The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme by Samauraiguitarist and Gagne

"Ever wonder what the theme to Fresh Prince would've sounded like if Will came from down in the Mississippi delta?"

Well Samuraiguitarist and Jeff Gagne did, and I like their cover version. 

NPR Post Some New Hendrix

NPR post some new Jimi Hendrix music. Good Stuff check it out here First Listen Jimi Hendrix People Hell and Angels

Blonde Model with Guitar, Michelle, Music Poster Print

Sometimes when surfing the web for blues posters you find a surprise.

A blond and a blues guitar! What's not to like? This lady might help some bluesman get satisfied.

click either image to view at Amazon.com

Blues Music Link In the Spotlight

While surfing the web I came accross a cool link that blues guitar players might find valuable. It is a list of Tabs for blues music standards.

http://kristinhall.org/songbook/BluesAndStandards.html

Play the blues!


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Jas Obrecht Blues Blog

I recommend the following passed on by a reader

Making sure you know about Jas Obrecht's new blog. Jas wrote for Guitar Player & Frets from '78 to 98, as well as Living Blues Mag. He's currently republishing his archive of work at his blog, completely unedited.
http://jasobrecht.com/
Tons of serious Blues content that's never been seen before. His latest post is about Son House. Be sure to check it out, and let others know.

B.B. King's Lost Guitar Found

In an article titled B.B. King’s Stolen ‘Lucille’ Found and Returned by Gabriel J. Hernandez, PrimierGuitar.com is reporting on a gentleman who found one of B.B. Kings lost guitars.

Friday Funny - Bento Box Blues Guitar

by Sakurako Kitsa

Friday Blues Funny

Not really blues, but funny none the less. At least it made me laugh. I hope you blues guitar players find it funny too.

Dana Carvey - Guitar Humor

Guitar and Slide

Photo uploaded to flickr by fernandovega

Here is another one of those interesting flickr images with a blues theme.

Etta Baker In Her Own Words - Video

I really enjoy Etta Baker's music, you may remember that I posted about her when she passed away last year. May God bless her soul.

But I really like this video because it shows what a kind, simple and beautiful person she was. I hope you enjoy hearing her talk about her garden, her parents and how she learned to play guitar from her dad.

Etta Baker - Knoxville Rag

Notes from YouTube; - "Etta Baker stumped me hard. Her style was completely different. I like to think of myself as a well educated blues musician, but I must admit that I'd never played the Piedmont style, so I was a bit nervous. After a brief lesson, she kicked it off, and I just tried to keep up as best I could." - Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Jessie Mae Hemphill

If you guys knew my process you would be surprised that I ever post anything. The word serendipity almost kills me each post. I have an idea, which I think is a good one and then the next thing you know I am listening to a remake by someone else, and then I have got to go and get a CD that is packed away in the garage, but wait there is a video clip of the person I am researching playing with "insert your favorite blues musician here" and the next thing you know I have spent three hours listen to clips of someone that I don't plan on posting for another couple of weeks when I do Harmonica players or even worse it is some band that I would never even post in this blog in the first place.

OK, so back on track. Yes, right now I am focusing on female blues musicians, that is the plan. For your blues listening pleasure, I give you .

Jessie Mae Hemphill.

Jessie Mae Hemphill - You Can Talk About Me


DVD Trailer 2004 "Dare You to Do it Again"







References;

www.jmhemphill.org

Jessie Mae's Myspace page

Big Joe Williams Videos

BLUES PLAYLIST: BIG JOE WILLIAMS, PART 1




BLUES PLAYLIST: BIG JOE WILLIAMS, PART 2


There are some great videos on YouTube that can not be embedded :(

Well I guess I'll just have to link to them. Take this video of Big Joe Williams playing Baby Please Don't Go for example.

Note the guitar playing and the foot stomps and taps. Dude had rhythm.

Please click link to see video >>>Baby Please Don't Go

Please click link to see video >>>Big Joe Williams

Mississippi Fred McDowell - Goin Down to the River

Everybody seem to like the last Mississippi Fred McDowell video. So here is another, thanks to YouTube. And for all you guitar players out there, this note was also provided:

This is from a web page written by Brian Robertson - "Mississippi Fred McDowell used the D tuning on a fairly regular basis, and one of the advantages is that it allows the high string (D) to play melody or, more often, to play along with the singer, as in his classic, "You Got to Move"

BTW - 'open D' is D A D F# A D

file under;
music, blues, video

Blues Instruments - The Guitar.

I've read in Gerard Herzhaft's Encyclopedia of The Blues and other places that the guitar, became popular and cheap just as the first bluesmen began to develop their sound. At the time among white rural musicians the banjo and the fiddle were just as important as the guitar if not more popular.

The guitar was more flexible and allowed for making blue notes and the creation of a true blues scale. Because the guitar was a cheap instrument and it could produce a wide range of effects it dominated the playing of the early black musicians. The early bluesmen, did not play the guitar the way it was played by classically trained musicians, just as they also played the harmonica in a different way then in classical music. Most black musicians were not trained in classical music at the time anyway.

The early bluesmen, such as Blind Blake and Blind Lemon Jefferson adapted fingerpicking, in which the melody is interwoven among the alternating bass notes and flatpicking, which helps to create the idea of a lead guitar. In flatpicking, the musician plays the melody line, note by note, with a pick. This allows the guitar to accompany a singer in a call and response technique which is familiar to almost every fan of the blues. Where the singer sings a line, and then the guitar repeats that line or vice versa.

It is reported that Lonnie Johnson probably invented this technique thus forever codifying the guitar's place in both blues and later rock and roll. The idea of flat picking lead to the electric guitar, which really allowed the bluesmen and women to express themselves. Thus you get guitars crying and displaying emotions as seen in the playing styles of musicians like B.B. King, T. Bone Walker and later Stevie Ray Vaughn.

To read more about the many blues guitarist check this out Blues Guitarists @ wikipedia.

A little guitar trivia; The guitar has come to be called many different colloquial names over time such as:

axe,
box,
guit-box,
guit-fiddle,
guit-box-fiddle,
guit-axe,
bread-box,
bread-winner,
bread-box-winner,
bread-box-fiddle.

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