Andy Ellis is a former senior editor for Guitar Player magazine and former editor in chief of Frets. An active performer, session player, and educator, Andy founded Guitar Players Sessions section and edited Backbeats Guitar Player Sessions .
Jesse Gress is the author of Backbeats The Guitar Cookbook, Guitar Lick Factory, GuitaRevolution, Guitar Licks of the Brit-Rock Heroes, and Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues-Rock Heroes. Jesse tours and records with the Tony Levin Band and Todd Rundgren and has more than 100 transcription folios to his credit.
Arlen Roth is founder of the Hot Licks instructional video series. He has written twelve books, including Backbeats Hot Guitar , and has performed with artists such as Simon & Garfunkel and Bob Dylan. Arlens solo CDs include Drive It Home and the recently reissued Toolin Around , which features Danny Gatton, Albert Lee, and other guests.
David Hamburger is a guitarist and roots-music authority who has written several instructional books and dozens of magazine articles. David has performed and recorded with artists such as Duke Robillard and Tony Trischka, and his own albums include Indigo Rose and David Hamburger Plays Blues , Ballads & a Pop Song .
Jude Gold is a Guitar Player editor whose performing and recording credits include work with 2 Live Crew, George Clinton, the Oakland Symphony, David Grisman, Eddie Money, Kirk Hammett, and David St. Hubbins (actor Michael McKean) of Spinal Tap.
Adam Levy is a former Guitar Player editor who has performed and recorded with artists such as Norah Jones, Lost Trio, and the Hot Club of San Francisco. His own albums include Loose Rhymes: Live on Ludlow Street and Buttermilk Channel .
Dan Erlewine specializes in new-product development for Stewart-MacDonalds Guitar Shop Supply. The author of Backbeats Guitar Player Repair Guide and How to Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great!, he has built and repaired guitars for Albert King, Jerry Garcia, Ted Nugent, and many other players.
Listen Up! A Blues Guitar Discography
I f you begin studying blues with Robert Johnson, you are really starting in the middle, says latter-day bluesman Paul Rishell in Art Tipaldis Children of the Blues: 49 Musicians Shaping a New Blues Tradition [Backbeat]. With that in mind, in this discography weve listed recordings by a number of seminal, essential blues guitarists in addition to work by the artists our lessons cite. Weve also included some of the great guitarists who are currently keeping the blues flame alive. The recordings are grouped by regional and chronological categories, but keep in mind many of these artists spanned schools, styles, and decades. These recordings merely sample the deep and wide world of blues guitar. To dig further, check Backbeats All Music Guide to Blues and the blues links at allmusic.com.
DELTA
Skip James (1902-1969)
The Complete Early
Recordings, Yazoo
John Lee Hooker (19202001)
The Very Best of John Lee
Hooker, Rhino
Robert Johnson (1911-1938)
The Complete Recordings
Columbia
Charley Patton (18871934)
Founder o the Delta Blues
Yazoo
PIEDMONT
Blind Blake (c.18901933)
The Best of Blind Blake
Yazoo
Lonnie Johnson (18991970)
Steppin on the Blues
Columbia
Blind Willie McTell
(19011959)
The Definitive Blind Will
McTell, Sony Legacy
MEMPHIS
Albert King (19231992)
Born Under a Bad Sign
Rhino
B.B. King
Live at the Regal, MCA
Cornpletely Well, MCA
Memphis Minnie (1897-1973)
Hoodoo Lady (1933-1937)
Sony
TEXAS
Albert Collins (19321993)
Deluxe Edition, Alligator
Lightnin Hopkins (1912-1982)
Blues Masters: The Very Best
of Lightnin Hopkins, Rhino
Blind Lemon Jefferson
(1897-1929)
King of the Country Blues
Yazoo
T-Bone Walker (1910-1975)
T-Bone Blues, Atlantic Jazz
Freddie King (1934-1976)
Ultimate Collection, Hip-O
Stevie Ray Vaughan
(1954-1990)
In Step, Epic/Legacy
Greatest Hits, Epic
Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter, Columbia
Deluxe Edition, Alligator
CHICAGO
Buddy Guy
The Very Best of Buddy Guy
Rhino
Elmore James (1918-1963)
The Sky Is Crying: The
History of Elmore James
Rhino
Magic Sam (1937-1969)
West Side Soul, Delmark
Jimmy Reed (1925-1976)
Blues Masters: The Very Best
of Jimmy Reed , Rhino
Hubert Sumlin
I Know You, AcousTech
Muddy Waters (19151983)
His Best: 1947 to 1955
( Chess 50th Anniversary
Collection), MCA/Chess
His Best: 1956 to 1964
(Chess 50th Anniversary
Collection), MCA/Chess
w/Johnny Winter
Hard Again, Blue Sky
JAZZ BLUES
Charlie Christian (1916-1942)
The Genius of Electric Guitar
Columbia
Grant Green (1931-1979)
The Best of Grant Green
Blue Note
Kenny Burrell
Midnight Blue, Blue Note
BRIT BLUES & BLUES ROCK
Duane Allman (1946-1971)
Live at the Fillmore East
Polydor
Michael Bloomfield
(1943-1981)
w/The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band
The Paul Butterfield Blues
Band, Elektra
w/Al Kooper
Super Session, Sony
Eric Clapton
w/John Mayall
Blues Breakers with Eric
Clapton, Deram
w/Cream
Fresh Cream, Universal
From the Cradle, Reprise
w/B.B. King
Riding with the King
Warner Bros.
Peter Green
Green and Guitar: The Best of
Peter Green 1977-1981
Music Club
Mick Taylor w/John Mayall
Crusade, London
TRAD REVIVAL & MODERN ELECTRIC
Rory Block
Gone Woman Blues, Rounder
Bob Brozman
A Truckload of Blues
Rounder
Robert Cray
Heavy Picks: The Robert Cray
Collection, Mercury
Robben Ford
Handful of Blues, Blue Thumb
David Hamburger
Indigo Rose, Chester
Corey Harris
Greens from the Garden
Alligator
Alvin Youngblood Hart
Big Mamas Door
Okeh/550 Music
Taj Mahal
The Best of Taj Mahal
Sony Legacy
Keb Mo
Keb Mo, Sony/550
Paul Rishell
I Want You to Know
Tone-Cool
Joe Louis Walker
Bad Influence, Hightone
COLLECTIONS *
Blues Masters, Vol. 2:
Post-War Chicago Blues
Blues Masters, Vol. 3: Texas
Blues
Blues Masters, Vol. 8:
Mississippi Delta Blues
Blues Masters, Vol. I5: Slide
Guitar Classics
Blues Masters, Vol. 18: More
Slide Guitar Classics
Chess Blues Guitar , MCA
The Greatest in Country
Blues Volumes 13
Story of Blues
Guitar Player Presents:
Legends of Guitar: Electric
Blues, vol. 1
Guitar Player Presents:
Legends of Guitar: Electric
Blues, Vol. 2
*All on Rhino
Tale of the Scale
Blues Box Basics
BY JESSE GRESS
W hether they know it or not, blues guitarists most commonly use three scales: the pentatonic major scale, the pentatonic minor scale, and the blues scale. When applied to a given root, or tonic note, each onelike any scalecovers the entire fingerboard and forms a movable matrix that can be transposed to any key. Each matrix can broken down into smaller, position-based fingering patterns, or boxes, that typically span four to five frets. Lets investigate each one.