Some slow blues for ya!

CapoFirstFret

CapoFirstFret

New member
Well with all the blues playing going on around here, I figured I'd jump in on the action

I loaded up pro tools, plugged in my trusty boss DR-3 and set it to the slow blues setting and let the fingers fly. Did one take, converted to mp3, downloaded ftp client..etc etc...and so here we are!

Slow Blues in A by yours truly :) I'll say what gear I used after I hear feedback on the tone :)

The Marc Phillips Project
 
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Re: Some slow blues for ya!

Wow, that's pretty impressive for a first take. Did you run through it first to get some ideas, or just hit Record and let 'er roll?

You definitely have the tone, touch, and sense of timing of a great blues player. One thing I noticed was that you seem more confident on the fast runs than on slower, more mellow passages, which seems totally backwards, but it's there. I can almost sense that you're uncomfortable with rests and simple phrasing, and through much of the beginning I felt like you were itching to just let 'er rip. Do you agree, or am I full of crap?

Side note: the squeaking harmonic at 2:58 is AWESOME!
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

ratherdashing said:
Wow, that's pretty impressive for a first take. Did you run through it first to get some ideas, or just hit Record and let 'er roll?

You definitely have the tone, touch, and sense of timing of a great blues player. One thing I noticed was that you seem more confident on the fast runs than on slower, more mellow passages, which seems totally backwards, but it's there. I can almost sense that you're uncomfortable with rests and simple phrasing, and through much of the beginning I felt like you were itching to just let 'er rip. Do you agree, or am I full of crap?

Side note: the squeaking harmonic at 2:58 is AWESOME!
Click to expand...


you're dead on!! Slow simple stuff trips me up all the time!! I'd rather be blazing and throwing down some complex jazz run than sitting still on some slow little blues run. It's just more interesting! :)

it's so hard for me to hold back early on in songs and not throw everything i've got too early in a song and ruin the ending.
 
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Re: Some slow blues for ya!

I really liked the song towards the end, where your playing got a little more agressive and complex. The beginning didn't thrill me too much but it was still def good. I think it's really hard to be a good slow blues player. IMO few are able to do so.
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

also, in my defense...the guitar I was playing isn't the biggest tone machine :) It's hard to play slow stuff if notes don't ring out enough ya know? Ya play more and faster to fill in the space that a normally sustaining guitar would fill
 
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Re: Some slow blues for ya!

nice tone...kindof what I was going for in my first blues clip (messing up the blues). and thats a good backing track..what did you use for drums and bass.

chris
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

The backing track is just my Boss Dr-3 on the blues setting and I set it to play through a whole song. All I had to do was hit the finish button when I was ready for the ending :) It's a great little practice tool. Has lots of different styles you can just set to play through again and again and practice along with them. All you have to do is figure out the key and the chords (good for the ear)
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

I guess i can go ahead and say what gear I used since nobody is going to comment much on the tone :) I played my strings and things custom strat loaded with american strat pickups through the Peavey Valve King 1x12. that's it...no effects or anything. I think it came out witha pretty good tone
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

I just listened man, And Thats some Great blues tone there. Which channel of the Valve King were ya useing? An How'de ya mic It? Seems ta have alotta Air in it, So I'm guessing not close miked. Anyways Sounded great. Like everyone else I could kinda see the uneasyness with the Slower sections, But You totally made up for it with the more aggresive sections.
I esspecially liked How you pretty much stuck to a standard blues feel, But occasional threw in Non-bluesish licks (deffinately a good thing IMO). Deffinately sensed a little jazzyness in there, Like you had ta try hard to Hold the Jazz licks back, Haha. But when they did pop out, It was deffinately at the right times.
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

It was the overdrive channel obviously, but boost was not on. Gain wasn't even halfway up ...I used the neck/middle position for the first part of the song and near the end switched to the bridge pickup. I put a large diagram condenser mic 4 feet away from the amp :) that way I could seriously crank it. I tilted the amp back and put the mic about 4 feet away..lots of air..I like that in blues stuff..lots of room noise :)
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

Capo,

Really nice work!! Restraint is soooo damn hard for a notey guy like me. You do it quite nicely!! I love where you open it up, great dynamics.
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

That was earthy. Very cool. Thats the style of playing I strive for, but can't quite nail like you have. Nice chops.
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

Thanks for the kind words guys, I really appreciate it. I get down on my playing pretty regularly so it's good to hear praise from guys who I look up to (and yeah, believe it or not I look up to several guys on this forum...there are some SERIOUSLY killer players on here)
 
Re: Some slow blues for ya!

Capo that some great stuff. Well done. Do I recall you saying that the hardcore Delta blues guys around there wouldn't let you play with them...it's their loss. Nice chops.
 
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Re: Some slow blues for ya!

Guitar Toad said:
Capo that some great stuff. Well done. Do I recall you saying that the hardcore Delta blues guys around there wouldn't let you play with them...it's their loss. Nice chops.
Click to expand...

Yeah the guys around here consider me just a bit too rock and roll to play with them. It's seriously frustrating as I can't seem to get gigs or to b e taken seriously for some reason. ah well, i guess I'll just focus more on my original stuff which definitely isn't blues enough for them :)
 
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