Guitar Influence: From The Blues To Rock

The blues and rock music go together like mashed potatoes and gravy.  So much of rock music has a strong blues foundation, from solo scales to chord progressions to song lyrics.  This post features both styles of music and how each of them has influenced the other.  Here you will find some history lessons on the origins of rock music with its heavy blues influence, great songs to start working on, blues rock guitar licks to add to your playing, and some special artist features that talk on their blues, rock and jazz influences.  The music examples in this post will highlight the shared musical traits of the two popular styles and how the artists in them have defined their own playing with them.  Enjoy this feature and take these examples to heart in your own playing.

Blues rock band performing
on stage

So where did rock music get its start?  And how did the music before it influence its birth?  Great questions, and here you can see some answers and a few examples of all the different styles of rock over the years at http://ezinearticles.com/?Rock-Music&id=6573435.

The term rock music is an extremely popular genre of music which has its roots, deeply embedded in rock and roll, country music and blues music. Centered on the guitar, it has many subgenres like the ones mentioned below to name a few.

>> Alternative rock
>> Art rock
>> Baroque pop
>> Beat music
>> Britpop
>> Emo
>> Experimental rock
>> Garage rock
>> Glam rock
>> Grunge
>> Hard rock
>> Heavy metal
>> Instrumental rock
>> Progressive rock
>> Psychedelia
>> Punk rock
>> Soft rock
>> Symphonic rock

Characteristics:

One of the main traits of the rock music is the eternal sound of guitar which may or may not be electric in nature. Apart from guitar, this form of music also has two more elements to it namely the percussion and electric bass guitar. Normally, the rock band consists of 2 to 5 members that include the main vocalist, lead guitarist, guitarist to play the rhythm, the bass guitarist, the drummer and sometimes another person to play any other instrument. The lyrics of the rock form of music deal with varied issues unlike the Blues music which revolves around melancholy and sadness. In fact, it is difficult to define rock music as it has a tendency to absorb a lot from the other form of music and hence does not have a rigid definition to it.

Social effects of this revolution:

Rock music has been associated with rebellion and a desire to break free form of the prevalent customs and norms of the society. This rebellion is not only against the social scene but also the ongoing political scenario during those. Perhaps this was the reason why the rock scene was perceived as a medium to divert youth and encourage non cooperation and disobedience of the prevalent societal norms. This form of music is also associated with the rising awareness of gender bias prompting equality. This was a major source of ideas especially for the world of fashion and cinema where one could clearly see the outright influence of the rock revolution.

Rock culture in the new millennium:

Coming to the new millennium, it is a term that encompasses a lot more than the traditional form of this type of music. In fact, it is used for all genres of music which are even remotely influenced by the rock movement. Popular additions are as follows:

>> Contemporary heavy metal, metal core and retro metal
>> Garage rock/post-punk revival
>> Digital electronic rock

The world famous contributors to this culture are Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix to name a few. Beatles, Eagles, Rolling stones and the Beach boys are the bands that stormed music scenario and were almost a cult movement during their hay days. Even today, very few rock bands or solo artists can claim even half the popularity that those group or solo performers had.

Electric guitar closeup

Now onto distinct examples of how to get started in rock music.  These next five songs are great places to start playing lead rock guitar, but are only a few among many.  As you listen to each group, try to listen for the blues influence; whether its the chord progression or the solo scales, the blues style is at the foundation of each song.  Check them out here at http://www.guitarworld.com/basics-rock-guitar-five-songs.

I began to seriously play guitar at the impressionable age of 11 (It would have been earlier if my parents hadn’t discouraged me) by receiving an acoustic and some lessons. Two years later, I had my first electric guitar and joined a band. I haven’t stopped consistently playing live since.

When I started, my intentions of playing guitar were pure; I was perfectly content to be in the background, in the shadows of stage right, as the foundational rhythm guitar player. The Brad Whitford, The Malcolm Young — they were all I strived to be.

But as anyone will tell you after playing in many bands, things change, and you either evolve or be eaten alive. So after the lead guitar player in my first band departed, I was told, “Hey man, you’re the lead guitar player now.”

I was terrified. This was not my chosen path, up front and sharing all the glory with the lead singer. No thanks. But you know what? I rose to the challenge.

So with that, I learned to swim rather than sink, and these are five of the many songs I was playing at the time that I believe carved out the lead player I am today. Even though these songs will teach all you’ll need to know about rock playing, with barre chords, chugging, single-note riffing, double-stops and arpeggios, they also contain all the rudimentary moves that bridge the gap from being just another rock guitar player to being a lead guitar player -- and I’ll tell you why:

1. Iron Man – Black Sabbath

Many of you will say, “Bro! What about "Smoke On The Water"?” To which I will respond, “Sure, the riff is easy, but try playing the solo if you’ve never soloed before,” which is why “Iron Man” is a better starting point. The riff is essentially the same plodding riff as "SOTW," but it has so much more going on. Outside of the main riff, guitarist Tony Iommi does a break in the middle that was easy to learn and got my fingers used to moving quickly.

The box pattern of the break also revealed how I could connect those notes all along the neck and helped me see how Iommi constructed the solo using that little break as a launch pad for his very measured solo, which is perfect for the overall feel of the song.

2. Living After Midnight – Judas Priest

This song was the very first solo, I think, I learned. It’s one of those solos that feels so good under your fingers because it taught me pinch harmonics and some blues bending that AC/DC’s Angus Young hangs his hat on. Let’s not forget the muscular guitar parts of the verse or the catchy riff that accompanies this song: The barre chords ring out during the chorus while the low E chugs the verses so it sounds muted and aggressive, all of which make this heavy metal anthem so appealing to play as well as a great lesson in playing dynamically.

3. Rock and Roll – Led Zeppelin

What can I say about this song that hasn’t been said? This song made me realize I could pedal the A, D and E strings while bouncing off the other strings for the riff. It’s all about the accents and timing, which helped me inject small blues jabs and learn to be on time with a drummer.

The solo is great because Jimmy Page starts in one box pattern, moves to the next position then climbs with some triplets to finally shift into the last box position and end with another cool triplet lick. Now, see for yourself, you don’t need to learn the solo exactly because whether you’re a shredder or a slow-hand, you can do either and inject your own personality into it.

4. Gimme Three Steps – Lynyrd Skynyrd

This song is an exercise in double-stops, and it would be years before I even knew what that term meant even though I was doing it. Playing this song correctly involves bending and holding multiple strings in tune. There are some other cool descending patterns and clever blues riffs that boogie, but the heart of this song is making those double-stops sound Southern and convincing — like you meant to down that whole bottle of Jack Daniels in one swig.

5. Message In A Bottle – The Police

This was the song that made me say, “I didn’t know my fingers could do that!” Up until that point, I had lived in a bubble of barre chords, single notes and cowboy chords. This song had propulsion and a finger workout that helped me stretch to notes I didn’t think I could reach previously, and gave me my first taste of learning syncopation.

In addition to its being very progressive sounding, it was an easy song to learn. The whole arpeggio is only a two-bar figure and provides the movement during the verses and ends by giving both hands a break by reverting to simple barre chords and some chugging during the choruses.

Now I know nothing is a greater motivator to putting pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard than a “best Of” list. Just ask Rolling Stone or even us here at Guitar World when a “Best Guitarists” or “Best Guitar Songs” list is created. Some readers freak out because their favorite players or songs always get omitted.

Keep in mind, my list is what worked for me (It’s just for rock, anyway), and I gave you solid reasons why it works. It’s also what helped me approach the guitar in a way that gave me freedom to express my identity. I’m absolutely interested to hear what works for you. So I encourage you all to comment and let me know your five foundational rock songs that changed the way you look at and play guitar.

Blues guitarist

Since blues and rock guitar riffs have so much in common, it is a simple process to apply them in both styles of music.  You might fin that there is some work involved in honing these guitar riffs in each style of music, so check out some tips to do exactly that here at http://learnhowtoplaybluesguitar.com/how-to-apply-blues-riffs-to-rock-your-guitar-skills/.

Blues guitar riffs are an essential component in your guitar arsenal. Minus a very big library of riffs, your skills are going to be at disadvantage and your solos aren’t going to be as skillful as they could do. Now, i’m gonna show you where you can get some tabs for some amazing riffs but first, I’m going to give you some fundamental pointers to be sure you get the most out of them.

1. Be sure to get the hang of new blues guitar riffs each week. Nothing will strangle your advancement as a blues guitarist more, than an inadequacy of glistening notes to work with.

2. It’s vital to practice your new (and old) riffs over the top of some high quality blues backing tracks. Take the chance to really analyze each riff over and over repeatedly. It is all about seeing how each phrase fits with each part of the tune you’re soloing with. In a way you are training your ears and your fingers to give you that archetypal blues ‘feel.’ I am also going to show you where you can download some awe-inspiring backing tracks for free in just a little while too, so be sure you read on.

3. Last on the list is to try welding the riffs side by side, once more, with a variety of backing tracks to help you to create a polished, strong solo. If you still find this level demanding, revert to the second point and invest some more time exploring each riff. It will pay off in the long run.

Ok, so as promised I am going to show you where you can get tab and audio examples for some killer blues guitar riffs. So make sure you go onward and click the links beneath to download them now. 

Here is another feature on learning blues rock guitar licks.  Check it out and use it for your own playing at http://learnhowtoplaybluesguitar.com/learning-blues-rock-licks/.

Whether its a classic 70′s album or a piece of modern metal chaos, believe it or not, but most styles of music are the same in the sense that they tend to share the same scales and or musical ideas. The pentatonic scales, both major and minor, are the very essence of blues and rock music and when you put them together, guess what you get? that’s right, blues rock licks.

These two scales are extremely common and easy to play as they both use a very similar box shape, and to anyone who is a little new at guitar playing I would suggest make the pentatonic scales some of the first patterns that you learn.

From here is a matter of paying attention to the small things. For instance, listen to any classic rock album and after a while you will here the pentatonic scales coming through loud and clear, but really pay attention to what is going on. Are they bending a note? sliding up or down to a note? or perhaps they are doing a combination of things.

If you want to create some sweet sounding blues rock licks, you really need to study what can make them original and awesome sounding. Learning some pre-established guitar licks can help you get ideas for figuring out other ones later on down the road or for comng up with your own.

Now let's hear from some blues rock greats about their influence in both music styles.  This first feature is about The Yardbirds, who have been performing since the 1960s.  This band has been host to many blues rock guitar legends.  Check it out at http://www.guitarworld.com/yardbirds-one-best-gigs-ive-seen-year.

I bet you didn’t know The Yardbirds were still around. Up until a month or two ago, I didn’t know either. Well, they are, and they’re fantastic.

Back in the Sixties, The Yardbirds revolutionized rock music by elevating the guitar soloist to superstar status. Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page are just three of the guys that passed through their ranks, and classic albums like Roger the Engineer, Little Games and Having a Rave Up sound better and hipper with each passing year.

Earlier this summer, I received a press release saying that the band, with original members guitarist Chris Dreja and drummer Jim McCarty, was playing in the UK and I was intrigued.

I bought their 2006 album Live at B.B. King Blues Club not expecting much, and I was shocked. It was terrific, especially their young lead guitarist Ben King.

Featuring songs new and old, King was not only tasteful and true to the essence of the original band, but he also added enough of his own spin to keep them sounding smart and contemporary.

I flew to London in July to see the band in the flesh and dragged my good friend, photographer Ross Halfin, along with me. Ross, who has seen thousands of shows in his lifetime and is good friends with both Page and Beck, thought I was out of my mind. In fact, he called me the politically incorrect term for “mentally handicapped.”

But the band did not disappoint. As they tore through songs like “Smokestack Lightning,” a rollicking “Little Games” and a killer “I’m Confused,” Halfin also became a convert.

The band is on a short tour of the U.S., and I saw them last night at B.B. King’s in New York City. Once again they played a sophisticated set, filled with the kind of sensitivity to dynamics and detail that is all but lost these days.

If they are coming to your town, go and see them. I hear they might be back at the beginning of next year. If they return, I’m gonna see 'em again.

Electric guitarist

And finally we hear from guitar legend Carlos Santana.  His influences have featured several different styles of music including blues and rock.  This interview should serve as inspiration to explore all sorts of different music and that they can all influence your own playing.  Find your inspiration here at http://www.guitarworld.com/carlos-santana-opens-about-blues-jazz-and-more-1988-guitar-world-interview.

Here's our interview with Carlos Santana from the June 1988 issue of Guitar World, which featured Yngwie Malmsteen on the cover. The original story, which started on page 18, ran with the headline, "Another Kind of Blue: Carlos Santana has embarked on yet another musical adventure, one that has a lot to do with theory, and everything to do with the guitar."

He’s sitting on the bed of his hotel suite, playing his Paul Reed Smith guitar, staring out the window on a rainy day in New York and thinking about where his new direction might take him.

“I know I’m not the kind of person who’s gonna wind up a walking jukebox, like many rock ‘n’ roll artists,” says Carlos Santana. “They just play their hits and that’s it. That doesn’t appeal to me. I don’t wanna just go out and play ‘Black Magic Woman’ and ‘Oye Como Va’ all night because that was part of the seventies, and my watch says it’s 1988. So I wanna get into ’88 and not look back.”

A little over a year ago, I chided Carlos in a Guitar World record review of Freedom. "Scrap the sappy, safe, predictable, slick pop arrangements and get back to playing the guitar, man," is what I said, or words to that effect.

I don't know if he ever saw that review, but he must've been thinking along the same lines himself when he recorded his recent Blues For Salvador, his 22nd LP for Columbia. This album kicks my ass around the block every time I give a listen.

Killer guitar on every cut. Eight of the album's nine cuts are instrumental, featuring Carlos' signature singing, stinging guitar lines. For guitar fans, it's a dream come true; easily his most exciting, most scintillating, most inspired display of ax magic in over a decade. Ah, welcome home, Carlos!

And he's not playing the hits, either. No lame pop structures or hook-laden wimp fare like the highly saleable radio hit "Winning" from a few years back. No cheesy vocals anywhere in sight. Sure, sure, it 's good to go gold and bring home the bacon. But I just couldn't deal with that limp radio-play pap with the sounds of Abraxas or Caravanserai still fresh in my ears and the sight of Santana burning up the Woodstock stage on "Soul Sacrifice" still imbedded in my memory banks. That's like munching on Yodels and Ring-Dings after feasting on fine French cuisine.

You drop the needle anywhere on Blues For Salvador and you get the real deal. The man redeems himself for any past lapses. "Bailando/Aquatic Park" revives the memory of "Soul Sacrifice." The lyrical ballad "Bella" is played with a soulful Wes Montgomery tone that allows the nuance of Carlos' expression to shine through beautifully. His adventurous guitar synth work on the mood piece "Mingus" is highly ambitious, if not monumental -- or even characteristic. And the sheer conviction that Carlos displays on the title cut, a duologue with keyboardist Chester Thompson, is positively Herculean.

There's more. He stretches like in days of old on the live jamming vehicle, "Now That You Know," recorded during his band's '85 World Tour. He burns red-hot on the Latin percussion workout of "Hannibal," which segues to a loose, bluesy swing feel at the tag.

He cranks out some vicious wah-wah licks, reminiscent of Jimi in all his glory, on the funky "Deeper, Dig Deeper." And he unleashes with a vengeance on "Trane," which is powered by old-time runnin' buddy drummer Tony Williams.

There may not be any displays of two-handed tapping, wang-bar theatrics or scalar pyrotechnics on Blues For Salvador, but nevertheless, it gets my vote for Top Guitar Album Of The Year. It's a strong statement from a national treasure. And it seems that this powerful, expressive album is now serving as the bridge to a leap in a new direction for Carlos Santana, as well.

''I'm planning to do more of this from now on," the once and future guitar hero explained recently. "I have come to the conclusion -- and I don't know why it took me so long, but nevertheless, I'm here now -- that a lot of people tell me they don't get enough guitar on my albums. So I decided to do an album where the guitar would be the singer, playing the melody. And it feels really, really good. I have come to a point where I'm not afraid to be the main vocal in there. I mean, if cats like Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul can see that I can cut it, I guess I can cut it. It gives me a certain kind of confidence to be able to play with musicians of that caliber. So it 's easier for me now to embrace this vision of the guitar being the main, primary vocal."

He's referring to recent collaborations with jazz heavyweights Hancock (Monster, Columbia), Zawinul (This Is This, Columbia) and Shorter, whom he's been jamming with a lot lately. Those artists tapped Carlos for his unique quality, his Signature sound, not for his knowledge of scales and chord inversions.

They were after the feeling he projects in his playing, the conviction behind his notes. Yet Carlos admits he's at a point now in his career where he would like to learn a thing or two about theory so that he can make the leap to the next level.

"I have been accused of being a very simplistic, very lyrical player, and that's okay. That just comes from the blues, which is my background. But every day you wake up and transcend. You can't ever rest on your laurels. Every day you wake up is an opportunity to go beyond, and that 's why I let my band go right now. For the first time in my life I'm just roaming around, vagabonding. 

"I'm just jamming a lot these days with guys like Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams. And it feels good because now I don't have the responsibility of maintaining a group... being a baby-sitter, psychologist and all the things that you have to be to be the leader of a band.
"So it 's a good time for me. I can afford to go out there and really learn ... take some time and just learn some theory or learn how to sing or learn more about harmony and voicings.

That's what I need to do right now because I want my vision to be more expanded. I need to know the architectural order of someone like Wayne Shorter. For me, listening to his music makes me feel like a two-year-old, like I don't know anything about music. And I need to crawl out of the crib and find how that order relates. I can understand the blues, but I need to learn more cycles. So I'm trying to stretch out a bit on the guitar now, make that leap to a new level. I don't know if I'm gonna succeed or fail, but I'm definitely hungry for it.

And for me, now, I see the importance of learning more chords, learning to read. Because I have taken it as far as I'm gonna take it. You can only dive into your subconscious so much, but now I really feel it's time for me to do some woodshedding, learn a whole bunch of different inversions and all that kind of stuff. I can't really put it into words 'cause I'm really ignorant about all that stuff... flatted fifths and ninths and all that. I play them a lot but I don't know what I'm doing. Well, they say ignorance is bliss, but that's how I play. But just by hanging out and jamming with Wayne Shorter, I'm learning, I'm picking up things and it's helping me to stretch."

Carlos is proud of the fact that he can easily fit into so many diverse musical communities. Of course, the blues fits in everywhere and honest, heartfelt expression is appreciated in any musical culture. Which is why Carlos can get over equally with the likes of John Lee Hooker, Alice Coltram, Willie Nelson, Ruben Blades and Wayne Shorter.

Blues rock electric guitarist

"There's very few musicians who can do that ... go into any part of town and play with anybody. Most musicians, they're very insecure. They only stay in their little pond. Heavy metal with heavy metal, blues with blues. But to me, that would be a curse to stay in one place for too long. Some people like to get a Ph.D. in one subject, but the people who I love are the ones who got a Ph.D. on life... Jimi, Miles, Bird, Gil Evans.

"That's what turns me on most ... music. Not just one facet of it, all of it. It's more challenging to mix it up. And you do get scratched once in a while when you jam with other people. But that 's all part of it. You have to be bold. You have to go out there and complement what they're saying, riot be a hot dog and try to show off how fast or how loud you can play."

Carlos greatly admires artists like Miles Davis and Gil Evans or guitarists like John McLaughlin and Wes Montgomery, not to mention the bluesmen who first caught his fancy, like Otis Rush, Buddy Guy and B.B. King. But he doesn't seem too impressed with the whole new movement of so-called neo-classical metal players who place more emphasis on scales and precision and speed rather than heartfelt expression.

A lot of aspiring musicians today are playing a lot of notes. It 's a technique, an intellectual thing. You can practice this and eventually learn to do it. But it 's still a surface thing. What they need to practice to be completely rounded is the stuff that Jimi was doing and Otis Rush and B.B. and Albert Collins and Buddy Guy ... with one note you can shatter a thousand notes. Especially if you know how to get inside the note. A lot of players don't know how to get inside the note so they're always playing over it. And they use all the same gadgets so they sound kind of the same after a while. They begin to lose their identity, which is the most important thing that they have been given in life.

"Miles Davis was saying that some of these people need to go to Notes Anonymous to learn how to play less. My nephew does that a lot when he plays. It 's a different kind of vocabulary. But the thing is, it 's teenager music we're talking about there; maybe the 13-to-20-year-old range of listenership for that kind of playing. Teenagers don't necessarily like to show their emotions. They don't like to cry in front of people. They like to show off, but they don't like to cry. They don't like to be naked and show their innermost emotions, which is what real music is about. When I was a teenager I didn't want to expose my feelings either. You wanna appear macho or cool, so I can understand that. But if you wanna take the long-term as far as being a musician, you have to learn how to cry. Not whine, but cry."

When he speaks about music, he often makes colorful analogies to food, architecture, furniture, other tangible objects. Of fusion music he says, "It sometimes sounds to me like microwave food. I like when people spend the whole day cooking, you know, in the kitchen and at night when you sit down to eat there's a strong, healthy aroma in the room.

It has a different flavor and somehow has more meaning that way than just popping Stouffer's in the microwave. That's what fusion means to me. It has no love behind it. It 's like someone burping on your face or something." Wayne Shorter's architectural compositions, on the other hand, are " like Tiffany glass ... very elegant, very elite. Not Woolworth's."

Of Otis Rush's powerful blues playing, he says," It 's pretty hard to beat it, man. The way he bends a note is like sucking on sugar cane. He sucks all the juice out of it, you know? And that communicates to the listener. It 's easy to pinch the listener when you bend notes.”

And what about the typical player's addiction to pedals and wireless systems and all those things we put between ax and amp? " It immediately sounds like you 're playing through half a man. You lose all the bottom. It 's like white wine. I like red wine."

While Carlos feels that the whole new wave of Yngwie clones will eventually go the way of eight-track cartridges, Fizzies and Freddie & The Dreamers, he maintains that someone like John Lee Hooker will never go out of style. In fact, he has plans to expose the bluesman to a wider public in a gala concert performance later this year.

"It 's a special one-time thing with the Berkeley Symphony and John Lee Hooker," he announces." If you can imagine a symphony backing up John Lee doing his music, the cellos doing that boogie-woogie riff. That's been one of my dreams for two-and-a-half years now. Thank God we're finally going to do it. I was rejected by just about every symphony in every city in the country. But Berkeley is excited about the project. And I think it 's an important project because to me, John Lee Hooker's music is American classical music. And that shit must be preserved, man.”

So Carlos is taking his own advice from the lyrics of "Deeper, Dig Deeper," one of tile few killer tracks on his disappointing Freedom album: "You have to trust your inner pilot/Let your feelings flow " He's out on a limb, soaking up stimuli from the likes of Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams and others. ''I'm learning all these new languages, " he laughs.

"We just did a jam in San Francisco with Jerry Garcia and Wayne and the Caribbean All-Stars and the Tower Of Power horns, and it all fit, man. Then the next week we did a benefit concert for Jaco Pastorius ' family with Peter Erskine, Marcus Miller, Victor Bailey, Hiram Bullock, Herbie and Wayne. Again, we all jammed together and it all fit. I was like in a trance. I found myself directing the whole thing, conducting the flow of traffic. So it shows me that all music comes together."

Carlos is living for the music now He's taking his time and checking things out, always open to new influences and directions. We may not hear the results of his current search until late this year, but if cuts like "'Trane" or the title cut from Blues For Salvador are any indication of the path he's heading down, I say " Keep on, Carlos."

He puts his ax down and turns contemplative." You know, entertainment is fickle. And that 's what I would suggest youngsters take notice of. A lot of the bands around today are doing entertainment, not making music. It 's like a Las Vegas act or something. But real music. I'd rather listen to real musicians on the street in front of Macy's around Christmastime than a lot of the MTV stuff that I'm hearing. 'Cause those guys in front of Macy's are really playing. They're hungry and they can feel it. And that has always been my priority… feeling."

The blues and rock music are just two examples of popular guitar styles.  Granted they are two of the largest music styles for guitar, but as you can see in Santana's interview inspiration is in all music. 

Find your inspiration for guitar today at Mike's Guitar Talk.  Subscribe to Mike's Guitar Talk and receive these articles directly.

Have fun and stay tuned!

Mike