Over the past couple of weeks, I have listened to a greater variety of blues music than ever before. I have discovered new artists and new albums, which has deepened my understanding and love of the blues. Not only has this helped me to develop as a musician, but it...
B.B. King is the undisputed master of the blues. He redefined the electric guitar and totally changed the way that it was played. He introduced techniques and a style of playing that was wildly different to anything that came before. In doing so, he had a profound impact not just...
It is difficult to overstate the impact that Eric Clapton has had on the blues. He was at the forefront of the British blues movement, which, when transported back to America, gave a new lease of life to the blues there too. He is an iconic figure and one of...
I don't think there is a single guitarist in the modern era who has not wanted to sound like Jimi Hendrix at some point in their playing career. He is unquestionably the most iconic guitarist of all time, and one who has influenced every guitarist that is playing today. Most...
Slide guitar is a fundamental part of the blues. When W.C. Handy first 'discovered' the blues at a train station in Tutwiler, Mississippi, it was a slide guitarist responsible for that revelatory experience: A lean loose-jointed Negro had commenced plunking a guitar beside me while I slept ... As he played,...
‘I can’t stand him mate – he’s just a total Jimi Hendrix rip off. He has no originality and no licks of his own. His music is so boring to listen to…’ So stated my local barber on a damp and dreary Saturday afternoon in London. Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys were playing...
Follow The Happy Bluesman