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Which Blues songs?


danweb22
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Gary Moore-Story of the Blues springs to mind for some reason.

Loads of Freddie King stuff that generally gets missed. I'd try and keep away from the same old stuff just about everybody else does, and try to keep away from long long lead breaks, unless you have an exceptional guitard.

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As you will know, blues comes in many guises. It's worth trying to find a style or two that suit you all. I play in two bands, both blues but both very different. One plays west coast & Chicago blues doing tunes by people like Hollywood Fats, Kim Wilson, James Harmony, John Nemeth, William Clarke, etc. The other plays stuff by Little Milton, SRV, John Mayall, Otis Rush, Cream, etc.
Find your own slant on it, get a good mix of tempo & grooves - not too many mid tempo shuffles - and make sure you have enough tunes people can shake their booty to!

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We've just stuck 'Crossroads' and 'Stormy Monday' in our set.

First one may be over-done, but seems to work well for us. Love the Cream version, so why not?

Last night I played 'Smoke On The Water' for the first time ever - and TBH, I think it was very cool. So under-played for so long, it sounded fab!

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[quote name='spongebob' post='1278756' date='Jun 22 2011, 05:00 PM']We've just stuck 'Crossroads' and 'Stormy Monday' in our set.

First one may be over-done, but seems to work well for us. Love the Cream version, so why not?

Last night I played 'Smoke On The Water' for the first time ever - and TBH, I think it was very cool. So under-played for so long, it sounded fab![/quote]


I love playing White Room by cream


I'm guessing its more Rock blues then Blues (which is vast) , if so , guess you just start with the classic anyway then if that works with your band/audience you can develop it from there

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[quote name='PTB' post='1278697' date='Jun 22 2011, 04:34 PM']As you will know, blues comes in many guises. It's worth trying to find a style or two that suit you all.[/quote]

+1

And much depends on what resources you have available. There are entire [i]genres [/i]of blues which only sound really convincing if you have a harp player, or if you have a soulful guitarist who really knows how to play a Tele, or if you have a gravelly-voiced singer who smokes 40 Marlboro a day and gargles with Jack Daniels.

Doesn't stop you from covering Little Milton if you haven't got a mouth organ, of course. It just sounds better if you match the original line-up.

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[quote name='PTB' post='1278697' date='Jun 22 2011, 04:34 PM']As you will know, blues comes in many guises. It's worth trying to find a style or two that suit you all. I play in two bands, both blues but both very different. One plays west coast & Chicago blues doing tunes by people like Hollywood Fats, Kim Wilson, James Harmony, John Nemeth, William Clarke, etc. The other plays stuff by Little Milton, SRV, John Mayall, Otis Rush, Cream, etc.
Find your own slant on it, get a good mix of tempo & grooves - not too many mid tempo shuffles - and make sure you have enough tunes people can shake their booty to![/quote]

+1, depends on so many things. What kind of voice has your singer got? Would your crowds appreciate/recognise/want it? Short 'n sweet or extended breaks.
Personally I prefer (R&)blues songs with a bit of history but which has had a vibe put onto it; such as

Originally by Muddy water (???) but also covered by The Stones (with Muddy) Aerosmith, Ted Nugent .......... and Gary Glitter :)

......and

which has also been extensively covered

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Wow - now that's a question, so hears my tanners worth!

Having played in Blues Bands for a long time I would suggest you dig out the numbers with different rhythmns and breaks to them.

Steer clear of mid tempo shuffles in "A" and elongated solos - unless you've got Clapton and Rod Piazza in the band. :)

Try listening to Willie Dixon, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Chess and Checker stuff in a search for the unusual along with what they were doing down in New Orleans in the late 1950s early '60s.

SRV and Gary Moore didn't really do it for me although I rated their technical ability.

At the end of the day, remember Blues is Fun and is meant to be dancing music - relax and enjoy it!

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A bit of a list...

Ain't Nobody's Business - Jimmy Witherspoon (Freddie King too)
All Your Love (I Miss Loving) - Otis Rush (but go with the version by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers)
Baby What You Want Me To Do - Jimmy Reed
Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac (but everyone goes for the Santana version)
Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King
Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
Boom, Boom Out Goes The Lights - Little Walter (also Pat Travers)
Bright Lights, Big City - Jimmy Reed
Bring It On Home - Sonny Boy Williamson (Led Zep as well)
Crosscut Saw - Albert King
Don't Start Me Talkin' - Sonny Boy WIlliamson (check out Rory Gallagher's version as well)
Dust My Broom - Elmore James
Further On Up The Road - Bobby 'Blue' Bland
Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
Help Me - Sonny Boy Williamson
Hideaway - Freddie King
I Can't Quit You Baby - Otis Rush (& Led Zep)
Key to The Highway - Little Walter (also Clapton & others)
King Bee - Slim Harpo
Linda Lu - Johnny Otis (but seek out the Foghat Version)
Little Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf (also the Stones)
Mama Talk To Your Daughter - J.B. Lenoir
Mercury Blues - David Lindley/Alan Jackson/
My Babe - Little Walter
Nadine - Chuck Berry
Need Your Love So Bad - Fleetwood Mac (original by Little Willie John, great cover by Irma Thomas)
No Money Down - Chuck Berry
Pack Fair And Square - Big Walter & His Thunderbirds (better known by the J. Geils Band)
Phone Booth - Robert Cray
Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen (but the Jerry Lee Lewis version is the one IMO)
Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Rock Me Baby - B.B. King
Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston
Rollin' & Tumblin' - Muddy Waters
Red House - Hendrix (pleeeasssee try & avoid this one!)
Satisfy Suzie - Lonnie Mack
Smokestack Lightning - Howlin' Wolf
Spoonful - Howlin' Wolf
Stormy Monday - T. Bone Walker (but everybody defaults to the Allman Brothers version)
Sugar Coated Love - Lazy Lester
The Sky Is Crying - Elmore James (SRV/Gary Moore)
The Stumble - Freddie King
The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
The Hunter - Albert King
Third Degree - Eddie Boyd
Tulane - Chuck Berry
Walkin' By Myself - Jimmy Rogers

That & those already suggested ought to get you started :) If you look them up on YouTube, play YT Roulette with the suggestions down the right hand side - you'll have a set list as long as both your arms in no time.

Pete.

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[quote name='Bloodaxe' post='1278861' date='Jun 22 2011, 06:28 PM']A bit of a list...

Ain't Nobody's Business - Jimmy Witherspoon (Freddie King too)
All Your Love (I Miss Loving) - Otis Rush (but go with the version by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers)
Baby What You Want Me To Do - Jimmy Reed
Black Magic Woman - Fleetwood Mac (but everyone goes for the Santana version)
Born Under A Bad Sign - Albert King
Boom Boom - John Lee Hooker
Boom, Boom Out Goes The Lights - Little Walter (also Pat Travers)
Bright Lights, Big City - Jimmy Reed
Bring It On Home - Sonny Boy Williamson (Led Zep as well)
Crosscut Saw - Albert King
Don't Start Me Talkin' - Sonny Boy WIlliamson (check out Rory Gallagher's version as well)
Dust My Broom - Elmore James
Further On Up The Road - Bobby 'Blue' Bland
Got My Mojo Working - Muddy Waters
Help Me - Sonny Boy Williamson
Hideaway - Freddie King
I Can't Quit You Baby - Otis Rush (& Led Zep)
Key to The Highway - Little Walter (also Clapton & others)
King Bee - Slim Harpo
Linda Lu - Johnny Otis (but seek out the Foghat Version)
Little Red Rooster - Howlin' Wolf (also the Stones)
Mama Talk To Your Daughter - J.B. Lenoir
Mercury Blues - David Lindley/Alan Jackson/
My Babe - Little Walter
Nadine - Chuck Berry
Need Your Love So Bad - Fleetwood Mac (original by Little Willie John, great cover by Irma Thomas)
No Money Down - Chuck Berry
Pack Fair And Square - Big Walter & His Thunderbirds (better known by the J. Geils Band)
Phone Booth - Robert Cray
Pink Cadillac - Bruce Springsteen (but the Jerry Lee Lewis version is the one IMO)
Pride & Joy - Stevie Ray Vaughan
Rock Me Baby - B.B. King
Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston
Rollin' & Tumblin' - Muddy Waters
Red House - Hendrix (pleeeasssee try & avoid this one!)
Satisfy Suzie - Lonnie Mack
Smokestack Lightning - Howlin' Wolf
Spoonful - Howlin' Wolf
Stormy Monday - T. Bone Walker (but everybody defaults to the Allman Brothers version)
Sugar Coated Love - Lazy Lester
The Sky Is Crying - Elmore James (SRV/Gary Moore)
The Stumble - Freddie King
The Thrill Is Gone - B.B. King
The Hunter - Albert King
Third Degree - Eddie Boyd
Tulane - Chuck Berry
Walkin' By Myself - Jimmy Rogers

That & those already suggested ought to get you started :) If you look them up on YouTube, play YT Roulette with the suggestions down the right hand side - you'll have a set list as long as both your arms in no time.

Pete.[/quote]


Curious as to why you list Red House, and the plead for him not to do it?
Is it because its not in the correct alphabetical place?

Edited by Count Bassy
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Have a listen to Robben Ford, Ry Cooder, Kenny Neal, Albert King, BB King, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Lang, Etta James, Duke Tumatoe, Tommy Castro, and Sherman Robertson. That should keep you busy for awhile.

Edited by chris_b
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[quote name='Count Bassy' post='1279113' date='Jun 22 2011, 10:00 PM']Curious as to why you list Red House, and the plead for him not to do it?
Is it because its not in the correct alphabetical place?[/quote]
:)

No, just because of all the slow blues tunes that are available it's [i]always[/i] ******* Red House that floats to the top. Bit like the Allman's take on Stormy Monday & the Santana version of Black Magic Woman. Been there, played 'em, find 'em all stultifying to the nth degree. Love the originals of Stormy & BM Woman & I'm quite happy to do them in that style - especially the rarely heard shuffle at the end of the latter - beats a hack-job of 3rd Stone From The Sun any day.

I guess I'm like Bilbo & his opinion of Fever & Route 66 - they've been done to death 1,000,000 times over & ought to be allowed to die quietly. :)

YMMV naturally.

Last night's Blues Jam at the [url="http://www.coachandhorsesbluesjam.com/home.shtml"]Coach & Horses[/url] landed me with:

Mystery Train,
Flip Flop & Fly (except it wasn't - the tune was, but the lyrics weren't)
Bright Lights Big City
Shame, Shame, Shame (Jimmy Reed) &
Reconsider Baby (Lowell Fulson)

& 4 others that I'll have to wait until the website's updated on Friday to find out what they were. Three sets is good going! Usually only get one, but there seemed to be a shortage of bassists. Suits me.

P.

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My last band was primarily blues influenced. Probably one of the reasons I lasted 6 months :) They can get a bit samey so as much variety within the confines of what still sounds 'bluesy' as possible. Plenty of more modern artists than the old classic players to look at too. One song I wasn't familiar with that was in our set list was Joe Bonamassa's 'Asking Around For You', a slow blues but not the stereotypical 12 bar format;

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Can I just make one suggestion?

Don't choose songs that describe the hardship/oppression of the African/Afro American people by the whites.
I find it embarrassing to listen to, and it's just wrong IMV.

Edited by SteveK
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[quote name='SteveK' post='1279753' date='Jun 23 2011, 04:13 PM']....Don't choose songs that describe the hardship/oppression of the African/Afro American people by the whites....[/quote]
That's the whole genre out the window then!

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[quote name='SteveK' post='1279753' date='Jun 23 2011, 04:13 PM']Can I just make one suggestion? Don't choose songs that describe the hardship/oppression of the African/Afro American people by the whites. I find it embarrassing to listen to, and it's just wrong IMV.[/quote]
You touch upon an area which has energised me for some time. IMO there's nothing more perfectly buttock-clenching than watching a plump white-collar middle-aged Englishman singing about 'his' experiences on a chain-gang in 1930's Alabama. It's just [i]silly[/i]. Parchman Farm. Don't go there.

Not sure that it's [i]wrong[/i], though. If someone wants to cover a song they like and with whose sentiments they sympathise, then it's between them and their audience. But I think they're missing the point about da Blooz, which is that it was - originally - mostly about personal or contemporary 'issues'. Problem is, people deliver the old songs without really understanding what they mean. The words are just sounds that they're trying to reproduce.

For me, performance is about engaging minds as well as feet. So blues without meaning - and I don't mean this unkindly - is lacking in foundation. If one wishes to more fruitfully engage with the blues, it might be more rewarding to update and more precisely localise the message. This entails re-writes or originals, which flies in the face of certain audiences' expectations. It's not easy.

Equally - given that much of the blues canon was informed by then-prevailing social and political circumstances, it's difficult [i]not[/i] to step on someone's long-dead toes. Even though the motivating social deprivation is entirely unarticulated, one might argue that "Saturday Night Fish Fry" or "House Rent Boogie" or "Born under a bad sign" should be equally off-limits.

At which point the pool of available covers would shrink by an order of magnitude such as to clog setlists with even more renditions of the 'same old songs'. Back to the drawing board.

Edited by skankdelvar
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