Blues Archives - GUITARHABITS

Best Music Documentaries for Guitar Players

August 27, 2020 By Klaus Crow 13 Comments

Every now and then I watch a good music documentary or movie to enjoy the incredible stories behind the master guitar players and legendary bands.

The struggles, hardship and passion for playing is really inspiring and insightful for anyone who is a student of the guitar. Today we got a list for you with some of the best music documentaries. Witness the turbulent and expressive lives of these musicians. Follow their love for music, their eagerness, perseverance and lessons learned throughout their journey.

All the guitar players and songwriters faced their own challenges that led to the extraordinary musicians that they have ultimately become. A true pleasure to watch each and everyone of them. Pick your favorites from the list and enjoy.

Have a great one!

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Rise Of A Texas Bluesman – 2014 (Youtube)
A docu on American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer Stevie Ray Vaughan, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock band Double Trouble. He is considered to be one of the most iconic and influential musicians in the history of blues music, and one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

Acoustic Uprising (Youtube)
Acoustic Uprising tells the definitive story of Modern Acoustic Guitar, featuring interviews with world class FingerStyle guitarists from around the world, including Tommy Emmanuel, Kaki King, Newton Faulkner, Sungha Jung, Andy McKee and many more. These artists are renowned for their virtuosity on the ubiquitous acoustic guitar, taking the humble instrument to new heights of “astounding virtuosity”.

Keith Richards – Under influence (Netflix)
Under the Influence gives fans unparalleled access to one of the world’s greatest rock stars and the people and sounds that inspired rock ‘n’ roll legend Keith Richards.

Jimi Hendrix – By Those Who Knew Him Best (Youtube)
Jimi Hendrix is unquestionably the greatest guitarist to have emerged during the rock era. This documentary contains exclusive interviews with his closest friends, associates and fellow musicians, which finally reveals what was behind the greatest musical talent of our time.

Eric Clapton – Standing At The Crossroads Documentary (Youtube)
In this documentary feature Eric Clapton is interviewed in depth with contributions from Keith Richards, John Mayall, The Yardbirds, Jack Bruce and many more. It is THE definitive Clapton biography.

Paco de Lucia Documentary (Youtube)
A beautiful portrait of Paco de Lucia. A Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist, composer, and record producer. A leading proponent of the new flamenco style, he was one of the first flamenco guitarists to branch into classical and jazz.

Cool Acoustic Electric Blues Guitar Lick

July 4, 2019 By Klaus Crow 4 Comments

Today we’re going to learn a nice and smooth acoustic/electric blues guitar lick that you can add to your guitar licks vocabulary and use freely in your soloing and improvisation.

Blues licks are small soloing ideas that you can use and learn from. They are designed to expand and upscale your soloing skills. The licks are used in blues music but also in rock, country, jazz and other styles of music. The licks and styles are all intertwined.

I used to collect licks from every where and anyone. I always bought all the guitar magazines and videos there were available at the time and learn all the licks I could find. It was all about the cool licks. It was the fast way to learn and incorporate all the cool chops and techniques into my playing. Even now, I’m still looking.

You can play the blues lick in the video over an A7 chord, over an A7 Blues progression or blues shuffle. You can also transpose the lick to any key you like by moving the entire lick up or down the fretboard.

Enjoy!

5 Cool Blues Shuffle Riffs

October 11, 2018 By Klaus Crow 6 Comments

Playing “walking blues lines” is a common thing for bass players, but also guitar players do not shy away from a nice walking blues shuffle riff.

The blues shuffle riff is a popular sound and often used by guitar players like T-Bone Walker (Going to Chicago, T-bone Shuffle) and Stevie Ray Vaughan (Cold shot, Pride and joy, Travis walk).

While blues rhythm guitar suffices with a standard 12 bar blues shuffle, a cool shuffle riff is often more fun to play and interesting listen to.

Also for the blues lead guitar player it’s great to solo over a blues shuffle riff. The combination of a cool lead solo improvisation and a nice blues shuffle riff will lift the music to greater heights.

Today we have 5 Cool blues shuffle riffs to get your hands dirty. Starting out with a nice & easy shuffle riff gradually leading up to more challenging riffs. A video lesson and tablature is provided for each shuffle riff.

Enjoy!

Cool Blues Shuffle Riff 1

Top 20 Easy Blues Guitar Songs For Beginners

May 18, 2018 By Klaus Crow 2 Comments

For me guitar and blues are like salt and pepper, or like Yin and Yang. They are strongly connected to each other and found in every style of music, whether you’re playing rock, country, jazz or metal. So it’s a good thing for every guitar player to learn some vital blues skills.

Well, today we have a Top 20 Easy Guitar Songs for Beginners. While these songs are a really good fit for the blues beginner, they are just as perfect for the intermediate or advanced guitar player. After all, it’s all about the songs.

The Top 20 starts out with some basic blues chord songs and 12 bar blues shuffles, and at the end of the list there’s room for some nice beginner blues soloing. They are all excellent songs to start out learning to play the blues. Pick your choice.

If you find that some song intros are still a bit too challenging you can just skip the intro and start with the verse. You’ll learn the challenging parts later when you’re up for it. Now just have some fun playing some nice blues classics.

As with all things guitar, you need to invest some practice time to figure out and learn each song thoroughly. Some are easy, and some require a bit effort depending on your skill level. So if you’re really just starting out you might want to use some of these handy tools to figure out the guitar parts.

Each song title in the list contains a link to the song on Youtube. The “Chords and Tabs” links will give you the chords or tabs to the song and the “More Chords/Tabs” links will show you the official transcribed chords/tabs if you want to learn more songs of the same artist.

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Enjoy the songs!

1 – Kindhearted Woman Blues – Robert Johnson – Chords – More Tabs

2 – Manish boy – Muddy Waters – Tabs – More Tabs

3 – Sweet home Chicago – Robert Johnson – Tabs – More Tabs

4 – Blues stay away from me – Delmore Brothers – Chords

5 – Take Out Some Insurance – Jimmy Reed – Chords

6 – Boom boom – John Lee Hooker – Tabs – More Tabs

7 – T bone shuffle – T Bone Walker – Tabs

8 – Smokestack Lightnin’- Howlin’ Wolf – Tabs

9 – Suitcase – Keb Mo – Tabs – More Tabs

10 – Life by the drop – Stevie Ray Vaughan – Tabs – More Tabs
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