when I play blues riffs (on guitar) it seems to come pretty easy to me...but I guess it's all in the way you feel playing it
it depends on the blues you play. Anyone can work up one or two, but to get any real variation takes alot of work. then there is the matter of sounding good at it!
Most blues is based off of the 145 pattern. Almost anyone can play a simple blues progression, but to play really good blues, it takes A LOT more than just knowing 3 chords. Blues is all about feeling the music. You have to play it from the heart. It's really powerful music and very hard to capture the raw power in it, but relatively easy to play the basic chords.
ditto especially about capturing the power of it. i play harmonica pretty well, but when it comes to the blues i just cant harness the level of expression and raw emotion that some of the old school harp players show.
I agree. I love how some people can make their guitars just ooze feeling by the playing the blues from their heart
right. well i played it the other night and it seemed easy in terms of what notes to play.. some flats and open strings... i play the violin. the feeling was great... i got the natrual rythym to it.and my bow hand was doing new tricks to keep time. But what i was wondering is if it's quite a simple style. becuase if try to pick up country, or scottish or whatever.. nothing basically comes as 'easy' as the blues. What i mean is that i've never had anything come so natrually...is that the nature of blues/, or is it an easy thing to improvise over?
"What i mean is that i've never had anything come so natrually...is that the nature of blues/, or is it an easy thing to improvise over?" I think it's more about you than about the genre.It might be that you've heard the 12-bar blues progression so many times,consciously or not,that it's easier to improvise and not worry about where you are in the chord progression. It could be that in blues the soloist's phrasing is based more closely on the singing voice.In Scottish fiddle playing,for instance,there might be a lot of embellishment to a melody,with very few rests.A singer needs rests in the melody line to take a breath. I don't know what your background is. But as far as theory goes,you use the same tools-scales,in a nutshell-to improvise.And country and folk music isn't any harmonically more difficult;most of the songs use 3 or 4 chords,and you use scales as a starting point. The main difference is in the phrasing,and the *feeling* or way of expressing that makes each style different. So keep working on the other styles,too.Work with slow songs and build up speed slowly. I've known people who can play a ton of music,and when they try to play some blues,can't play anything that makes sense.So count your blessings,and practice your pentatonic scales backwards and forwards.
you're right.. my violin was able to 'sing' like a voice...i think thats what made it work. i can't get over it. blues is.
