.  So I sat down and worked out the basic melody and because it was in C, I decided to tune one of my guitars to C, well C with an F on top, instead of the high E, up a semi-tone.  The reason for the F is because the song is built around C minor and I felt that by going up to F you’d have the C on the 7th fret instead of 8, this is much more suitable for improvisation.

An explanation of what I’ve done:  The first 6 bars is the head (melody), the next 4 is an extremely simple arpeggio vamp to play around with and improvise over.  If you can find a melodic instrumentist ( that can improvise) to play with this could be a very suitable piece of music. The arpeggio is to give you something to improvise over.

The tune needs to be played very loosely but in time.   The original that inspired me is on a recording called Madar on the ECM label.  I’m assuming that because it’s a traditional folk song there wouldn’t be an issue with copyright. I’ve just taken the basic idea of a melody and not copied an arrangement.  

Tune the guitar from the lowest bass string:  E down to C, A down to G, D down to C, G stays the same, B up to C, E up to F.  It will take a couple of tunings for the guitar to settle.  

To download the sheetmusic and tab for free

C open tuning arrangement for guitar in pdf

For other great resources check out John Fahey…he may not need an introduction.  And Steve Baughman, a fantastic open tuner.

Fingerstyle & Slide Guitar in Open Tunings Taught by John Fahey. For Guitar (Fingerpicking). Solos. Grossman Audio. All Styles. Book/CD Set. 56 pages. Published by Grossman’s Guitar Workshop. (99801BCD) Level: Intermediate. See more info…

Beginning Open Tunings By Steve Baughman. For Guitar (Fingerpicking). Methods. All Styles. Book/CD Set. 32 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc. (20056BCD) Level: Beginning. See more info…