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Blues jam standards?


The Admiral
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Evening all.

I'd welcome some thoughts around a list of 'standards' to work on for a blues jam band I've been asked to sit in with. I'm not a blues expert, but I've got a pretty varied collection of stuff - Chicago, Texas, Delta, Detroit and Country styles, and I'm sure there must be a list of 'bankers' which will start us off well, before we get to investigating some of the more obscure stuff through the old "do you know..........?" routine.

All input gratefully received.

A

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It's a jam, jam it :)

In all honesty 99% of the stuff can be described in musical terms. Slow blues in C starting on the 5, A medium speed shuffle in A with stops etc.

At the jams I do (and work at) quite often someone will say a name of a song I've never heard before. I smile, nod and just get on with it. Much more fun than trying to play a faithful version of a record.

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All I want to know is what the feel/groove is and the key.
If there are any unusual changes, then maybe let me know,
but blues on bass is just about holding it together while the gtr
goes missing on a solo.
One of the reasons why I don't like to play in bands without keys..
If the keys are pretty educated in their substitutions, then even better and it is all
on the shout. Might freak the gtr tho ...which is funny..!!

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[quote name='The Admiral' timestamp='1409179859' post='2537304']
Evening all.

I'd welcome some thoughts around a list of 'standards' to work on for a blues jam band I've been asked to sit in with. I'm not a blues expert, but I've got a pretty varied collection of stuff - Chicago, Texas, Delta, Detroit and Country styles, and I'm sure there must be a list of 'bankers' which will start us off well, before we get to investigating some of the more obscure stuff through the old "do you know..........?" routine.

All input gratefully received.

A
[/quote]
[quote name='Bassman Steve' timestamp='1409210313' post='2537403']
I think the idea of named songs is to provide lyrics. No-one says it has to be a faithful representation of the original, as you say, it's a jam.
[/quote]

Picking up on what a couple of people have said, I think the original question needs re-framing. Yes, a lot of it you can wing as slow 12 bar in A etc. but there are a number of songs that will crop up that you will need to know a phew phrases and riffs for and I think we should try and build a list of those.

My contribution would be:

Messing With The Kid
Crossroads (Cream version)
Thrill Has Gone - mentioned above, the fourth chord may trip you up the first couple of times if you're not ready for it.

I'm sure there are some other regulars that need to be contributed.

Mike

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Isn't the contradiction between Blues covers / standards and jamming - jamming being one thing and playing a cover of a well known Blues number another, I get into debates with our piano player when he searches mid number, for 'that' chord inversion and he tells me that he's just jamming. I ask him, 'are we playing a song or jamming? Because, if we're jamming then there's no way that I'm going to play this often repeated pattern and make a 'bed' for him or someone else to play without similar discipline.

There's a lot of great stuff to learn in playing Blues and just about any technique fits - I'd ask your jam band for a list, their list is bound to be full of embellished parts that perhaps shouldn't be there.

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Another example of one (like Stormy Monday) that doesn't quite follow the simple blues pattern is Need Your Love So Bad, came up quite regularly in a jam session I used to do. Also SRV's Pride & Joy used to come up now and again, that's a good solid bassline to work on for uptempo blues in general.

Edited by KevB
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Apologies for any duplications:

Albert King: Born Under a Bad Sign, The Hunter
Jimmy Reed: Bright Lights, Big City - Baby What You Want Me to Do - Honest I Do
Elmore James: Dust My Broom, Talk To Me Baby, Shake Your Moneymaker
Various artists inc Clapton, Buddy Guy: Five Long Years
Bobby Bland: Further On Up the Road
Bo Diddley: Who Do You Love
John Lee Hooker: Serve You Right To Suffer, Boogie Chillen

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Thanks for the input and some very good points made.

I was actually listening to Sweet Home Chicago on my iPod - and I have at least 6 versions, with varying basslines, or none at all in the case of Robert Johnson. Interesting to hear the difference between Duck Dunn's playing on The. Blues Brothers soundtrack by comparison with Freddie King's version. Dunn is all over the place - riff, roots etc, whereas King's bass player is Mr Root Note and plodding all the way through. Both work in the context of the respective bands : Blues Brothers 'big band' with horn section, and King is basically a trio.

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Most tunes fall into the 'busk it' category, but here's a few that don't quite fit that profile:

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwt15IwwTdw"]Boom Boom[/url] - John Lee Hooker. There's also the Dr Feelgood version which has a subtly different arrangement.
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5unZ3BTqck"]Sweet Home Chicago[/url] - This version by Foghat. Mostly it's a question of watching for the stops.
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gDhR1R3S0s"]Stormy Monday[/url] - Allman Bros is the default, but make sure first as the T-Bone Walker original doesn't have the changes & it sounds a right trainwreck if you're playing the changes & no-one else is.
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duRp_avXtMM"]My Babe[/url] - Little Walter. A I-V-IV with a II-V-I section during the solos.
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNsLyQGSqIg"]Crosscut Saw[/url] - Token Rhumba
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eANGHVQS9Q"]Black Magic Woman[/url] - The Santana version is the default setting, but the Peter Green original is worth knowing.
[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH2eg0qa2jA"]Sitting On Top Of The World[/url] - Another tune with multiple versions, but the Cream one is probably the standard. I'm particularly fond of the BBM version in the link.

P.

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[quote name='Bloodaxe' timestamp='1409258964' post='2538145']

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH2eg0qa2jA"]Sitting On Top Of The World[/url] - Another tune with multiple versions, but the Cream one is probably the standard. I'm particularly fond of the BBM version in the link.

P.
[/quote]

I love that.............keep goin' Ginger ;)

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If like me you are new to playing the blues there's a Hal Leonard book on blues bass which covers about a dozen blues standards, pretty much all the songs mentioned above. There's a play along CD too so you can make your mistakes in private. Most importantly it gives an explanation of 'from the five' or quick IV and the endless variations of the turnaround (last two bars). Most blues players kind of underplay how much knowledge they have, the music has a structure but infinite variations and if you've been playing it for years then you kind of forget having had to learn it. Don't undersell yourselves guys.

Have fun

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