Madman's Diary - Blues for Twenty Two Lick 1 (Chapter 13 Jan 2022)

Thanks Rob you are always a good listener, cheers pal. :sunglasses:

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Good stuff Toby, that sounded great.
After Clint posted the link and the discussion with yourself at the beginning of the year, I bought the TrueFire 30 Beginner Blues Licks course.
I’ve not started it yet but you’ve just given me the inspiration and impetus to get going with it.

Thank you Jason. The BT for this one is a laid back 60 bpm and you get suckered into staying mellow. I have just realised this also includes the 2nd lick on the list which, I’d been doing by stealth. It certainly worth a look. The Blues Lead licks I used here are from Justin’s pattern 2 section. More to come and good fun for sure. I’d like to head to some old style blues song, sing over a chilled rhythm in 7s and chuck some licks in between. But it could be a while before I join it all up ! :sunglasses:

Gordon

Thanks you my good friend !

I went a bit mad. I signed up for the year, bought that course and a few more. As I said to you before, I struggled getting Justin’s pattern 1 licks to fit anywhere with BTs but have a couple of great ones on the 30 licks course. I’ve gone through the 30 licks to see the content and then went back to learning one every couple of days. The plan is to focus on the first 10. Get the initial ones up to a level I’d be happy to record, record and then start on the next, so a rolling program of 10 WIPs, so to speak. Its given me a renewed impetus to look at Justin’s BL lessons, as I hit a bump on pattern 3 but loved the Blues scale licks. Joining the two sets of material has been an ear opener.

As Justin says in his lesson, learn that one lick and use it again and again. I still find it fascinating the same lick based on the 1 chords sounds completely different over the 4 and 5 but I guess folk would switch off hearing that one lick repeated for 3 or 4 minutes,

Go dabble, go play, go enjoy !

Cheers

Toby
:sunglasses:

I dig it Toby. I’m in the same boat as @R.F.W - it’s above my paygrade. I do like that kept it a “story” by adding pauses, etc.

Great advice Toby and your 10, 10, 10 lick learning approach sounds an excellent idea.
The trouble is I get pulled in too many directions. I’ve just found Rolling Chords to Spice Up Your Fingerstyle Lesson on JustinGuitar and it looks great!

I guess 15 minutes of this, 15 of that and 15 minutes of the other (maybe not 15 minutes, I’m 68 now remember😉) is the way forward.

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Gordon

I know exactly what you mean. I have at least 4 if not 5 irons in the fire. And yes I have seen that one as well and it will be added to the list. 15 minutes is reasonable. My missus has had another bad patch and as its winter, gives me some silver lining time. So post dog walk its an hour of fingerstyle mid morning. Grade 3 review early afternoon, early evening Blues hour and late evening sing/play time. Come spring I’ll re-evaluate timing but the mild winter suggest early Feb tractor mower time. So next trick is fingerstyle practice with fingerless gloves and knee steering, if the grass gets too long. Mad dogs and Englishmen ! :sunglasses:

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Ah, good to see some traditions continuing as if nothing had happened :smiley:

Enjoyed the chat, even though it was more geared to the uninitiated.
I never really got into appreciating the blues, although it from what I can tell, it’s a blast to play.
You did well on that, good Sir. Maybe enough to keep the Scotsman at bay a little longer? Mind you, when @CT get back from fishing, he’ll chuck a stick of dynamite and blow yez all out of the water… :laughing:

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Thank B.

Yeah had to give it a slant towards the newbs but had to be done. But now the beast is unleashed normal service will be resumed. Plus it’s too bloody cold to sit in the courtyard with a beer, especially in the dark. Now that could throw up some good blues lyrics.

And yes looking forward to the angler’s return. :sunglasses:

Nice one Tobe, I see you are nicely picking up legacy of good old Clint here :grin: enjoyed your little blues impro, some nice phrases and good licks, heard a bit of bending as well. It should be a bit more flowing with a bit more practice :slight_smile: all the best!

One of the finest ways to start my day, checking in with what the Madman is up to and enjoying the music!

Enjoyed the intro. Thanks for the congrats, and will forgive a slight mistruth to suggest I was noodling some blues. Mine back then was rather simple improv. But as you may have noticed, I’ve started down the blues road (first trying to get the hang of bends). So in due course some more bluesy noodling.

Lots to like and enjoy watching you play. Look forward to more of this as you learn and practice. Can’t offer you specific feedback, I’d just trot out all the standard yadda yadda yadda that you know well.

Ain’t that the truth. I can dream about singing the blues, throwing in licks and riffs, hitting the looper at some point and then jamming over my own rhythm, before returning to the singing.

You’re right, Gordon. Now you are retired, 15 minutes this and that should be 30 minutes :laughing:

Excellent stuff Toby. That had a fantastic groove to it.

It’s definitely coming along Toby, I liked your use of the fretboard and the introduction of a few bends - the important thing with bends is that if they’re anything more than a gentle curl make sure that they go up to a note that’s in the scale you’re playing. There was an odd one that was a tiny bit short but that’s down to experience and will soon come right. One other thing I noticed was not much vibrato, it’s good to use some at the end of phrases, but hey that’s the next thing to look at!
Overall I’m impressed with your progress into playing the blues, well done buddy!

Thanks Adi. :smiley:

I don’t know why but with these sessions I am getting a dose of RBS again. Doesn’t happen if I record when I sing and play rhythm (level checking etc), so could just be a confidence thing. And I am getting a muting complex on the thicker strings at the moment ! That I believe is holding back the flow and adding additional licks but its all work in progress and the feedback helps a great deal.

Cheers

Toby
:sunglasses:

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You’ve been reading my mail David. :smiley:

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David

Glad to have made your morning but probably not the best time of day to listen to my banter. Well maybe this one, as it being a Madman Intro for the new folk ! And if you are laying some Blues licks down and impro-ing, that’s a noodle in my book !

Glad you enjoyed watching. Funny I still feel out of my comfort zone recording this kind of thing and there is a lot of tension in the playing, that is not there on the sing/play side. So guess the only way round that is to do more.

Been listening a lot to the old Blues maestro’s and getting a feel of how to blend the licks n lyrics. So I need to look for a couple of easy songs to work on and factor in some 7 chords for the gaps and get a package together. All good fun.

Still making Clapton look like a shredder though. :rofl:

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Thanks Stefan, glad you enjoyed it. :sunglasses:

Thanks Darrell !

I planned to go up the dusty end (15 / 17) and repeat the “focus” lick in the higher octave, then back to the G on the 10th fret (D) but spent a bit too much time in Pattern 1, 2 & 4. I can only agree that the bends were not at there best on this recording and again I think down to tension, as I have been nailing them recently. And yes vibrato was planned for the “holding” notes but it all went out of the window with the darned “record” button. Vibrato is getting better doing the finger style stuff so its there to use. But thanks for the comments of progress much appreciated.

Cheers

Toby
:sunglasses:

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Good to see and hear you Toby, :sunglasses:
And thanks for reminding me again that I absolutely have to play 1 lick every 5 minutes( at least), as Justin has often told us…and not right immediately after 1 ,immediately another, and 1 more etcetera …otherwish it doesn’t come right up in my head during a backing track later that day.
I’m starting right now … after a little more reading :blush:

A laid back groove here Toby, easy on the ear. Thanks.