Blooze Minimalism

Phil_aka_Pip · August 2013

What's the minimum you can get away with in a blooze type I IV V?

If A is I, D is IV and E is V. For the A chord, play frets 5,6 on strings 4,3 respectively. The G is the b7 and the C# is the 3 in the A chord. That's enough to characterise it, you can let the bass player supply the roots. To change to the D chord, move the pattern down 1 fret. The lower note is now F# (the 3rd of the D chord) and the higher one, C, is the b7. To change to the E chord move it all up 2 frets (G#, D) same relationship.

2 strings, 2 notes, only moving by a maximum of 2 frets. You're getting tired, it's near the end of the gig, its about time the bass player did some work anyway, so find some chunky little rhythm to knock this out with while your arm & finger muscles recover.

EricTheWeary · August 2013

Albert Collins built his career on doing stuff like that. In some circumstances it is perfectly okay to play no notes at all, just beat out a wacka wacka on the muted guitar strings and no one knows the difference. And impossible to play a wrong note.

Jalapeno · August 2013

@Phil_aka_Pip have a Wisdom !
B-)

not_the_dj · August 2013

Ooo I like that.

I one of my bands we do this rock'n'roll 12 bar medley as a set closer. Starts with Johnny B Goode (in A) and the singer then goes on through various other songs of that ilk (along with band introductions and general 'thanks for coming banter'....it can last for what seems like hours!

digitalkettle · August 2013

Phil_aka_Pip said:

What's the minimum you can get away with in a blooze type I IV V?

If A is I, D is IV and E is V. For the A chord, play frets 5,6 on strings 4,3 respectively. The G is the b7 and the C# is the 3 in the A chord. That's enough to characterise it, you can let the bass player supply the roots. To change to the D chord, move the pattern down 1 fret. The lower note is now F# (the 3rd of the D chord) and the higher one, C, is the b7. To change to the E chord move it all up 2 frets (G#, D) same relationship.

2 strings, 2 notes, only moving by a maximum of 2 frets. You're getting tired, it's near the end of the gig, its about time the bass player did some work anyway, so find some chunky little rhythm to knock this out with while your arm & finger muscles recover.

Aka 'guide tones'!

viz · August 2013

I think you can get away with playing xxxxx3 repetitively throughout that I IV V sequence.

Catthan · August 2013

that's excellent info.
it also clears up the space for the higher frequencies, specially if the soloist is into modern blues and throws altered colors (flat-sharp 5s or 9s).
the same exact fingering-voicing can be used if you want to throw a iii-iv-ii-v turnaround instead of resting on the E at the end of the blues cycle;
you just move the shape up to the 9th fret and move down chromatically to the (#G, D) shape described in the OP

Phil_aka_Pip · August 2013

Like your thinking @Catthan, did you mean III-VI-II-V ?

OilCityPickups · August 2013

Couple of notes?

citizen68 · August 2013

Cool - doesn't Mr Page do something similar with one of his guitar parts in 'Rock and Roll'?

OilCityPickups · August 2013

citizen68 said:

Cool - doesn't Mr Page do something similar with one of his guitar parts in 'Rock and Roll'?

There's nowt new ....

Catthan · August 2013

Phil_aka_Pip said:

Like your thinking @Catthan, did you mean III-VI-II-V ?

Exactly,,

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