Guitar Players play the blues with emotion..
First I had to develop my skills to a certain level. My movements needed to become instinctual so I didn’t have to think about it and could play off of emotion. That’s why it is called the ‘Blues”, it’s all about the emotion. Otherwise they are just notes.
The first song I decided to learn to play on the guitar was “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix. Then I learned “Little Wing” and “Hey Joe” and then I learned “Mary Had a Little Lamb” composed by Buddy Guy and played Stevie Ray style and now I’m learning “Tin Pan Alley” as played by Stevie Ray Vaughan. Now I have “Texas Flood” down pat.
I have worked on some of these songs now for almost 3 years now. This is not your entrance level music. I bit off a big piece. You can ask my wife, I always bite off more than I can chew. I practice the guitar or play the guitar, what ever you want to call it, all the time, every freakin’ day. I go over scales, play riffs, sections of songs, and turnarounds tirelessly.
Last nite I felt it. I felt the heart stealing emotion of The Blues, Man, I got lost for a while. I could clearly recognize the intro to Red House. The timing on Mary Had A Little Lamb was right in the pocket. The intro to Little Wing, the most complex composition I have ever seen and my biggest challenged yet was very recognizable. For most intermediate guitar players, the blues is about finding emotions, which was a new level of playing. I’m still one of the intermediate guitar players, and I don’t know how to call up that sort of emotion in my playing every time, but I had the blues.
If serious guitar players read more of the GuitarPlayersCenter blog posts, you will find much information on reaching this level of emotion and guitar playing skills.