Blues Guitar World - NewsWire

Exclusive: Guitar Hero - Blues Edition finally

4/05/2009

Well, it seems that our long wait for a Blues edition of Guitar Hero may be over soon, as breaking news suggests. The new product, tipped to be named 'Guitar Hero - Blues Extreme', has the early signs of being hugely popular. It was always suggested before that such an edition would not be popular enough with the younger generations, but the marketing departments have obviously thought otherwise. Maybe this is just what the console makers have wanted, a vehicle to selling more to a slightly older audience. I know that I myself certainly fall into that category, and may just have to buy a console when this Guitar Hero hits the shelves.

Its not yet been made official what the content of this edition will be, but again, suggestions have been made that some of the greatest will feature. The likes of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Claption, BB King, Jeff Healey, Gary Moore will all have their songs brought into this fantastic game. I'm not sure that it will improve anyone's ability to play the Blues but will be glad to hear these songs pouring out of windows in my neighbourhood.

New Look for Blues Guitar World

5/11/2009

Well, its finally arrived. I've been working hard for weeks now to get the new look finalised - but I had to rewrite the blog engine from scratch in order to get it all working. I hope that all my readers like the new look and feel. I've also combined some of the categories together as well which hopefully makes more sense. The main category sections are now along the top. Watch out for a new link called "Blues 101" which I hope to have active by the end of the week. In this category I am going to provide all the lessons you need to play the blues - but right from the very start.

Feel free to comment on the new look - I'm always interested in your opinions.

Regards James

New Backing Tracks

12/04/2009

One of the best ways to learn your fretboard is to put it into the context of a song. Luckily there are some fantastic backing tracks available from 50 Blues that should help you to do just that. The tracks come in many tempo's and keys so why not try something different.

Web Store now open

02/02/2009

Blues Guitar World has now launched a web store in partnership with Amazon to provide you with excellent Blues Tuition books, CD's and DVDs. Please feel free to browse the store, I'm sure you will find something of interest in there.

A "Web Store" link can be found in the menu at the top of the page and in the Blues Links panel on the left.

Guitar Theory: Relative Minors

12/01/2009

In my previous article Minor vs Major, we briefly explored the use of the Major Scale over the I chord in your standard I-IV-V (1, 4, 5) blues progression. I had a lesson on Friday, during which my tutor revealed some interesting points about Relative Minors - "every Major has a Relative Minor". So what does this actually mean?

Lets assume we are going to improvise over a blues progression of A, D, E. The I chord here is the A, and this is the Key of our Blues song. Now, we could play the A-Minor Pentatonic or A-Minor Blues scale over this I chord, and all would sound great. However, as discussed in my previous article, it is often nice to play Major over this I chord. So we could play our standard Major Pentatonic/Blues shape starting at the sixth string root - A at the 5th Fret.

However, there is an alternative to using this shape. We can use the Minor Pentatonic/Blues shape to achieve the same goal - using A Major's relative Minor, F#. To find the Relative minor of the key we are playing in (A in this case), all we have to do is drop down three semitones to arrive at F#. F# is the relative minor of A-Major. Confused? Relative Minors are always three semitones below the root. So three semitones back from A is indeed F#. When you play the Minor Pentatonic or Blues shape starting at F# on the sixth string, you are actually playing the notes from the A-Major Pentatonic/Blues Scale.

Lets study some pictures to see how this works. Pay attention to the notes in both diagrams - you will see that the notes are exactly the same for F# in the Minor Pentatonic/Blues as they are in the A-Major Pentatonic/Blues shape.

Fig 1. A-Major Pentatonic scale starting from the 6th String Root at A (5th fret)

Fig 2. The Minor Pentatonic scale, but starting from the 6th String at F# (2nd Fret) - The same notes as above, but the roots are in a different position.

Tip for 2009: Major vs Minor

12/10/2009

If you've ever wondered when you should be playing Major or Minor scales then this tip might help to put a bit of sparkle in your solos.

For a standard 12 bar blues progression of (I - IV - V), I recommend the following approach.

Whenever the (I) chord is playing, try to use the Major blues scale of the key you are playing in. Although you can play minor over the (I) chord, I think it sounds better to play the Major Scale. If you listen to BB King for example, you will hear a lot of the Major scale being played over the (I) chords.

For chords (IV) and (V), you should definitely stick to playing the Minor Blues or pentatonic scales. The combination of switching from Major to Minor really sounds great.

Give it a go and see what you think.

Blues Lesson: Double Stop Bends

12/12/2008

This lesson explores double stop bends, and results in a great sound. Have a look at Jody Worrell's video demonstration.

50 Professional Blues Backing Tracks

12/12/2008

If you are in need of some new backing tracks, why not try out some of my frends at 50Blues.com

Moveable Blues Rhythm Lesson

12/12/2008

In this free blues guitar video lesson you will learn how to play some nice rhythm guitar. This lesson uses a chord shape that you can move up and down the neck to play three different chords.

Here are the chord shapes used in the video.

The blues progression used is

..and finally the blues video lesson

Blues Hero: Stevie Ray Vaughan

12/12/2008

This month's Blues Hero is: Stevie Ray Vaughan

We all have our heroes or people we take inspiration from. This page will contain some of those guitarists who inspire me.

Steve Ray Vaughan

Stephen "Stevie" Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American blues-rock guitarist, whose broad appeal made him an influential electric blues guitarist. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Stevie Ray Vaughan #7 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, and Classic Rock Magazine ranked him #3 in their list of the 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes in 2007.

Early life

Vaughan was born on October 3, 1954, in Dallas, Texas, and was raised in the city's Oak Cliff neighborhood. Neither of his parents had any strong musical talent but were avid music fans. They would take Vaughan and his older brother Jimmie to concerts to see Fats Domino, Johnny Williamson III, Jimmy Reed, and Bob Wills.

Even though Vaughan initially wanted to play the drums as his primary instrument, Michael Quinn gave him a guitar when he was seven years old. Vaughan's brother, Jimmie Vaughan, gave him his first guitar lessons. Vaughan was later quoted in Guitar Player as saying, "My brother Jimmie actually was one of the biggest influences on my playing. He really was the reason I started to play, watching him and seeing what could be done." He played entirely by ear and never learned how to read sheet music. By the time he was thirteen years old he was playing in clubs where he met many of his blues idols. A few years later he dropped out of Justin F. Kimball High School in Oak Cliff and moved to Austin to pursue music. Vaughan's talent caught the attention of guitarist Johnny Winter and blues-club owner Clifford Antone.

In the early 1980s, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger saw Vaughan and Double Trouble playing at a club, and invited them to play at a private party in New York. This led to their acquaintance with producer Jerry Wexler, who managed to get them their first big break performing at the 1982 Montreux Jazz Festival. As a result they were able to meet Jackson Browne, who gave the band free time in his Los Angeles studio, and David Bowie, who had Vaughan play lead guitar on his next album, Let's Dance.

Soon a record contract with Epic followed, as well as their first album release in 1983, the successful Texas Flood, which charted at number 38 and gained positive reviews. After a successful tour, their second album, Couldn't Stand the Weather, charted at number 31 in 1984 and went gold in 1985. Their third album, Soul to Soul, charted at number 34 in 1985.

Drugs and alcoholism

Drug addiction and alcoholism took a toll on Vaughan by mid-1986. Cocaine and Crown Royal whiskey were his drugs of choice. Vaughan would dissolve cocaine in his whiskey for a morning "pick-me-up". Doctors later discovered that this morning ritual was causing severe ulcerations of the stomach lining. Nevertheless, he carried on and put out Live Alive in 1986 and did a concert tour in America in 1987. After becoming acutely ill in Germany while on tour, Vaughan managed to struggle through three more shows, but was soon admitted into a hospital in London. Dr. Victor Bloom, who had helped Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend with their addictions, told Vaughan that if he had not come to the hospital he would have died in a month. After a struggle to get sober in London, he then flew to Atlanta, Georgia, to a rehabilitation center. He eventually recovered fully from his addictions in the program of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Recovery

Upon his return from rehab, Vaughan worked with a number of artists including Dick Dale (making a cameo appearance as himself performing a duet of "Pipeline" with Dale in the movie Back to the Beach, which was then released as a single), Jennifer Warnes, and Stevie Wonder (playing "Superstition" on the MTV special Stevie Wonder's Characters).

In 1988, Vaughan continued to tour with Double Trouble throughout Scandinavia and performed at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded In Step in February 1989, their fourth studio album, which was praised by some[citation needed] as the band's best work since Texas Flood. The album won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Vaughan shared a headline tour with guitarist Jeff Beck in the fall of 1989. In his beloved Austin, the "Live Music Capital of the World," Vaughan was presented with a proclamation from the mayor declaring November 26, 1989 "Stevie Ray Vaughan Day."

On January 3, 1990, Vaughan gave a speech and addressed the Aquarius Chapter of Alcoholics Anonymous. On January 30, Vaughan made his first appearance on MTV Unplugged in New York City. It was originally scheduled for Vaughan to do a closing jam with Joe Satriani, but Vaughan said he had to leave right away.

Vaughan had spoken two years earlier about wanting to help produce an album with his brother, Jimmie Vaughan. That time came in March 1990, when the Vaughan Brothers went to work at the Dallas Sound Lab, the same studio used to record Soul to Soul.

Around this time, Vaughan said that singing was becoming painful for him due to a condition he called "hamburger throat." He received acupuncture to his neck, but still had to take cortisone shots to relieve the pain, which caused his face to swell.

Death

On August 25 and August 26, 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble finished the summer portion of the In Step Tour with shows at Alpine Valley Music Theatre, just outside of East Troy, Wisconsin. The show also featured The Robert Cray Band (with the Memphis Horns, Wayne Jackson and Andrew Love) and Eric Clapton, who played the closing set, then brought all the musicians back onstage for an encore jam.

Double Trouble drummer Chris Layton later recalled his last conversation with Vaughan, and remembered Vaughan saying backstage that he had to call his girlfriend, Janna Lapidus, before heading out the door to board a helicopter for the flight back to Chicago, Illinois, where Lapidus was staying. (The helicopters had been booked by Double Trouble's tour manager Skip Rickert through Omni Flights.)

The musicians had expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. However, Vaughan was informed by a member of Clapton's crew that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton's crew, enough for Vaughan, his brother Jimmie, and Jimmie's wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left; Vaughan requested it from his brother, who obliged. At 12:44 a.m. pilot Jeffrey Browne guided the helicopter off the ground. Shortly after takeoff the helicopter crashed into a ski slope and all five on board were killed. Although the crash occurred only 0.6 miles from the takeoff point, it went unnoticed by those at the concert site.

The search for the wreckage began at 5:00 a.m., finally being located two hours later with the help of its locator beacon. The cause of the crash was believed to have been pilot error.

Chris Layton and Jimmie Vaughan did not find out about the crash until they returned to their motel in Chicago. The following morning Jimmie Vaughan was called to identify the body of his brother. The coroner's report stated that the cause of death was exsanguination (fatal blood loss) due to severing of the aorta, a result of injuries sustained during the high impact crash.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas