Acoustic Guitar Player

Although technology can sometimes get in our way and make some very simple things complex, example you make a phone call and end up speaking to a robot that doesn’t recognise your dialect when you answer a simple ‘yes/no’ question, it can at times surprise you when you least expect it.  And I don’t mean the money machine in the wall that supplies money when you put that little plastic card into it suddenly makes an error in your favour with lots of zeros on the end. 

I’ve had a habit of every now and then recording pieces of music and then forgetting about them.  As I work with computers a lot, like every single day of my life, I’ve got this habit of backing up data.  Now data comes in all shapes and sizes. And when I back up, I find things.

Late last year I had an emergency situation where I needed to get a newacoustic guitar with a reasonable pickup system to record direct to a recorder instead of using microphones.   Of course I had to test it out, whilst testing the guitar out I recorded a solo guitar piece of music with the guitar tuned to C G C G C F, pretty mad tuning really but I studied Indian music and it’s similar to what I used to use with a great Sarod player Ashok Roy.

 Well, I listened to it and it’s pretty beautiful, and beautiful things are to be shared. I haven’t edited it at all.

I named it after the poem by the great Persian poet Rumi, someone dear to me used to carry that poem with her always

 “Come, Come, who ever your are
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving,
it doesn’t matter
Ours is not a caravan of despair
Even if you have broken your vows
A thousand times it doesn’t matter
Come, yet again, come”

To download it

 click here acoustic guitar mp3 By Tony Hogan

TIRED OF PLAYING THAT SAME OLD BLUES SCALE?

In keeping with my secret desire to help raise the standard of guitar players globally, I decided to sit down and write another tutorial for those players that want to extend their playing a little when playing a blues.

Here’s why I love playing blues. I can go to many places in the world (and I have been) and sit down with a group of musicians of any standard, they don’t even have to speak the same language and we can make music together.  Blues can be simple or complex, or any standard inbetween and all the other players have a pretty good idea where things are going. What can happen though is when you play Blues over and over, you may find it can get a little predictable, and if you’re not in one of those musical moments when the inspiration tap is on, you can feel a bit musically dry.  You may not feel to fired up about playing the same old blues scale for th 24,000th time. So what I’ve done is create a few more options based around a basic A Blues. 

As you’d probably know, the foundation chords of an A Blues are A7 D7 and E7.  You’ll notice in the chords I’ve used,  instead of a D7 I’ve used a D7th with a different bass note, no big deal, just another way of playing it.  Also for the E7th I’ve used a G sharp in the bass.  Easy enough if you look closely.Now remember, always play with feeling, take your time, enjoy what you are doing.

Click the Link to download the GOOD QUALITY PRINT VERSION A blues scale variations Tab and Free Notation

Improve your Blues Guitar playing

Blues guitar players. You know when you get a little bit stale with your guitar playing, you find yourself improvising the same as you always have and you feel you want something to help break your habits.

 Well today I sat down and wrote some simple blues scales which will enable you to play a blues different to the way that you would nonmally do.   A lot of blues / rock  players are familiar with the standard blues scale E G A B flat B D E, well that’s fine but why not play with not only feeling but a bit more thought.

The scales I’ve put together go over the standard Blues in E, an E7th chord, A7th chord and a B7th chord, no big deal. 

BUT, the scale I’ve used for the E consists of an extra note, a G sharp as well as a G, you end up with a very nice sound by using five notes next to each other, (check out the TAB / Notation) the G G sharp and A B flat and B.  Just try it, your ears will tell you why I’m showing it to you.

Over the A7th, I’ve used a very simple five note scale A C Csharp E G, this really spells out the A7th chord but also having a C note gives it a very bluesy feel.  Remember, often it’s what you leave out that gives music its characteristic.

For the B7th, I’ve used a hybrid scale, a bit of this and that, it’s intentional, what I felt was required was a scale that implied a B7th chord but sat nicely with the E blues chord progression.  You’ll notice it has a B D D sharp E G A in it, I’ve played around by running the scale a little higher past the B, up to the D. 

In the exercise I’ve also added simple chord fingerings.  This works very well on an acoustic guitar, yes also on electric, but the open notes sound very sweet on an acoustic, best played a nice late afternoon just before the sun goes down.  Take it slowly, you’ll be surprised how much there is in these simple exercises.

Enjoy it. 

To download the Free printable TAB and Notation Blues guitar exercise, click the link below now

Blues Guitar TAB Notation exrcises