Eclectic Blues Licks

Eclectic Blues Licks: #3 Happy Ending

Eclectic Blues Licks is a preview video lesson series for Jeff McErlain‘s upcoming course, 50 Eclectic Blues Licks You MUST Know. Check in every week for a new eclectic blues lick video lesson, and be on the lookout for the full course with tab, jam tracks and more in the near future. Also check out Jeff’s other course, 50 Blues Licks You MUST Know — it’s killer! Subscribe for updates!

Jeff Beck has always been a favorite of mine, OK, he is my favorite guitar player. Besides constantly improving he is the King of being subtle on the guitar. The control he has over the instrument is a constant source of inspiration to me and something I strive for all the time. If you watch him play you see that most of the tones he get are from the guitar itself just using his hands, guitar controls, and of course the vibrato bar. If you are not familiar with Beck’s large body of work I suggest you RUN out and but some, or hit the download button. Some of my favorite tracks are “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” and his take on Mingus’s “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat”, and “Where Were You”. These tunes are classic examples of what can be done on the guitar with dynamics. Some of my favorite playing by Beck can be heard on Roger Water’s 1992 “Amused To Death” recording, particularly the tunes “Ballad of Bill Hubbard” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VQq0wC_72Y) and “Three Wishes” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5S-XqryBPUg). Hopefully that will get you started on one of the best guitar players out there with some not so well know gems as well.

In this lick, I am trying to use some of those techniques I have picked up from Beck. Some cool bar stuff, fingers instead of the pick, some cool legato stuff. All these techniques together really add to how much inflection you can add to a line, to me this is what it is all about. The emotional musical connection that you can make with the guitar is often helped along by just someone pointing it out, like Jeff Beck did for me.

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Eclectic Blues Licks

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February 23rd 2012

Eclectic Blues Licks: #2 Upsy Downsy

I had the great fortune of studying with Mike Stern many years ago right after Berklee. I was such a fan and had seen him at the 55 Bar many times, owned all his cd’s, and collected bootlegs. I was pretty obsessive. While was teaching at a workshop with him I finally got up the nerve to ask him for lessons. He said yes, and before I passed out, he gave me his phone number and said to give him a call. I actually think I cornered him in the bathroom…

I went to his place and had my world turned upside down. I was a jazz fan, but had no concept of chromaticism, swing feel, or dynamics inside a musical line. This is what I learned from Mike. I also learned how little I actually understood about the fingerboard. I knew my scales and arpeggios, but I didn’t OWN them. Mike made it clear to me that there was so much work to do and how little I knew about the instrument. So I still had the good fortune to be living in my mom’s basement at the time and literally practiced 8 hours a day, the last thing I wanted to do was to be unprepared for my next lesson! Apart from the tendonitis I developed, it was an amazing point in my musical development.

It’s funny, only while writing this do I realize how much I owe to him musically, and even though this lick may not sound very much like a Mike Stern lick, I can trace it back to my time spent with him. Thanks Mike!

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Eclectic Blues Licks

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February 9th 2012

Eclectic Blues Licks: #1 Greasy Fingers

I, like many guitars players had their playing turned upside down after first hearing Eric Johnson. One of the things that I learned from him is hybrid picking and the use of some not so usual double stops. The next guy who bowled me over is another Austin guitar player David Grissom. Both of these guys have a lot in common besides their hometown. They both are great hybrid pickers and they utilize that technique to grab some cool double stop licks like the one in this lesson.

Both Johnson and Grissom always sound huge when they are playing, this isn’t only because they both like to play LOUD. It is due in part to big sounding voicings the often choose, and the use of pedal points. A pedal point is a sustained or repeated note played against notes moving above. Greasy Fingers is a cool way to get into some of those big rock guitar sounds that I love so much.

Many years ago I had the great opportunity to jam with David Grissom, I didn’t know who he was at the time. He plugged in and started playing, within 5 seconds I knew he was a bad ass. He sounded huge, his tone was amazing, all vibe and authority. Scary, it actually changed the way I viewed the instrument. There he was plugging straight into a stage amp, cranked it and sounded amazing. That was huge, tone is in the hands.