John Lee Hooker - Boom Boom

Just came across this old performance by John Lee Hooker on Youtube.




And as a result I found this lesson with some tips on getting a John Lee Hooker sound when you play blues on an acoustic guitar. Unfortunately, the submitter disabled embedding for the video so you'll have to follow that link and go to Youtube to watch it.

Robben Ford Style Solo Lesson

If you're not deeply entrenched in the blues and jazz community you may never have heard of Robben Ford before. Robben briefly played with Miles Davis in the 1980's and then later achieved success with Robben Ford and the Blue Line which was a more traditional blues band. Robben likes to bring a jazz edge to his blues playing and has developed his own distinct style. Jody Worrell teaches you that approach in his new Robben Ford Style Solo lesson. Below I've picked out a choice Robben Ford performance from Youtube.

Having fun with Yngwie Malmsteen

If you search around the internet enough (mainly Youtube comments and some guitar message boards) you will find people who absolutely idolize Yngwie Malmsteen and also people that absolutely hate him. I would say the next two videos fall into the Yngwie is ridiculous category. First we have an interview/lesson with Malmsteen in which he departs knowledge on playing guitar licks at extremely fast speeds while relaxing with a cup of tea. The second video is just straight parody and contains some adult language.

Albert Lee Style Guitar Lessons

If you are not already familiar with Albert Lee, he's a British born country guitarist. You can check out his wikipedia profile for a list of bands he's played with. Mainly, Albert Lee is regarded along with James Burton as the masters of chicken picking guitar. Below you can view a video of Albert Lee explaining his right hand technique for picking. He uses lots of open stings, which is a concept that Peter Vogl describes in our free Cross Stringing Scales video lesson. I've also included a youtube video of Albert Lee performing "Country Boy" on an old BBC Christmas Special (look for Eric Clapton in the audience). If any of this intrigues you... check out Jody Worrell's new lessons that will teach you an entire Albert Lee Style Solo.

T-Bone Burnett on Recording

T-Bone Burnett recently served as guest DJ on the All Songs Considered Podcast which you can listen to here. Here is NPR's brief synopsis:

"T-Bone Burnett is a remarkable producer. He's been the creative force behind some of the most memorable recordings by artists like Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello and Sam Phillips. Many know Burnett for his work on the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack in 2000. Most recently he produced Raising Sand, a stunning collaboration between Alison Krauss and Robert Plant. On this edition of All Songs Considered T-Bone Burnett shares some of his favorite songs and talks about his new solo release, Tooth of Crime."


Which is all interesting and good. But what really stood out to me was T-Bones thoughts on recording. Around the 17 minute mark he begins discussing the transition in recording practices from analog to digital. The main goal used to be capturing as much "attack" as possible and now with digital he's making a move to focus on "tone". So there is a lot more experimentation on the types of bass sounds you can record. Of course T-Bone explains this more indepth and eloquently than I can, so give the podcast a listen. I also highly recommend the All Songs Considered Podcast in general. It's a great way for any music lover to keep tabs on new music coming out and also catch some great interviews.

Day Jobs and Chops

On Tuesday the music blog Stereogum hosted Death Cab for Cutie as guest bloggers. If you're a Death Cab fan you can find all of the posts here. But any musician should find the following two posts entertaining.

Quit Your Day Job: Drummer Jason McGerr and bassist Nick Harmer discuss the jobs they had before becoming full time musicians. Jason worked in construction and then as an instructor at an interesting music school. Nick worked with the Tacoma Sanitation Department. Read the article for gory descriptions of the pitfalls and also the highlights of both jobs.

"It's amazing how much more of a student I became when I was teaching that much. Going over really basic fundamentals everyday for hours on end. It was like simple stretching that eventually allowed for total flexibility. Consider that my job was to get someone to do achieve a goal every time they sat down. Or, to feel comfortable and inspired, even embarrassed, no matter what their abilities may be. Sometimes a kid would come in just want to talk for a half hour before picking up the sticks and I'd be totally cool with that. Again, this was more or less the attitude at the school and the reason I did what I did for so long."

Playing Chops vs. Mental Chops: Most importantly, this post contains a youtube video of Animal from the Muppets in a drum showdown vs. Buddy Rich. But I also enjoyed this insight:

"On the stage setting, a musician is usually only susceptible to a taxed mind at the start of the show. Once he or she gets going though, they usually level out and begin to focus and enjoy themselves. When it comes to the recording studio, I sometimes find it to be the opposite. A player can be really optimistic and clear at the beginning of the day but may tire after several attempts of the same song, which means thinking about it too much, and eventually their performance suffers."

The Black Cab Sessions

The Black Cab Sessions is a British website where they make a music video by recording a band playing a song while riding around London in a cab. What transpires is usually a stripped down version of the song and some real genuine moments. They've done over 40 sessions at the point and featured some bigger names like The National, Spoon, The New Pornographers, and The Raveonettes. They've also featured some bands that I wasn't as familiar with. One of those artists is Seasick Steve. A raw and gritty acoustic bluesman. After watching this video I went to youtube and found several clips from his appearances on the Jools Holland show. And I gotta say, Seasick Steve is thoroughly entertaining. Check out his Black Cab Session below...




If you wanna learn how to play some acoustic blues licks check out our Acoustic Blues: Intros & Endings lesson by Jody Worrell.