Acoustic Guitar Player

Peter Spragues music was something I became aware of in the eighties.  When I was studying with jazz legend Ike Isaacs I’d always turn up and say “Ok uncle Ike, who’s hot? ” and he’d mention different players that I’d never heard of.  One such player is a guy called Peter Sprague.  I went straight out at the time and got a copy of Na Pali Coast on vinyl, it is still in my collection of coveted guitar albums that other guitar players I grew up with look at and go yeah…I rember that.   The album was on the Concord label, to jazz experts, that would mean someting and to other people who are up to speed on drummers, it had Peter Esrskine on drums, not to mention Bob Magnusson on Bass and Steve Kujala on Flute and Tripp Sprague sitting in on one tune.

The beauty of having a guitar blog site like this is I can dig into my musical history and introduce all these astounding guitar players that you as a reader may never have the opportunity of hearing.

 So here is Peter Sprague some years later, live in his lounge room, doing what he does best, play brilliant guitar.

Here’s Peter Spragues Guitar site

Tony Hogan - The Guitar Blogger

John Butler is one of the greats that has helped take the art of acoustic roots music to a broader younger audience.  Although there have been brilliant players and singer songwriters around for years, a lot of the players have been obscurred by the electric musicians who have dominated the music scene. 

I thought I’d post about this John Butler Youtbe Video because I know that a lot of players might be interested in the slide guitar that he is using that sounds very Indian, it reminds me briefly of Krij Bhushan Kabra and then it heads into a more rock sort of feel, complete with digital delay and wah wah,  it’s called Treat Yo Mama. 

 What I like about John Butler is he never plays safe, he’s always pushing the boundaries out a little more, crossing styles, cultures and bridging the gap between acoustic and electric. This music is not refined like Matin Simpson, John McLaughlin or Alex De Grassi but John Butler is an important musical voice that adds to the acoustic guitar community. 

Martin Simpson is one of the legends of contemporay British  acoustic open tuning guitar.  His roots are in folk but extends way past that.

 Martin Simpson is one of the most beautiful sounding acoustic guitar players you’ll ever have the privelege of hearing.

This Youtube Video is exceptional.  I’m humbled when I hear and watch him play.

This Gibson Acoustic Guitar Youtube Video is definitely worth a view, yes they are advertising but regardless of this the snippets of guitars in various stages of development are of great interest, especially to guitar players that don’t really know much about the guitar making process. As we all know Gibson is famous but there are so many guitar makers that make beautiful guitars, such as Ellis Guitars , McGowan Guitars and Froggy Bottom Guitars.  As a long term guitar player,  I recognise the beauty of the Gibson Guitar and I also see the need for the smaller custom workshop that has the ability to create specialist instruments and push the art form of guitar forward.

My introduction to the Cream featuring Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker was in 1969, I was 13 years old and just discovering music.  By 1970 I had inherited four albums, Jimi Hendrix  - Are You Experienced, John Wesley Harding by Dylan, Hurdy Gurdy Man by Donovan and Disraeli Gears by the Cream.  To this day I’m still spooked by the Tales of Brave Ulysses of the Gears album, but another song that really caught my ears back then was Outside Woman Blues.  So to get hold of a version by Clapton doing the tune on acoustic, really brings the tune into context and shows the underlying thinking behind the song.  This is a tremendous song to add to an acoustic blues repertoire and it’s reasonably simple …if you can already play.

 For other blues check out Stefan Grossman Blues showing how to play a slow blues:

 http://acousticguitarist.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/acoustic-blues-guitar-youtube-stefan-grossman/

It’s always good to see great guitar players interpreting other players work.  This video youtube of Jacques Stotzem plaing the Jimi Hendrix tune Purple Haze is a perfect example of when it works.  Keep in mind the original by Hendrix was on electric, to hear an acoustic version which works well is a treat.  Jacques Stotzem was born in Begium and was inspired by Stefan Grossman at an early age.  He plays a signature guitar build by the Irish Guitar company Avalon Guitars. but in this video he’s playing a Martin with a cutaway  If you are an avid reader of Acoustic Guitar Magazine you’ll already be aware of him

To hear and watch Jimi Hendrix play 12 string acoustic blues guitar click ‘Jimi Hendrix Hear My Train A Comin

The other day I posted about a blues scale that I invented in my very active musical brain about 3 or 4 in the morning.  So now it’s time to dig a fraction deeper and spread it across thre octaves and also add a few guitar lick exercises.  Scales are great to add to the toolbo, but it needs to be done intelligently in a non-robotic manner, else a person can become a great scale player, yes and that’s it a great scale player. The work that I am interested in with music is about supplying things that make guitar players think, feeling first, yes, but let’s think things through to develop our musical chops, instead of just running the fingers up and down the freatboard in a ‘dig me I’m fast style’, having the ablity to play fast is good but it’s something that is just there for when it’s sensible to use it. 

How to Work with This Scale:

It’s been written over 3 octaves, from the low open E to the top E on the 12th fret of the first string. 

I have intentionally included a few open notes, this gives you the breathing space to move to the 4th fret and then the 7th. This method player is different to a lot of players that play a very horizontal stlye, straight up and down the neck.  I like the sound of the open strings, and with a scale like this it will give you some great guitar solo options.  As stated in my previous article it is a good mode / scale to use over the E7th chord in a blues. 

To download the printable version, click the following link E Blues Scale Super Altered Scale

NEW BLUES SCALE BREAKTHROUGH  

The standard blues scale has been around for quite some time, also the country blues scale, the one that is really a C# blues scale played over songs in the key of E. 

I’m reasonably confident that I have invented a new scale that is highly useable, easy to play and is more flexible over a lot of songs.

When you play the standard blues scale, the second one on my TAB and music dots chart, it sometimes sounds too blues too strong.  An alternative is what I personally call the Country Blues Scale, the third one on my TAB and music notation.  The Country Blues Scale is fantastic, sounds great over some tunes but if you look and listen to it closely it is minus the 7th (really flattened 7th) . 

I woke up about five this morning and had a brain wave, a moment of inspiration and I thought ‘ What if I take the Country  Blues Scale, remove the 6th (the C sharp) and replace it with the 7th instead. 

Why oh why have I never thought of it before and why on earth have I never seen it over 38 years of playing guitar?
Is it because we often miss the simple and obvious.

So the notes are E,  F sharp , G natural, G sharp, B and D natural.

Yes we could create hybrids of this but this is a great starting point and I’ll be adding information in the near future on how to use it intelligenty, it comfortably sits over chord one of an E blues, the E7 chord.

 I decided to call it the Super Blues Scale at this point, but may change it later.

To download this scale click: Super Blues Scale in E
 

This guitar tutorial  is for players that can already play to a good basic standard.

I’ve written a guitar TAB and music notation chart that uses triads (three note chords) and have also added a simple bass part.  I’ve used a common chord pattern, it consistts of. 

Cmaj7 A7 D7 G7

Cmaj7 A7 D7 G7

E7 A7 D7 G7

C Eb7 D7 Db7

The last line is a series of chord substitutions for the Cmaj7 A7 D7 G7

If you study this chord chart very closely you’ll see there’s a lot to work with. There are so many variations that could be used. Often you need to call on different styles to add to your musical skillset, else all your music might end up sounding the same.  This sort of playing is great if you have to accompany a singer in a jazz ballad.  Once you get it inone key and see how it works, with a little thought you’ll be apply to take the basic principles I’ve used here and run with it. 

To download the printable version click on the link:  Jazz Guitar Chord Tutorial

Laurence Juber playing playing an acoustic guitar arrangement of While my Guitar Gently Weeps is a great lesson in itself.

Watch his technique and see how much control he has in his bends and his ability to be natural and relaxed throughout this video.  Although the basic theme and chorus of the tune is repetitive, he manages to maintain an interest throught with his variations around them.  The more I hear of Laurence Juber, the more I realise the quality of guitar player that he is.

If you want to here another video of Laurence Juber playing a beautiful slow blues, go to the acoustic guitarist site

In case you missed my previous article about Lightning Hopkins the legendary acoustic Blues Guitar Player, here’s another song  complete with sunglasses, it’s a slow blues, talking style of vocal line. This is history and it’s wonderful to have it saved and preserved on video.  It’s from the American Folk Blues Festival 1964.  His voice is outstanding in this video, see how simple his guitar part is and it stands up.  I can hear a lot of what Hendrix based his style on in this tune.  I’d be struggling to say I’ve ever heard a better blues than this.

If you want to hear another Lightning Hopkins Blues click back the link to the left

This is Part 5 of the 6 part series in Guitar Chords - How to Make E chordsAs stated in the other articles on Making Guitar Chords ,  
chords generally have a 3rd, 5th and 7th.

So to make an E Major Chord we need the first third and fifth of an E scale

The first of E is E, the third is G# and the fifth is B

For the E minor, we flatten the 3rd (one fret lower), so the G sharp becomes G, we still use the 1st and 5th.

An E 7th chord is the same as an E but we need to take the 7th note of E and drop it one note. 
That will be a D natural, not a D Sharp.

So an E7th has a st, 3rd and 5th

For the printable TAB and Notation Click the link
Guitar Chords - How to Make E chords

Here’s another beautiful guitar piece on youtube video by the brilliant Andy McKee acoustic guitarist.  Notice how he uses a half capo that only covers some of the strings.  He  is one of the most natyrally percussive players that I have ever heard.  he’s playing a Lowden guitar, not unlike the ones Pierre Bensusan used for many years.  I like the tiny bit of vibrato he often uses when he holds a note.  Listen out for the bell like harmonics just after the 4 minute mark.

 For more music by Andy McKee check out Andy Mckee on youtube

These Chords are based around the Key of A.  The Key of A has 3 sharps (#) C sharp, F sharp and G Sharp.   As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name.

I’ll also remind you once again that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is A, C# and E, this is called an A major triad.  You could also play a couple of A’s C#’s or E’s  instead of just one, it’s still a A major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is A, C natural and E, this is called an A minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of A’s C’s  or E’s instead of just one, it’s still aa A minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Once again, as in previous article, look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scaleTo download the Free High Quality Printable version Click the following Link:

To download the Printable ‘How Guitar Chords are Made’ article, click the link:

How Guitar Chords are Made - A pdf notation and TAB

 For the previous article click How Chords are Made - Key of D

Tommy Emmanuel, the brilliant Australian guitar player playing Classical Gas on his Maton acoustic Guitar, quite a good combination.  A couple of days ago I posted about  Tommy Emmanuel’s youtube version of Amazing Grace.   This youtube of Tommy has him playing Classical Gas his style, a dynamic rhythmic intro and then it gets the Emmanuel steel String acoustic.  It’s great to hear different players of Tommy Emmanuels standard versions of such well known tunes.  Common song that we know so well in our heads that we’ve head numerous versions make it easy for us to notice the unexpected.  I love the percussion he creates on the guitar in this version, and the arpeggios around about the 4 minute mark.  This intensity that he expresses when he plays acoustic is rare.  Hats of to to Tommy Emmanuel, he keeps getting better and better.

It’s pretty hard to have an acoustic guitar site or blog without mentioning Tommy Emmanuel at some point.  Over the years I’ve seen him play many times in different settings, both acoustic and electric.  Although I’ve never been fortunate enough to play guitar with him , I did have him play one of my guitars one day in a shop when I was buying a Polytone Amp, he played some George Benson on my Gold Top Les Paul.

I find that solo acoustic guitar is on of the best ways to really hear a player, so I’ve posted this youtube blog article with Tommy playing solo guitar, the reason I chose Amazing Grace is because it’s a very common turn that most peple would know.  When you hear a player play a common tune it’s a great way to hear own personal musical voice.  Enjoy it.

Here is the 3rd article in the series of How Guitar Chords are Made, in this one I am covering D chords. 

Note how in the first article C Chords, the Key of C has no sharps (#)or Flats (b) , wheras the G scale has one sharp.  The key of D, you may or nopt know has 2 sharps, F and C are both sharp..this means one note or fret higher up the fret fretboard.
As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name.

I’ll also remind you that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is D, F# and A, this is called a D major triad.  You could also play a couple of D’s F#’s or A’s  instead of just one, it’s still a D major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is D, F natural and A, this is called a D minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of D’s F’s  or A’s instead of just one, it’s still a D minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the D7, I have omitted the A note, but as before in the previous articles listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

To download the Free High Quality Printable version Click the following Link:

How Guitar Chords Are Made - D Chords

 This is part 2 of a 6 Part series on Chord Construction for guitar.

In my previous article on How Guitar Chords Are Made I covered three basic C chords.  In this Article I shall cover three basic G chords.

As before in the last article, if you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name, no big deal, no rocket science here.

Chords are grouped into three basic categories: 

Major, Minor and Sevenths. However I did have a very long discussion once with the great guitar player Ike Isaacs and he was leaving the question open ended about whether there was a fourth type.  But I’ll keep it simple here and agree with most of the planets musicians and say there are three.

I’ll also reiterate that the way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is G, B and D, this is called a major triad.  You could play a couple of G’s B’s or D’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a G major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is G, B flat ( the little b = flat) and D, this is called a G minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of G’s B flat’s or D’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a G minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the G7, I have omitted the D note, but listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

To download the Free High QualityPrintable version Click the following Link:

Basics on How to Create guitar Chords

In my previous article I wrote about guitar chords consisting of a 1st , a 3rd, and a 5th. I thought I’d write a short article to reinforce the learning.

The key of C consists of the notes: C D E F G A B and for those that live in Europe, the B is often called H.

We established that a C major chord consists of C, E and G notes, which are the 1st, 3rd and 5th of C. Using that principle,  to create a C6 chord, we would add the 6th note of the scale of C, which is A.

We arrived at that because C = 1, D =2, E = 3, F =4, G =5 and C = 6.

A C6 chord = C E G and A.  The notes don’t necessarily need to be in that order when you play them.

Working out a C6 chord is quite easy, however some of the other chords such as C9, c13 etc gets a little more complex.  Whoever wrote the rules originally didn’t write in a very user friendly manner.  I will be writing more in depth information about chords in the very near future, as I said this is just a short refresher article…with a little more info.

This is part 1 of a 6 Part series on Chord Construction for guitar.

How chords are made is not that difficult to understand.  You will require a tiny bit of patience and the ability to count up to 13 and also know the alphabet from  A to G.

Having a good understanding of how chords are made will help you with your guitar soloing and accompaniment, many guitar players bypass this type of information.  I would encourage you to get on top of the basics of this info and a whole lot of newe areas of your playing will open up.

If you look at the music stave above, you’ll notice that I have numbered each note and also given it an alphabetical name, no big deal, no rocket science here.

Chords are grouped into three basic categories: 

Major, Minor and Sevenths. However I did have a very long discussion once with the great guitar player Ike Isaacs and he was leaving the question open ended about whether there was a fourth type.  But I’ll keep it simple here and agree with most of the planets musicians and say there are three.

Major chords have a strength about them, they are reasonably bright sounding, I could say ‘happy’ sounding but it’s not quite correct. Examples would be C, D, G, A, E with no numbers written after them.

Minor chords are very sad sounding, the saddest of all being the D minor chord.  Many composers for films will write in the key of D minor T evoke sadness in a a film, think tissues and hankies. Examples would be: Dm, Em, Gm, sometimes written with a minus sign D-, E- or Dmin or Emin etc

Seventh chords imply movement.  They are just major chords with an extra note, their sound creates a feeling of wanting to go to another chord. The way that a seventh chord is generally written is:  G7, E7, A7 etc.  They are commonly used in Blues music and variations of 7ths are common in Jazz, they’ll often look like G7b5#9 etc but let’s keep it simple.

The way chords are made is generally by taking the 1st, 3rd and 5th of a scale.

If you look at the top line of music above, you’ll see it is C, E and G, this is called a major triad.  You could play a couple of C’s E’s or G’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a C major chord.

If you look at the second line of music above, you’ll see it is C, E flat ( the little b = flat) and G, this is called a minor triad.  Also, just like the major chord, you could play a couple of C’s Eb’s or G’s in it instead of just one, it’s still a C minor chord.

The seventh chord consists of the 1st, the 3rd, the 5th and also the 7th note, but this is IMPORTANT. Look closely at the note though, in truth what is known as a 7th is really a flattened 7th, it is one note lower than the seventh note of the normal major scale. Because of the construction of the guitar fretboard, guitar players often leave out notes of a chord, in the case of the C7, I have omitted the G note, but listen and you’ll notice that it still sounds right.

In these examples I have used only three note chords, for some situations, using a thrree note chord can be better than a full chord.  Regardless what you use, it’s still valid, three, four, five or six.

To download the Free High QualityPrintable version Click the following Link:

How Guitar Chords Are Made TAB

NOTE: Part 2 will be available within four days.

For Blues Scales go to the following link at my other blog/site:

http://acousticguitarist.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/blues-scales-learn-guitar-tab-and-dots/

This guitar scale is the final one in may six part series on Pentatonic Scales.  As you my remember from my previous web blog posts, I decided to do a short series because many players have difficulty following through if there is too much information.  To work steadily through a half a dozen scales won’t hurt too much but the benefits will be many because a little self-discipline goes a long way.  And the way I have written most of these scales is a little unusual to try and prevent players monotonusly running their fingers up and down the fretboard, but the fingerings are interesting and I know from experience that they will force you to think a little when you play them.

Most guitar players avoid the flat keys, they stick to C, D , A , G and E, because they are guitar friendly.  So let’s break the habit a little with this one and do a B Flat.  The key of B flat includes the notes B flat, C, D, E flat, F, G A  and B flat. 

But the Pentatonic I’ve used (penta being 5) is Bb, C, D, F, G .  Note the fingering of the exercise, I jump to the 5th fret after playing the open G and a few of notes later I jump up a fret.  And then decscending I move back to fret one.  Playing this way will force you to think.

To download the printable guitar scale in TAB and music notes click below:

TAB and Music Notes Guitar Scale Pentatonic Major in B Flat

My next set of six short tutorials will cover Chord Construction Made Easy

The John Butler acoustic  twelve string version of Message in a Bottle, what an interesting combination.

Two things that really appeal to me as a musician are:

1) Restraint and understatement
2) Interpretation of other peoples tunes

The ability to not overplay, even if you have the ability to, is a real art, to hold back and create a little tension and space.  I think many of the reggae musicians have mastered that art,; and the ability to imply music and hold back so the listener unconsciously fills in the gaps.

Interpretation is something that not all players can get their head around because they often wish to repeat what they have heard and not have a second thought that a song may have other possibilities.

I’ve stated before that I like John Butler’s music and when I heard him doing the Police tune, ‘Message in a Bottle’ I was very impressed with the way he made it his own. I like the rhythm part, the brushes as the acoustic bass.

To hear more John Butler click the link John Butler

Todays video youtube post is Lighning Hopkins, the classic acoustic blues guitar player, he has influenced thousands of players across the world.  He was a Texas Blues player and was inspired by Blind Lemon Jefferson. His music holds an important part in Blues Guitar history. There are two songs here, they speak for themself, in it you’ll hear where many of the riffs and guitar lines that are played across the world have come from. Hopkins often included the talking style of vocals. It’s a music lesson in itself.

Enjoy!

It was about 35 years ago when I first purchased a Stefan Grossman guitar book on blues, in those days, very few music books had guitar TAB. That may sound odd to a lot of people now. The books back then were generally arranged for Piano/ Vocal, that means they had little to do with the guitar and were really just a piano arrangement of the tune. Here’s a few Acoustic Blues Guitar Books worth exploring to help you be a better blues player.

Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Mississippi John Hurt Music by Mississippi John Hurt, 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.F3176GTA) See more info…

Complete Acoustic Blues Method: Beginning Acoustic Blues Guitar By Lou Manzi. For Guitar. Guitar Method or Supplement. Acoustic; Blues. Book & CD. Published by Alfred Publishing. (22866) See more info…

Stefan Grossman’s Early Masters of American Blues Guitar: Blind Blake Music by Blind Blake, 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.F3432GTA) See more info…

Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil are both legends in Brazil, I think it’s important to hear the great players from other cultures and not get locked into one style.  I became aware of Milton in the mid seventies when he appeared on a Wayne Shorter ( weather Report) album.   The song Raca, appeared on one the easrlier Milton solo albums.  It’s another way of expressing music with a guitar.  Both these two musicians are known for their songwriting. There rhhym playing is excellent…try playing it.

This Pentatonic Major Scale in D is very useful on acoustic guitar. Note how I’ve used the open E string to create a bit of time to jump up the fretboard to the 7th fret.  This scale is very suitable for improvising over a D chord, it doesn’t include the Blue Note of the Country Blues scales.  The Blue note would be an F at the 3rd fret on the 4th string. 

 The notes of this scale are D E F sharp A B and I’ll include the next D so it sounds complete. Leraning simple scales like these are very usually for acoustic players, a lot of acoustic players when they are jamming will just all play the same chords.  A little aresnal of scales will enable you to create a bit of interest in a tune by using simple improvisation.  When two guitar players play the same thing at the same time,  then tend to squash each other.  Look for ways of creating space, the ‘Less is More’ principle is very useful in music. 

Ok, how to play the scale:  Start in the 2nd position, this means the first finger lines up at the second fret.  Ones you play the open E on the high string, move up to the 7th fret.  When descending, once you hit the high E note again on the open E string, move back to the second postion.  

Enjoy it, once you know the scale start to break it up into little melodic musical phrases.

To download the printable version click the link:
Pentatonic Major Scale for Guitar in D

This is part 5 of the 6 part series of Pentatonic scales, Part 6 will be uploaded within the next 5 days

To view part Part 4:
http://the-guitarplayer.com/2008/06/12/pentatonic-major-scale-in-a-part-4-of-6/