I am finding it hard to bring myself to leave the house for Kung Fu; this is probably some sort of protective instinct, part of the pregnancy. However, this lends itself to a lot of guitar practice -- and a little more writing time (although that too somehow feels like leaving the house ( Read more... )

Man, I wish I could sing like Son House.

Writing ( Read more... )

I know what you're thinking -- Blind Willie McTell? Didn't we just hear a song by a Blind Willie? Well, that was a different Blind Willie. (There were quite a few.) Besides, the song is worth it.

Listen HereWhen you first start researching blues, it seems like a lot of blues players were blind. To my mind, there may be some argument to make about ( Read more... )

Many people consider Charley Patton the true Father of the Delta Blues. He taught Son House (who later inspired Robert Johnson to play). He taught Howling Wolf (who became one of the largest Blues stars of the 60's). As far as most folks, he was playing music completely free of Ragtime influence before most people knew what was happening. Some ( Read more... )

To mark the return of the Blues-Song-of-the-Week feature, I've chosen Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go."

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Big Joe made a name for himself as a guitarist and collaborated with lots of people, including Robert Nighthawk and Sonny Boy Williamson. "Baby Please Don't Go" is one of his most recognizable songs, and has been covered by everyone from ( Read more... )

Well, I'm 58 days in to playing the guitar, and I've finished writing my first song!! It's called "Nightbird". ENJOY!

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For now, it's an instrumental. It seems like words would ruin it.
BTW: Sorry about the poor sound quality. My production equipment is rather limited. I'm not a rockstar yet ;)

1) Actually get the story in the mail, with postage on it ( Read more... )

Well, my callouses are shaping up. Or rather, not. They're completely invisible, but feel like 1/8th inch pads of superglue to me. But, yay, it doesn't hurt to play anymore ( Read more... )

It's a little early to post for today, but my fingers are feeling so close to blistered that they're tender to type with. So I'm likely to not play at all today -- or I'm likely to just try to do a successful barre tonight (again - still haven't got this to work ( Read more... )