Blues & Funk Guitar Heroes
Learn Signature Techniques of Blues & Funk Guitar Legends Eddie Hazel, Earl Hooker, Leo Nocentelli, Junior Kimbrough, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Catfish Collins
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JD Simo
Educator
Genres
About this course
Every musician has a long list of other musicians, past and present, that have inspired, influenced and helped shape their own sound and musicality. It's the natural evolution of music. We asked JD Simo to pass on to you some of the key learnings that his Guitar Heroes passed on to him.
”Eddie Hazel, Earl Hooker, Leo Nocentelli, Junior Kimbrough, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Catfish Collins are just a few of the players that greatly influenced my sound.
In this course, I’ll first show you a few of the techniques and approaches that I picked up from each one of them and then we’ll play through a series of performance studies for musical context.
We’ll start out with Eddie Hazel and his psychedelic approach to soul and the birth of funk. Next, we’ll explore Earl Hooker’s slide style and his use of fuzz and a wah. Leo Nocentelli’s cocked wah tone, use of double stops, and how he creates dissonant tension is something every player can put to good use.
We’ll explore Junior Kimbrough’s understated vibrato and relaxed lazy time against the bar line. Then we’ll examine Lightnin' Hopkins’ closed box style, thumb use, along with one of my favorite turnaround licks.
Last but certainly not least, Catfish Collins never overplayed, had amazing phrasing and a rhythm style that is also worth digging deep into.”
JD will first introduce his heroes to you and describe why he found them so influential. After each discussion, JD will then present a performance study illustrating those influences in a musical context, over a backing track. A breakdown follows every performance and JD will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches in play.
You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with JD Simo!
”Eddie Hazel, Earl Hooker, Leo Nocentelli, Junior Kimbrough, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Catfish Collins are just a few of the players that greatly influenced my sound.
In this course, I’ll first show you a few of the techniques and approaches that I picked up from each one of them and then we’ll play through a series of performance studies for musical context.
We’ll start out with Eddie Hazel and his psychedelic approach to soul and the birth of funk. Next, we’ll explore Earl Hooker’s slide style and his use of fuzz and a wah. Leo Nocentelli’s cocked wah tone, use of double stops, and how he creates dissonant tension is something every player can put to good use.
We’ll explore Junior Kimbrough’s understated vibrato and relaxed lazy time against the bar line. Then we’ll examine Lightnin' Hopkins’ closed box style, thumb use, along with one of my favorite turnaround licks.
Last but certainly not least, Catfish Collins never overplayed, had amazing phrasing and a rhythm style that is also worth digging deep into.”
JD will first introduce his heroes to you and describe why he found them so influential. After each discussion, JD will then present a performance study illustrating those influences in a musical context, over a backing track. A breakdown follows every performance and JD will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches in play.
You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson. You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.
Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with JD Simo!
What you'll learn
- Applying performance studies for musical context
- Identify the pentatonic foundation with dissonant embellishments in hill country blues
- Learn the sonic elements: out of phase pickups, minimal vibrato, heavy groove
- Understand how to approach learning primitive, feel-based styles through osmosis
- Understanding the evolution of funk, soul, and blues guitar styles
Release date: 05/06/2021 • 2h 11m runtime
Sample lessons
Eddie Hazel
My Guitar Heroes: 1
Bacon Skin
Overview
Bacon Skin
Performance
Bacon Skin
Breakdown
What's included
26 lessons • 12 charts • 5 Jam Tracks
My Guitar Heroes: JD Simo
Every musician has a long list of other musicians, past and present, that have inspired, influenced and helped shape their own sound and musicality. It's the natural evolution of music.
We asked JD Simo to pass on to you some of the key learnings that his Guitar Heroes passed on to him...
Hey, I'm JD Simo, and welcome to My Guitar Heroes.
Eddie Hazel, Earl Hooker, Leo Nocentelli, Junior Kimbrough, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Catfish Collins are just a few of the players that greatly influenced my sound.
In this course, I'll first show you a few of the techniques and approaches that I picked up from each one of them and then we'll play through a series of performance studies for musical context.
Grab your guitar and let's dig in!
We asked JD Simo to pass on to you some of the key learnings that his Guitar Heroes passed on to him...
Hey, I'm JD Simo, and welcome to My Guitar Heroes.
Eddie Hazel, Earl Hooker, Leo Nocentelli, Junior Kimbrough, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Catfish Collins are just a few of the players that greatly influenced my sound.
In this course, I'll first show you a few of the techniques and approaches that I picked up from each one of them and then we'll play through a series of performance studies for musical context.
Grab your guitar and let's dig in!
Eddie Hazel
To start things off, we're going to talk about a huge influence on me, Eddie Hazel. To me, from a psychedelic perspective, he's akin to Jimi Hendrix. He took his background in R&B and infused it with fuzz, echo, wah-wah, feedback and modern rock influence to make it unique and groovy.
I first learned about Eddie from the Funkadelic album Maggot Brain, with the titular track being his most notable recording. Let's check out some of the things he was especially good at here, then move on to a performance study á la Eddie Hazel up next.
I first learned about Eddie from the Funkadelic album Maggot Brain, with the titular track being his most notable recording. Let's check out some of the things he was especially good at here, then move on to a performance study á la Eddie Hazel up next.
Bacon Skin
For this performance, I'm trying my hardest to impersonate Funkadelic over a track called "Bacon Skin" in the key of B. We're doing a little bit of everything Eddie Hazel would do, going through some clean playing, some fuzzy stuff as well as a healthy dose of wah-wah thrown in.
Bacon Skin
For this performance, I'm trying my hardest to impersonate Funkadelic over a track called "Bacon Skin" in the key of B. We're doing a little bit of everything Eddie Hazel would do, going through some clean playing, some fuzzy stuff as well as a healthy dose of wah-wah thrown in.
Bacon Skin
For this performance, I'm trying my hardest to impersonate Funkadelic over a track called "Bacon Skin" in the key of B. We're doing a little bit of everything Eddie Hazel would do, going through some clean playing, some fuzzy stuff as well as a healthy dose of wah-wah thrown in.
Earl Hooker
Up next we're going to talk about someone else on my Mount Rushmore of guitarists, the great Earl Hooker. When I started to play slide guitar, I was inspired by guys like Duane Allman, Ry Cooder and playing like a Southern rock guitarist. However, since then I've taken after Earl Hooker's approach to the slide playing the blues.
Before we get into the performance study, let's take a look at some of the things Earl Hooker did so well that we can get under our fingers.
Before we get into the performance study, let's take a look at some of the things Earl Hooker did so well that we can get under our fingers.
Earl's Boogie
This track is my own take on a track of his, simply called "Earl Hooker's Blues". A lot of Earl's records were made quickly without much thought, and the name of the track reflects that here. We're in the key of D here using the wah-wah pedal, chromatic runs, wide sweeping vibrato, etc. like he did so well.
+ 19 more lessons
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