Chords for Blues Guitar Lesson - Stormy 2 - Larry Carlton

_ _ _ So, the slow blues.
We all get to play the slow blues, kind of a stormy, mundy, kind
of slow blues.
And you'll notice that I'm using just a backbeat for the first chorus,
but you have choices within the phrase where you put the backbeat.
[F#m] There's 1, _
[A] 3, 4.
I
chose to put it on 1, _ _ 4.
_ Now, there's two places right there in the blues that you get
to choose as the accompanist.
What do I want to set up for the solo?
I know the reason,
instinctively, that I chose to put it on beat 4 rather than on the 2 to give the guy who's
playing the solo more time to make a statement without me being in his way.
But the other
way works also, and the soloist would adjust to your part.
So, yeah, notice I was using
all upstrokes and very small chords.
[F#m] _ A6, [G] because the 7th is understood because of the bassline.
[A] _ So it's already blues sounding and very short.
And the challenge of playing backbeats is
to lock it to the hi-hat and the snare drum.
So the whole time that I'm playing that backbeat,
I'm listening very intensely to the_ _
I want to be perfect with that guy and make it sound
very solid for him.
So that's something to think about when you're doing your backbeat
and the choice you have as to where you put it. _ _
_ _ So now, as the blues develops, there's
a second chorus, and if you've chosen, as we did, to play backbeats for the first chorus,
_ very open, give the soloist plenty of space.
But now we want to help him along, give him
a little more information to play on.
It's easier for the listener, too, to have more
harmony.
So I chose to incorporate the backbeat and some chords.
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ [Am] _ [C#] A little bit more harmony
for the guy to play his solo off of, but still trying to accent that backbeat, which is what
was established on the first chorus, you know.
And on the walk [A]-up, _ [Bm] _ _ [C#m] _ _
very [B] simple.
Again,
those chords are so rich, the walk-up from the one to the two minor, three minor, that
I'm not doing anything fancy to those chords right now.
I want to establish the harmony
for the soloist, but also give him the groove. _ _
[C#m] _ _ _ [D#] _ So yeah, you can develop [N] right off of your
first chorus, the backbeats, second chorus, [F#m] add a little [Em] harmony to it and keep [N] developing.
The more choruses the guy plays, the more choices you have to help him out. _ _
_ _ _ Now, on
the third chorus, I really expanded the harmony.
And the reason for that, obviously, is just
to give the soloist more things to think about.
So that first chord on the downbeat, where
it's normally A7 for [A] this blues, _ I [G#m] immediately gave [Bm] him a sus chord.
Then I resolve [Em] it [Am] to
get to the four chord.
I know, as a [G] soloist for many years, when I [D] hear a new sound like
that, it forces me or allows me or entices me to play something [Em] different.
Oh, [D] against
that chord, I'm happy.
So yeah, [G] another one is I started to get to the four chord.
I think
I started using a half-step-above approach.
[Am] _ And again, just for the interest to let the
soloist have a little more information to play off of.
[A] And then coming [Bm] back, we did
the_
Actually, coming back, [A] I think I did a I6-II-V, which [F#] is [Gm] _ F sharp 7, sharp 5, flat
9.
[B] Then the next chord is the B.
I made it major.
I [F#] went from F [E] sharp.
_ [F#m] _ _ Now we're going
to the five chord.
And I made [E] it a plus-five chord.
_ [D] _ _ _ [A] So the voice leading was so nice on
that.
Let me show you that again.
We've got the_
Down [F#] to the _
[E] sixth chord.
That's the
F sharp.
[B] Then the B.
_ [D#] _ [F#m]
Then the five chord.
[E] _ [Fm] _ _ [A] _ _ So yeah, lots of choices.
That was fun.
We've
got this sus action here with the G major 7th [G] resolved.
Then we've got the little half-step-above
to get to the four chord.
[Am] _ _ _ And then [C#] our last walk-down was the A [F#] to the F sharp, altered,
to the B7, [E] to the E, [Fm] altered.
So there's some stuff for you to think about. _ _