Road to King of the Blues 1

I've been practicing for that Guitar Center King of the Blues competition. I recorded some of my practice, so you can check them out. I picked up a CD with backing tracks that you can choose from. This one is called Slow Shuffle Blues.


This one is Slow Minor Blues.


This last one is Train Beat Blues.

I tried to sneak in a lick using whole tone scale around 2:15, but miserably failed...

I still have to polish up some spots, but I sound pretty good on these... I think. Let's see what happens.

I got into blues after listening to Stevie Ray Vaughan. Some hard core blues fan might not consider him blues purist and they have a valid point, but he sure can play the guitar like no other blues man.

When I was visiting San Francisco years ago, I started talking to this African-American bus driver. I told him that I play the guitar and I like to play the blues. He asked me who I was listening to, and I told him Stevie Ray Vaughan. He said, "That's not the blues he plays, that's rock n' roll. Listen to Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. Now that's the BLUES!" I didn't take up on his recommendation until some years later, but I hear what he was saying. But that still doesn't change the fact that SRV got me into playing the blues. He died much too young in a helicopter crash in 1990 at the age of 45, but he brought the blues to a whole new generation of music fans and musicians.

I bet half the guitar players playing at the King of the Blues competition will be SRV clones! Am I one of them? I hope not. Remember to PLAY GUITAR NOW!