Learn Blues Guitar http://www.play-blues-guitar.eu/menu-36-lessons-review.php Free Lessons and News Letter Sign Up http://youtunerecords.com/lp/jblet.html Hi - I don't really perform this ragtime blues song in public but decided to learn it make a guitar lesson for it anyone wanting to learn blues guitar shouldn't ignore this particualr genre of blues music. If ragtime guitar is at the tope of the pyramid as far as technique goes, then surely Blind Blake is the King. Other blues men, such as Gary Davis, produced similar material and the old reverend's technique and sheer breadth of style were far more varied than Blake's, but it's Blake's sheer accuracy and speed that still amazes us today. Blake cut over 120 tracks, although many of them were basically the same with different lyrics or slight changes in tempo. Most blues guitar lessons that cover this particular guitar finger picking style tend to over simplify, which is an understandable thing -- we really would like to play this kind of blues, but it's tough to get our fingers around, so we simplify. Sometimes you can adapt guitar chords and miss out a riff here or there and it doesn't make much difference to the listener. I suppose this is the thing -- Blake's guitar style is guitarist's music rather than the listener, although it's great fun to listen to. The keys of C and G lend themselves to ragtime blues guitar rather than the simpler chord progressions of E and A, as they are more complex and allow many permutations, which can produce a diverse arrangement of notes -- great for making the music interesting. Mind you, every chord shape has it's limits and an artist need to be very inventive if all of his songs didn't carry the same guitar riffs. Blaked favored the keys of C and G, but produced some stunning guitar pieces in dropped D and open D. Police Dog Blues in open D is an absolute masterpiece and only Ry Cooder has faithfully copied it, as far as I can tell. His tour de force, West Coast Blues is another great blues guitar instrumental that defies belief and Blake actually talks his way through it at the same time! Chump Man Blues is played in dropped D and for the most part is a medium paced song. However, the timing often surprises us, as Blake hits some of the bass strings off-time, producing syncopation, which is essential when playing ragtime guitar. You'll also hear some very fast triplets played with two finger on the treble strings, which is one of the great challenges of this song. Keep on pickin' and keep it real, Cheers Jim Learn Blues Guitar http://tinyurl.com/blues-guitar-lessons-tj