On Friday night I was lucky enough to go and see John Mayall, The ‘Godfather of British Blues’. He was playing at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club - one of the most iconic venues in London. I had never been before and so I had the great pleasure of ticking 2...
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The blues is alive and well. Every week there are new blues bands and albums coming out, as well as new gear that will help us all in our quest for beautiful blues tones. With so much going on in the world of blues, I've started to put together a fortnightly...
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I have wanted to sound like Rory Gallagher since I was about 13 years old. I had only just started to play the guitar and my parents bought me a CD called ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. It featured a collection of some of the most iconic guitar solos of all...
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On Friday night I was fortunate enough to go and see Kirk Fletcher play live in London. Fletcher is one my favourite modern blues guitarists and the gig was amazing. Perhaps what I enjoyed the most was that the venue was packed with fellow blues fans, just as excited as...
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If you want to become a competent blues guitarist, you have to work on your phrasing. I was reminded of this recently when I was invited to jam with a few guitarists at a friend's gig. The other guitarists started playing a slow blues in A, and I played lead....
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In the quest for quality tones, I think guitarists often overlook reverb pedals. Instead they favour overdrive and boost pedals. These are important - and you can find some of my top recommendations for overdrive pedals here. But if you really want a killer blues tone, you need to add a...
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Joanne Shaw Taylor first came onto my radar a couple of months ago. I was actually chatting with a reader of The Happy Bluesman (Paul, if you’re reading this, then thank you very much!) who recommended that I take a listen. Taylor has since gone on to become a regular...
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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...
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Once you can solo comfortably using the minor and major pentatonic scales, adding the blues scale to your repertoire is one of the easiest ways to make your playing more interesting. As the name of the scale suggests, it will also help to give your soloing a distinctly bluesy sound....
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One mistake that I have consistently made in my quest for vintage blues tones is buying the wrong amp. As a young player I was sucked in by the bells and whistles of digital modelling amps. After that, I made the mistake of buying a very large valve amp. I...
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If you are really serious about your guitar tone, it is...
There are few things that I love more than discovering new...
I have to admit, I was at first a little reluctant to write...
If you want to play blues guitar, you need to start by...
One of the most rewarding and challenging elements of...
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