Second take, Old Time Blues Video

The lighting and the background look great. Playing sounded great as well. Nicely done.

I agree. I really enjoy the tunes and would enjoy longer versions. Ahead in the book is a set of three studies called "Saying it Three Ways" which is a bit longer. The original melody is played a second time in octaves, and then again using chords. I'm looking forward to it. That may be the way to make the earlier melodies from the book a bit longer. I'm not sure I have the skills set to accomplish that, but it sure can't hurt to try.

Hi Bruce,

I guess I go through the rhythm first and then tackle the melody. I should spend much more time on the rhythm, but I just can't wait to get to the melody. When I get through the book I'll go back and do it again and spend more time on the rhythm sections. Sometimes I can't get my old fingers to bend as much as some of those jazz chords require, and that makes me skip along to the melody that much faster. I know I should be getting all those chords nailed before moving along, but this is supposed to be fun! I do go back over all the melodies in the book at least once a week. I enjoy playing the melodies and I also don't want to loose them after just learning them.

That's a great idea about recording the rhythm portion several times through. I may have to give that a try. We (my son and I) have a few amps. One of them is a Line Six Spider Jam. It has all sorts of backing tracks installed so you can jam by yourself. My son uses it a lot. I may need to figure out how to use it.

I do use my thumb on the low E on many of the chords. But I have trouble fingering some of the chords. I work around it though. The Spider Jam amp comes with many backing tracks in many genres. It's fun to use for improvisation. My son mostly uses it. I'm not that versed in its capabilities and if you can add your own tracks. I believe you can, but I'm not certain. There might be information about it on line at the Line Six web site.

Thank you for the offer of your files. If it can be installed on the Spider Jam I'll take you up on that offer!

Thanks for the comments, Phil. I'm obviously not far into the book, but I'm really liking the sound of these - kind of a more sophisticated 12 bar blues. Posting next video today.

Bruce

Thanks for your comments. The first of these videos was the first video I ever made, and I saw LOTS of things I thought I could improve or correct (the guitar playing amongst them). But in continuing to play around with this rhythm part, I came to the conclusion that it was much easier to fret this with the thumb over the top technique. But then, my hands are pretty big and only a youthful 53 years old! As you move onward in JTB, some of the rhythm parts jump around from 7ths and 9ths and 13ths (look at Cool Shade, Jazzin the Blues, Rising Blues). I think these would be really hard to play the "classical" way. I had to pick up the guitar and see how I mute the 5th string, and yes, I do it with the thumb over the top. "Thumb over the top" was definitely NOT part of my repertoire, but now that I've developed it, I wouldn't attempt to play these otherwise. So I guess I'd encourage you to persevere and develop this technique. I don't know if anyone else on the forum has taken on these rhythm parts - I think TommyD has just done the leads, but maybe he's played some of the rhythm parts and can weigh in with his 2 cents worth. Anybody else on the forum have any input into this? Jack1982?  I'd love to hear what John G has to say about it. If you look at some of my other videos, you'll see the thumb over the top has persisted with me.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce and Tommy for your valuable feedback, It certainly looks like the thumb over method is something I'm going to find very useful as I progress through John's books. Looks like I'm going to be needing "finger joint lube" as well as "muscle memory", this guitar playing lark is going to cost me a fortune .

Thanks guys.

Very nice job on that Bruce! Love the way you adjust your sunglasses at the beginning, you are so cool

I use my thumb to fret the low note on those chords as well, and mute the A string with it too. John mentions it on page 17 of the book. I tried it the other way but got a lot of fret buzz when releasing the chord; would have taken more practice to correct that but using my thumb everything falls naturally into place. I know there are some guitar teachers who would rap you across the knuckles with a ruler for doing it that way, but that's one of the nice things about learning by yourself.

I'm still having problems feeling that #3 beat where the second chord always falls, probably because it's shifted in time a bit due to the swing feel. Kind of sounds like it's hanging out in the middle of nowhere. But I'm starting to get the feel for it, just takes some time.

I like your guys' idea about adding extra choruses and making up your own lead parts for them, it would be a great exercise in applying this chord-scale stuff.

bluesbruce

Apart from sounding great - you look cool playing it, very laid back style. Loved it!