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Blues
Guitar Of Muddy Waters
No other blues artist has had as profound an impact on the music
of the twentieth century than Muddy Waters! His absolute grace,
power, and inventiveness make him one of the twentieth century's
most important music artists.
The wealth of Muddy's guitar styles are too great to cover in
this artist feature, so I will focus on his early Chicago style
and his slide guitar playing.
Coming To Chicago
Muddy Waters had been enslaved as a farmer on Stovall's plantation
in Mississippi for years. He dreamed of the day he would move North
and leave the oppression of the south behind.
When Muddy first arrived in Chicago, he knew that he had to begin a
good relationship with a descent record company. That record company
would be Aristocrat which would later become Chess.
Two Aristocrat singles that would forever change the direction
of blues music we're "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I
Feel Like Goin' Home". Recorded in 1948, these two blues masterpieces
showcase Muddy's beautifully sculptured slide guitar work in Open-G
Tuning.
>Get more info on
Open-G Tuning
I Can't Be Satisfied
Let's start with the essential riff that is heard throughout the
song. This riff that opens the song sounds so simple, but after
trying it, you will see that it is a brilliant and complex series
of notes!
- On riff 1 above, Muddy uses fingerpicking as
was commonly done in the Delta blues style. The thumb strums the
open-string and third-fret double notes which are not played with
the slide.
- If you're unfamiliar with slide guitar playing, first take our
slide
guitar lesson!
- Once you are comfortable with this riff, try repeating it like
Muddy does.
This one is played with the slide only. It is a staple for open-G
players. Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones cites Muddy Waters
as one of his biggest influences, and used
this blues riff in "Brown Sugar" without a slide. open-G tuning is a large
part of Keith's sound.
- On this one, you might hear some other strings ring. This is
part of the slide's charm..just let it happen naturally.
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