I Was Completely Wrong About These Guys...

[@breveth]

I remember music teachers emphasizing playing with a metronome. None of them mentioned the elasticity of tempo. Learning to groove is an art form all to itself.

[@lowstringc]

Elasticity is a function of precision. Phrasing and stretching and compression require great timing and musicality. To put the notes exactly where they feel right requires the same precision that nailing the grid does. Nuance and control is really important because it allows you to exactly reproduce the feel in your head with your hands. So I guess what I’m babbling about, if that the metronome is super important, but it is a fundamental stepping stone, not the end-in-itself. I tell my students all the time that “perfect” music can feel rubbish, and imperfect music can feel heavenly, but if you are unable to be precise enough to nail the grid, you will have a really hard time digging below the notes and rhythms and dynamics and timbre to reach the music. That’s just my 2¢ (and I’m really more of a “feel” guy than a grid guy, but minimizing the grid has held me back…. It’s a hard wire to walk.)

[@justinlast2lastharder749]

I played for a few years and got pretty decent...then took 6 years off after walking out of the Pawn Shop for the third time. Picked it back up a couple years ago. All Physical Skill disappeared, but I still had my timing and knew how to put notes together so I could still make simple things sound good immediately without actually knowing how to play anymore. Now I'm a completely different type of player, what I make sounds nowhere near what it sounded like before. Less technical bullshit thrown in and just more actual music.

[@justinlast2lastharder749]

So I'd consider Timing to be the most important part of it all.

[@Sn0wKitsune]

Yes exactly!!! Improvisation is truly an art form all its on.

[@ViciousTuna2012]

Learning to play around the groove starts with learning to play on time first. You can't get funky with it unless you know how being straight on time feels first.

[@assaultfreightliner4666]

Your story is great. First time I saw BB was in 72. About a couple numbers into the first set some idiot in the crowd hollered for him to play like a speedy guitarist ( can’t remember who). He looked at the guy and stood there with his hand on his hip and said ,” like this?” He hit the strings once and put his hand in the air and proceeded to shred the neck for about thirty second. He looked back at the guy ,” anybody can do that shit, let’s see them play the blues.” I love that man.

[@Wallimann]

That's awesome!

[@troywest]

I can't believe someone could be so rude to shout out like that, as if gratifying them is the whole purpose of everyone assembling there. B.B should have pummeled that guy with his 45 pound Gibson

[@teddynruthstudstill1508]

B.B. King was just awesome!!! I met him and attended many of his shows.

[@troywest]

@@teddynruthstudstill1508 He's a legend !!! My uncle introduced me to his music and my sons listen to him, that's 3 generations of appreciation of his music

[@jasfan8247]

Is exactly how the guitardual goes in the 'Crossroads' movie. And Steve Vai is playing both guitarparts! Haha.

[@CoreyHarrisinterviews]

I toured with BB in the nineties, opening up for him over 70 times around the world. He was the most humble musical genius I ever knew, always looking to make someone else feel important. About his guitar playing he said that he couldn't play and sing at the same time and that his sound came from listening to his cousin Bukka White and trying to imitate Lonnie Johnson. He was always trying to learn something new. We love you BB! ✊🏿

[@cryptonator1988]

His cousin was bukka white? Didn't know this.. good to know..

[@habitantcdn]

First comment I see here brings back a good memory of a little show you did about 20 years ago in a small place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada... What a treat it was, I ended up buying Greens from the Garden that night too!

[@CoreyHarrisinterviews]

@@habitantcdn wow! thanks for the great memories and the support! honor !

[@MrRobertFarr]

Amazing. I am subscribing to your channel. Pronto. Wow! Touring with B.B. King! Wow! With his bent old guitar. He made it look easy. 😁

[@MrRobertFarr]

Bukka White? Wow!

[@ericapelt4591]

Hendrix never really seems to get credit for being a brilliant songwriter, first and foremost.

[@victorbrown3570]

HE wrote some really good songs where the notes and just seem to go together as if they'd been living together for centuries.

[@joeygallo7139]

Lmao are you kidding me??? Jimi is black and this is America people kiss his ass religiously just for that fact alone 💯💯💯🤡

[@BigBri550]

And a recording pioneer!

[@paulj6138]

ELECTRIC LADYLAND double LP could be released today so current ahead of it's time I rate that album next to the BEATLES - His LP NINE TO THE UNIVERSE is rare beautiful 😍

[@thetruthexperiment]

He’s been getting a lot of shade by these neopuritans. Yuck.

[@BaldPerspective]

"Blues is easy to play, but hard to feel."--Jimi Hendrix

[@BigBri550]

Exact opposite for me.

[@camielkotte]

@@BigBri550 then you got it... I hurt my fingers because of "anger" i was told by Curtis Knight, he played with Jimmy, and that it would hold me back in development but was treat also.

[@BigBri550]

Every working-man Caucasian electric guitarist I've ever met, worked with, or seen on KZbin all rely on stock, hackneyed blues riffs. They are all technically much better at the style than I could ever be, but I honestly don't know if even one of them actually feels it.

[@briankeegan8089]

@@BigBri550 Suppose you asked each and every one of them whether they felt it? It's likely that after feeling insulted they would tell you that yes of course they feel it. Would you be able to accept their testimony? If not, then why not? Can a person's own experience of what they are doing be inauthentic? I mean, so what if you don't feel the same thing they are feeling when they play it? That's not the exception in life, it's the rule. When 1000 people see a show, they are all essentially exposed to the exact same stimulus, and yet each experiences it differently. Which attendee is "right?"

[@jonp4846]

@@briankeegan8089 "When 1000 people see a show, they are all essentially exposed to the exact same stimulus, and yet each experiences it differently." So you say.

[@MsAppassionata]

I have a friend who met BB in a coffee shop. She didn’t know who he was but proceeded to get into a nice little conversation with him. She said he seemed like a very nice gentleman. It wasn’t until she was about to leave that someone asked her if she knew who she had just been talking to. She was rather shocked when they told her. She thought he was just another regular customer. Lol. Wish that had been me.

[@vamboroolz1612]

My wife and I met BB King in Glasgow, Scotland. He told his manager to go and get a seat for my wife cause she was heavily pregnant. B B was concerned about her. I tell my daughter, who is now 27, that it was her first concert going to see B B King. Still a big deal to me getting to meet him and shake his hand.

[@philtanics1082]

Im sure BB was nice by all outward appearances but them man was a world class scumbag

[@frankensteinmoneymac]

My grandma sat next to him on a plane. Talked with him the whole time, and said he was really nice.

[@jamesmichaelfrank]

I 💙LOVEE ALL of the stories on this thread.

[@davidzcomputer3303]

My dad has basically the same story, except instead of BB King it was Jerry Stiller...and instead of a coffee shop it was an eyeglass shop...wait ya never mind its pretty much a different story

[@Peter7966]

Hendrix was quantum, a voodoo child. He had that human feel, not a machine. Perfection came with the loosening and leaving perfection. That's where the blues reside.

[@roberthampton3791]

You said it correct. Loose and passionate. We have enough machine noise in the world. kzbin.info/www/bejne/aX2TXomlns9sp5o Looks like a goof ball ( queer_) playing the same riff over and over ad nauseam, equals BORING as hell. Now dig this example please. kzbin.info/www/bejne/Y5jbc2t5jb10gJY It still sounds fresh and exciting 54 years later when I first heard it on car a stereo 8 track. NOTHING NOTHING NOTHING in the time since as ever come as close to this REAL TIME recording! Real music! Not some ambient loop going nowhere with no beat , like a wind chime hanging off your porch. lol The tension between the organ and Jimi as they tighten up then resolve is as CLOSE to JAZZ as rock ever got. Better than Jazz ! This has me bouncing off the walls , playing air guitar/ drums/ bass at 67 years old! THERE IS NO GIMMICK to this ! Music 2022 is ALL FUCKING GIMMICKS via software. Like this clown in the video having to look at a MONITOR to tell him what it sounds like? Hahaha Imagine Charlie Parker / Django Reinhardrt/ Duke Ellington having to use GIMMICKS like all that software/ hardware / music "programs" to create art. No need to wonder why everything has gone to hell, we are in a cellphone world of off and on square waves. God bless

[@WZRDbatzinger]

Yeah.x

[@oztrekgelsoft8409]

Nicely said

[@tonymickens8803]

EXACTLY!

[@charlesbogle6544]

So true... I have learned how Pythagoras and the ancient greeks were somewhat obsessed with mathematical harmonics. Then I saw this video from a knowledgeable soul who pointed out how we are moving towards being stuck in a somewhat robotic mathematical new era of music, seemingly void of the natural looseness of the blues... He said that we need a movement back towards the open soul that slide guitar looseness and funkiness 🌄 EARTHINESS of the blues side of music. I agree! Hendrix grew up right down the road from me, 40 years before me... And I will always remember the first time I heard Purple Haze and Voodoo Child! Mind and soul blown wider open to the powersoul side of music 🎶🌌 Rising above earthly matter and gravity into the cosmic mind and soul of interstellar harmonics.... RAWK on SOULfully everyone, stay free and open to the full expression of Light and Life🌌🌄

[@news603redux]

I met B.B. four times, including a chat in the dressing room - quite possibly the single nicest person I've ever met. He could shred when he wanted to, with blues AND jazz riffs. The fact is, when a box pattern on the guitar is NAMED after you {the B.B. box}, that's all anybody needs to know.

[@glassncobalt]

Amen and....Amen.

[@joelfildes5544]

I saw him in Manchester and was convinced he was just a blues guy…then he did a finger style jazz number…respect…(not that I like jazz !)

[@bigboi71]

He would also play classical guitar from time to time during warm ups...

[@OriginalKingRichTv]

@@bigboi71 now that’s pretty apparent in his playing. Just never knew he was actually trained

[@retinalcircus]

He was flawlessly brilliant when I saw him and had a presence like no other. He was incredible.

[@harleyrider9166]

Prince tried to tell everyone about this years ago in a song called “Joy In Repition”. An included lyric in that song is “a little bit behind the beat..I mean just enough to turn you on”. His solo in that song also shows that.

[@erlikprime]

this is actually my favorite prince song. terrible movie tho

[@harleyrider9166]

@@erlikprime I think it was more of a theatrical / musical piece than an actual movie. If you look at it that way it may not appear to be so bad. I’ve seen worse.

[@marcuswilson3485]

Buddy Guy is the extreme example of this theory. He’s all over the place but it sounds so unpredictable and exciting. I think this is an excellent explanation of musical “feel.”

[@tjroelsma]

Someone once compared Stevie Ray Vaughn's version of "Little Wing" to Jimi Hendrix's version and he described it as follows: - SRV plays the song beautifully, but he treats it like climbing a mountain: he's climbing up all the time. Sure, he does some side-steps here and there, but basically he plays the song pretty much the same every time, like he's found the most efficient way to reach the top. - Hendrix plays the song on a whole different level: he's not climbing a mountain; he's just wandering around on one. He might go up, he might go sideways, he might even go down for a bit. Hendrix might even end up on a totally different mountain from the one he started on, because he played how he felt at that moment.

[@fastbike6764]

And in a totally left field weird way......Allan Holdsworth

[@sseltrek1a2b]

yep- that's what he's describing here...

[@richardturk7162]

I saw Buddy Guy and that man is an incredible guitar player. Most people don't know he can shred with the best of them.

[@Vertigo504]

Very unfair to SRV imo - SRV really got the Hendrix rubato feel at a deep level. Probably better than anyone else I have ever heard. He sounds absolutely effortless when he wants to and not like he's "climbing the mountain" at all - go back and listen again to his Little Wing, as well as Lenny, Riviera Paradise, Life Without You, Tin Pan Alley, etc.

[@innes_82]

The heart isn’t a metronome. Your heartbeat fluctuates, unlike a metronome. They play from the heart.

[@vincentl.9469]

@@detroitfunk313 The worst thing is to play alone in your own time..you wont realise how out of time you are!

[@memyselfandlewii8781]

Interesting

[@towlie337]

I like the way you phrased that. Very good point

[@granthurlburt4062]

@@vincentl.9469 Quite agree. When I went for a guitar lesson at age 55 or so, after sort of messing around since age 21, that's what I was told I need to work on. A metronome is really useful and a good tool. It even makes some things easier like bossa nova. People with a perfect inbuilt rhythm are rare.

[@57stratkat]

I sat on a couch backstage (just me and B.B.) when I was a U.T. Austin audio engineering student and intern for Austin City Limits back in 1982. He was the kindest gentleman and showed a genuine interest in who I was and what I was hoping to do in my life. We just sat and talked for about 10 minutes while the band was doing a soundcheck. He was so nice, no ego stuff - just a kind, genuine human being.

[@jeffmorrison5695]

Don't think, feel. Music is about emotion - feelings. Jimi and BB connect to non musicians because of the great sense of phrasing and feeling. Their music talks to your soul. Satch took that lesson and added the pyrotechnics in some but not all of his tunes.

[@toneyam3643]

💯 You nailed it. I remember Miles Davis saying you can't play jazz until you learn to play the blues and that changed my life.

[@ianmorton140]

I agree, you have to feel it, it almost comes from within and you express it through your instrument. Almost anybody can pick up an instrument and play something. But a lot of people quit because “IT” doesn’t happen quick enough. You do all the endless scales, chords, riffs and emulating then for me personally, as a musician it was like flipping a switch, I could express it! It was quite honestly like a light going on.

[@alukuhito]

You need both though. In fact, it is a THOUGHT that says to feel the music.

[@MrBTBusch]

Now that sir is the key, You're the 1st one to say it str8 out. Very cool sir. Very cool

[@keepinmahprivacy9754]

The thing about the emotions is that they help you understand music easier and more deeply than the mind does, because music naturally resonates with your emotions. One example of this is the "blue notes"... when the western scale system was developed, they placed some of the notes slightly off from where they "should" be based on the natural harmonic resonances. You can still make plenty of interesting music with the notes as they were defined, but they do not have the same emotional resonance, because of those notes that are not quite right. It just so happens that the main notes that are missing from the western scale are between the 4th and 5th, between the 5th and 6th, and between the flat 7th and the natural (major) 7th. When blues musicians started playing music with western instruments, but without classical training, they very quickly added those 3 missing notes back in to their playing, because they were playing what felt right, not what some teacher had taught them was correct. So their emotions led them to rediscover these "blue notes", and the addition of those notes made their music more emotionally impactful than ordinary western music. The blues musicians were not the first to discover the "missing notes" that should have been in the scale though... there was at least one western composer in the 19th century who wrote a treatise about music and pinpointed exactly where they should be, based on pure mathematics, but I guess his ideas just didn't catch on. Maybe he was ahead of his time, or maybe he just couldn't play like Satchmo :)

[@trimmerterav8583]

Goddammit. I'm even not a guitarist and I almost cried of excitement when you described your journey to "finally understanding". Better story than 90% of the current films produced. Better entertainment value than most bizillion-dollar channels out there. You have a fantastic skill of telling stories that are shared as "this is my life, I'm sharing it with you. Learn something." Thanks! BTW at the time of writing I have no idea who you are, I have never heard of you and I don't know how I got to your channel. True story. Subscribing just because: early Metallica and Iron Maiden mentioned! Triggered:)

[@Wallimann]

Thank you so much bro!

[@anotherpointofview222]

@@Wallimann Thank you both.

[@gradywilson6400]

Same here. Well put, homie.

[@anotherpointofview222]

Not to mention the, Not Click Bait, but you can't Not click to see, what this boy be talking about, Jimmy and BB "Can't Play On Beat." I'm putting you up their with people the likes Dave Chappelle who I admire for their life sharing revelational cultural story telling genius.

[@loveworksnoevil]

shouldnt blaspheme God

[@MaineBluesman]

One of the best examples of playing blues somewhere loosely in the same area code as ‘the beat’ is the guitar of John Lee Hooker. Not only was his timing incredibly loose and unpredictable, but there are many, many examples of him completely ignoring the I-IV-V pattern that his band is playing. It’s so loose and unpredictable it’s just beautifully from the seat of his pants. The change comes when he feels it. It’s beautiful. And of course BB and John Lee were also great friends.

[@TheClaptonisgod1]

Johnny Lee WAS the blues. ❤️

[@stephanleo]

I think there is a direct lineage from West African singers and kora players to the Mississippi delta blues. You'll find the same free floating rhythms and phrasings in both cultures.

[@redsky1433]

Playing slightly around the beat, before, on and after, allows for more expression. Singers do it too. Playing in front conveys urgency and playing behind sounds more laidback. I didn't fully realise BB King was doing this. It can be quite subtle. Great video!

[@nikolaslavoie3319]

Im sure bb king do this without knowing it

[@bardwasp9130]

Muddy was famous for singing a half beat fast. His band learned to work around it.

[@MrMatt-cm6do]

Opera singers also sometimes sing ‘out of tune’ by singing a little sharp which often has the effect of making the voice sound like it carries further.

[@thejamspace3052]

Every aspect of music can be controlled and varied in the hands of a master player who's living in the moment and feels it deeply: the tempo, the precision, the attack, the volume, pitch, etc. Most novices just try to replicate a moment someone else created, and that's an important practice too, but the real genius lies in accepting yourself and playing via your whole being. Not just the technical, theoretical, or mathematical, aspects of it, but the whole living experience can be captured when you play music in the moment. Peak flow states are gorgeous.

[@ivandubinsky1857]

Classical musicians (soloists) do this too. They refer to this as "rubato".

[@Philtration]

Years ago I found the same thing in the guitar players that I grew up listening to. Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, David Gilmour.... That slightly "off" style that sounded so much more meaningful to my ear. It is like you are walking down a dark alley and your footsteps are the beat. The notes on the guitar are you screaming or crying out how you feel and you would never wait to sync your voice up with your walk before letting it out right? Being able to play super fast and with precision is a skill but to me it is like being able to type 200 words a minute and having nothing much to say. All the words are spelled correctly but the story goes nowhere.

[@fredhughes4115]

Love your metaphors Dude.

[@mbrady2329]

It's notable that with the exception of Jimi Hendrix, all of those players were / are British; what's more, Hendrix became successful in his own right once he'd moved to the UK. The British blues scene was pivotal in shaping rock guitar in this country, and that's down to white musicians taking their cues directly from black American players; there wasn't the same degree of crossover between black and white artists in the USA at the time.

[@futuretimetraveller8677]

@@mbrady2329 100% the best "rock" (when "rock" means "white") groups have always come from the u.k./australia because as you said they had no problem studying/sampling the likes of bb king chuck berry robert johnson john lee hooker as well as james brown and sam cooke et al all of this led to the golden era of modern music of ALL types 1960s -90s (with a few exceptions) the lack of "crossover" in the u.s. could still be noted during the early years of "MTV" when david bowie as a guest on the show asked why more black artists were not featured although they were pivotal in the genesis and subsequent spread of blues and rock music (michael jackson was the lone black star given time on mtv in the early 80s)---the unsuspecting host was subtly shocked and just tried to smile through it all as best he could i believe this video is still on youtube

[@mbrady2329]

@@futuretimetraveller8677 it's also notable that David Bowie was the first white artist to appear on Soul Train.

[@bluegoose555]

@@mbrady2329 absolute rubbish

[@johnbuell8035]

It’s not about specifically playing in front of the beat. That’s just going to sound like you’re rushing. The phrasing you are trying to define is floating over the time. It’s not connected to the time grid at all. It’s the player’s brain which keeps the two working together, keeping track of time while the notes played float over the grid. So the phrase played is free of time, but the player is able to resolve the phrase by landing back on the time grid. THAT’S why some players are able to play simple stuff that captivates and connects with people. Everything has a downside. And the downside of learning ‘shredding’ patterns and working up speed with a metronome is the loss of musicality and phrasing. What you have learned is that technical ability is NOT everything - and, in fact, it has nothing to do with musicality. Technique is just a tool to help with expressing MUSIC. It’s not an end in itself. Unfortunately, today’s guitar world has placed speed at the forefront of everything. And lost the art of musicality and phrasing along the way. 3-notes-per-string PATTERNS, 4-notes-per-string PATTERNS, tapping patterns, diminished patterns, harmonic minor patterns - none of it is music until the player turns it into music with phrasing and fitting the chords and form.

[@LostMyMojo100]

Well said!

[@livingroomguitarist7]

Perfectly said

[@radiantsignals3279]

50 thumbs up! You nailed it.

[@lead_guitarist9489]

You the worded this perfectly i was thinking on the same point . Technical ability is not the same as musicality , with feeling ,expression.

[@TunePharaoh]

Very well put. Perfect.

[@your_royal_highness]

Jimi was really a blues man. I was able to see him play live four times; all three visits to Chicago in 1968 and Madison WI in ‘69. Really into his music and playing. There was nothing like him…before or since. Did see BB once at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago

[@victorbrown3570]

Damn, you are one very, very lucky person. Unfortunately I never saw him play live and I got into him after he had already passed. Been listening to him for over 50 years and thanks to KZbin I'm still finding marvelous, inspiring Hendrix music.

[@johncaccioppo1142]

When learning music it's important to keep things in proper context, this is why learning the history of music is so important. Comparing an artist from the 60s to one from the 80s is a good example, so much changed in popular music during that time. Styles evolved, recording technology changed, listener expectations transformed... it was disorienting for me, even back then. I can't imagine how difficult it must be for modern listeners to appreciate the contributions of performers and techniques going back 60 years and more.

[@drummer4hire12]

The older I get, the more 'elastic/sloppy' music makes sense.....it has a soul, it is alive......Great video!!!!!

[@vincemeghrouni7805]

And, in a sense, it is more precise. It more precisely achieves the right phrasing, the truly musical phrasing. Arbitrarily metronomic playing is sloppy, really, in that it is squaring up and leaving to angles what is more precisely achieved in curves. Elastic is a great way to look at it - elastic rather than rigid.

[@drummer4hire12]

@@vincemeghrouni7805 well said, kind friend!!!

[@vincemeghrouni7805]

@@drummer4hire12 Oh good, thanks compadre - I was hoping I wasn't veering of into too-ethereal territory...

[@drummer4hire12]

@@vincemeghrouni7805 Not one bit.......Very well described!

[@simomcdonald8815]

Its called playing outside the beat...feeling the beat rather than following it mechanically..moving outside of the structure of the beat...but knowing when to fall back into it without losing track of it..you need good rhythm to play like that....the old saying....really good blues lead players are usually really good rhythm guitar players first and foremost...Great concept to share Dave....great stuff.

[@eudyptes5046]

In classical music it is called rubato. People are doing it as long as music exists. It comes from singing, vocalists would always do this do express emotions.

[@davyboy9397]

Yep, good Jazz and Blues players know how to do it really well

[@RedroomStudios]

its odd for me to hear these struggles you went through because my experience is the exact opposite. playing expressive blues came naturally, but playing the perfectly timed stuff to the metronome was very unnatural. wanted to say, I loved the stuff you were playing on here after the point in your story where you "got it"... the stuff on the sunburst strat... very Jeff Beck inspired to my ears.

[@ASSman864]

Same here brother..id be lost trying to play iron maiden

[@wyrlismike]

Me too with timing and expression

[@stuartdryer1352]

Yes, my issue too.

[@AP-ur2yy]

Im obsessed with Stevie Ray, Bb and Albert King, Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry. I love how they play. I literally feeel the music, it hits my soul. I gotta learn how to play to appreciate it even more

[@bigalexg]

I was a young boy starting out when The Thrill Is Gone hit the radio. That first note! And the run of notes after it. The ones you were trying. That changed me forever. I was dumbfounded! How could such a simple sequence of notes be so expressive and beautiful - SUCH melancholy that I went into an altered state of musical reverie that was magical. I thought "hey, I can play those notes. They sound simple. The blues is just an easy trick, really" But when I got home and played them they sounded lifeless. And thus I realized how subtle variances in tone and timing and volume etc,how nuance, is EVERYTHING. I tried over and over but I never could sound like King. I discovered Hendrix shortly thereafter and encountered another player who had the special alchemy, the magic, to mine human feelings and convert them effortlessly into sounds, singing, as it were, with his guitar, but in a very different, more complex form than King. Now I at least know what music is. And I understand why those two guys consistently show up at the top of every list despite the fact that there are KZbin sensations all over the world who are cleaner and faster and better schooled in the craft. In the realm of rock and blues a much subtler set of skills apply which cannot be mechanized. These guys will be remembered two hundred years from now.

[@stephenmccarthy1795]

Good point. When you are someone like me, who started listening to jazz before puberty, it never occurred to me that some people can’t hear what I might call time stealing. In classical music it’s called rubato. A Chopin Nocturne should be played strictly with the left hand and loose and flowey with the right. It never occurred to me to use the metronome as anything but a basic guide for the tempo. I never needed that because I have good rhythm and jazz and blues musicians have to have good rhythm to play that way. Being locked into a metronome is something you do if you don’t have rhythm. I thought at first he was going to talk about pitch, since bending the notes and not being locked into an equal temperament grid is something else that they do. Maybe a guitarist’s ability to stretch the strings is better understood.

[@BaronMcCausland]

This is an excellent lesson, and was delivered really well. At the higher levels of music instruction, the teacher becomes less of an instructor in mechanics; and, becomes much like your music Psychologist. Nice job, Doc!

[@DFDuck55]

It's all in how you attack the note. Blues is after the beat, making you wait for it. If you play the same exact notes on the beat it's rock. If you play the same exact notes before the beat , rushing the listener, it's country. True blues is not perfectly structured, the attack can change through the song. Rock and country are usually perfectly structured, blues is not. Blues is more about the feel. To realize this more fully listen to older blues. Listen to some John Lee Hooker or Fred McDowell. Listen to some North Mississippi Hill Country blues, maybe some Junior Kimbrough, Jessie Mae Hemphill, or R.L. Burnside. It is unstructured, and much more primal and driving than Delta blues. My first introduction to blues was hearing Muddy Waters on the AM radio in 1965. Later that same week I bought a used guitar at a garage sale and started to learn blues. Before that I was a trumpet player, influenced by my dads Dixieland Jazz record collection. My musical hero was Al Hirt.

[@BoDiddly]

I am glad you found yourself in your playing! I try to tell all of my technically or classically trained friends, that you have to "Feeeeel" the music when you play! You also have to tell the story that you are "Feeeeelinnng"! That could be playing before the beat and/or playing after the beat and/or playing on the beat. It also involves playing louder or softer, in tune or out of tune. Blues and Jazz players do it all of the time!

[@mariokarter13]

Something people tend to forget about older songs is that they were typically performed live in the studio. Like most live performances, they didn't use a metronome. The band is in sync with each other, but the tempo ebbs and flows.

[@jonasaras]

The lyrics of a Tommy Tedesco song nail it. “It’s hard to sing the blues when you’ve got a Cadillac. It’s even harder when you’ve got two”.

[@honzo1078]

My mother was a pretty good classical pianist, but wanted to play jazz. She had exactly your problem, never overcame it.

[@Flowmotion1000]

I think that’s why the blues spawned so many great bands in the 60’s, even if a lot of those bands eventually evolved away from the blues. It provided an excellent foundation. It’s not necessarily about playing behind or in front of the beat, it’s more to do with the looseness. Metronomic music, it seems, began to set in during the mid 70’s, and prevails to this day.

[@mysteradio]

DISCO MIDI ASSEMBLY LINE

[@havable]

One of the meanest burns I've ever heard delivered from one musician to another was a guitarist telling a drummer that he was a metronome.

[@jijja74]

I remember being a kid and there was a load of good music around. I knew I wanted to do something. I remember listening to Prince shred on let’s go crazy and that opened my eyes, but it was getting a tape of Jimi at Monterey that blew my head clean off my shoulders. I still think it’s the one of the top ten live performances ever recorded. Shimmering, delicate, rhythmic, grungy, screaming …..everything. when I realised it was just him on guitar and the experience was a three piece I was even more amazed. I wasn’t impressed my metal shredders back then and thought the holy grail was to use that pentatonic and find new ways to push, pull notes, hold, chop and get the right feel to paint new pictures with the basic palette the scale offers. Finally saw video footage of that gig along with Woodstock and noticed how he played. My thumb went over the top from that day and stopped learning chords out of books and started to learn what you can reach to make it work. Started feeling my way through and it kept me hungry.

[@John-zn4lp]

That's how I feel about David Gilmour and his guitar playing. In my opinion, he's not a "technically" great guitar player and probably couldn't keep up with many of the so-called "flashier" guitar players, but he knows how to bend those strings in such a way that his soul comes out of that guitar and not just notes and chords. When he makes his "guitar cry," he makes me cry.

[@williamsporing1500]

Gilmour is brilliant. He’s one of my top 5 favorites.

[@derranford6378]

Same way I feel about Ernie Isley

[@youreatoilet]

Feel is everything! Technical ability only takes you so far

[@shojaejlali1290]

Gilmour.....like hendrix,understands that silence and the space inbetween notes is as important as the notes themselves. Very different styles but they convey much more feel than these ridiculously quick shredders. The only metal guitairists i really love are randy rhoads and van halen.

[@joegrant413]

As someone who has loved and quit and restarted and quit guitar several times, I greatly appreciate hearing this! I’m currently not playing guitar but definitely taking in the points you are making very attentively. Thanks

[@justmusic2004]

Great story and excellent explanation of what is going on. I grew up in New Orleans and learned singing blues from my girlfriend at the time. Without me knowing it the style became so ingrained in me that 20 years later as I tried putting drum patterns together on a beat pad it was literally impossible to stay anything close to consistent. I would drift exactly how you explained. You really gave me a great insight to my problems with playing drums!

[@lowenbad]

I am actually kind of the opposite. Blues based music kind of came naturaly to me when I started playing. The feel is kind of ingrained in me from birth for some reason. The fast shredding stuff was really hard for me because it lacked the feeling of blues… I’ve come to appreciate and learn from it.

[@bmphil3400]

Same with me......doing something like Deep Purple "Burn" gives me all kinds of fits.

[@konarain]

Alohoho!

[@RtroyD]

Shredeong doesnt lack feeling if that's what you are in to and passionate about..Tons of shredders play with feeling and emotion..

[@brown9671]

Probably not a birth thing but what you listened to as a kid an growing as a teen what you enjoyed

[@shanewright9735]

I had a similar journey, except for I initially started with Hendrix, never was too great at it though, and eventuality moved into metal and practicing scales. When I eventually tried to get into blues and playing Hendrix again I had the toughest time because I had put up all of these strict barriers to my playing with regard to the scales, tempo and keys. I had to eventually come to the realization that although theory worked as a great tool to assist me, I couldn't let it be a rigid restriction. I needed to turn off the metronome, stop being so concerned with major vs minor (Redhouse woke me up to that) and just find the feel. Now I'm having more fun playing than ever

[@lavenderbee3611]

Emotion & feeling are so important in a piece of music, it's what makes a song satisfying. I'm glad you're discovering some of the blues players of the past. If you have time, check out Prince doing Purple Rain in Milan 2010 -- the emotion is overwhelming. The guitar playing is breathtaking, and the energy exchange between Prince & audience is so moving. It's really a master class, I've never seen anything like it.

[@alexandrajoppe7718]

I picked up the electric guitar about a year ago and I've been learning the theory. Recently, I started watching your videos and joined your platform. My playing had already changed a lot. For the first time, someone told me they liked my phrasing. That happened when I stopped playing and started telling a story. Thank you for sharing 😊

[@tbright3441]

It's not that technical, it's all about a feeling. I LOVE THE BLUES, because you have to live the things that you play vs speed and accuracy.

[@MMCCLXIV]

Its called Soul! There is music & sound. One can compliment the other. It's not technical or a theory. True creativity and expression is Out Side Of The Box. Yeah! Dig it!

[@chrisrobbins2632]

This reminds me of another video about the great singer Sade by Phil from the Wings of P.... site. If you're an old guy like me you'll remember being in love with her music in the 80's. Phil puts her singing next to a pitch meter and shows that she was sharp most of the time. The band was in standard tuning but she sang sharp and the wild thing is it worked! Being completely self taught (she had been a fashion model) that's just how her voice sounded good to her and thankfully she never tried to correct it.

[@Guitargate]

Great video brother! Some real talk in here

[@stuartdryer1352]

When we were kids a lot of us were mostly tasteless. And then at some point we hear a key person. As a piano player for me it was the Bill Evans trio (I know, jazz, its what i do). It changed everything. Not immediately. One of my teachers once asked me if I knew the lyrics to an old standard I was playing. I didn't. Then he asked me how could I possibly play a tune if I didn't know what it was about? But the good thing you did is you developed enough chops at the beginning of your journey to be ABLE to express yourself later.

[@bjarteryland6310]

A guitarist once said regarding speed and technique: "It's not what you play, but what you CHOOSE not to play"... Try listening to Richard Thompson, the other Kings: Freddie and Albert. A great one is Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan together. A different setting are Charlie Christian and Django Reinhardt

[@tonicjack9823]

Yes; Richard Thompson is the king of subtly and elegance.

[@infiniteuniverse9528]

What do you call a guitar soloist that plays on beat? A rhythm guitarist.

[@MarcStoneMusic]

"Play it like you sing it" BB and Jimi were exceptionally lyrical players.

[@jb-ro4ow]

Glad this video is blowing up for ya man! Love your emotional approaches to understanding music.

[@AncientHermit]

Right at the start I wanted to yell at you, but by the end I was in tears. Tears of joy that is. I'm glad you got on the road at last. Now to figure out what you see while you walk it. Walk with some other people who love to play, not machines, share your thoughts about life with each other over time. Enjoy the journey. To mangle a quote "the blues is something you come into contact with, or have to live through" (Sonny Boy Williamson II) It's on the intro to a track he did, and I have long forgotten which one, but the truth of what he said has been my touchstone ever since. Happy journey! Be well. ;o) ps I liked what you played once you figured out how YOU play the blues. You are learning to be you and how you play music. There's a way to go yet.

[@wingchunsingapore]

I am a great Hendrix fan. Bought my first LP album in1966 "Are you Experienced" in 1966. I still have it. Jimi passed away on 18th September 1970, I was 17. Still remembered that day, it was Friday 18th September at 7 pm when I met my friend to go to Kung Fu class. My friend said: Jimi Hendrix died today... Whaat? I did not believe him. He said, well if you don't believe me listen to the radio when you come home....that was our word for word conversation.

[@thesheeteels8252]

You got it in ‘67. Probably in June.

[@wingchunsingapore]

@@thesheeteels8252 Yep, you are right April 1967. I have the UK first release "mono" by Polydor. The US release was later that year, different tracks tough. Included a.o Hey Joe.

[@SuppersReady8880]

Jimi's manager killed him, poured wine down his throat to drown him while Jimi was a little high. Learning that helped me understand the real man and his motives and persona, and I felt even more respect for his genre expanding accomplishments.

[@martitinkovich4489]

Did you have fun in fung ku class?

[@wingchunsingapore]

@@martitinkovich4489 yeah, still do 50+ years later...

[@zappas10]

This video really speaks to the elephant in the room. Most music today is lifeless because 1) It’s been turned into muzak by the corporate music industry only interested in making a buck, 2) The computer nerds only looking for perfection and the quantization of every single note, and 3) The heavy-metal generation only interested in speed and volume, over soulful swing and dynamics. Post second world war in England, young people listened to the great Delta blues players from the Americans south. British musicians John Mayall, Alexis Korner, Brian Jones, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy page were glued to their radios. They were inspired by the acoustic blues of Howling Wolf, Robert Johnson, Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters etc. They electrified their own versions of these songs with their new electric guitars, playing in London clubs like Ronnie Scott’s, and blues rock was born. The British invasion of America took place in the 1960s, and this was the roots of the rock ‘n’ roll music scene. Young people need to study this history of rock ‘n’ roll music, which is inseparable from its roots, the blues. Some American musicians today acknowledge blues rock like Jack White, the Black Crowes, Guns N’ Roses etc. With blues music, less is more, leaving space for more authentic musical expression and feeling.

[@kirbythecomputerguy7610]

I'm gonna have to respectfully disagree Nick. While you make several valid points there may be some aspects of the progression of music that you may not be considering. First the music industry is now and has always been all about the bucks . IMO any music that you have enjoyed or even been influenced by in the past 50 years has been created " despite " the heavy handed filtering of the industry not "because" of them . It's true that there is a healthy amount of formula based play by the numbers uninspired music out there but there are also many creative innovative bands out now that have something to say and they deliver the message like a mule kick. Bedroom studios are a god send Nick and have been the platform that gives the average musician a voice that they would otherwise have to sell a kidney to achieve. Rap and Metal have benefited immensely from this technology. Just like the metal bands of the 60's and 70's study the blues and put their own spin on it , these nu bands are heavily influenced by the new wave / punk / speed metal bands that came before them , who were influenced by the Clapton Page Gilmore Hendrix Alice Cooper Wendy o Williams innovators that came before them ....it's the musical circle of life Simba. I would be happy to give you some examples if you want

[@Nclght]

Agreed....this era of autotune has taken imperfection... ie humanity...out of music. Man is perfectly imperfect and great music reflects this.

[@zappas10]

@@kirbythecomputerguy7610 I think you missed the point. In the video, his guitar style transitions from playing fast technical rapid fire notes, to blues music playing from the heart, a huge difference. All I’m saying is the original 60’s rock music was strongly influenced by American blues played with feel and expression. Unfortunately, with the advent of computers and 1980’s “heavy metal music” like Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, much of the blues foundation has been stripped away in the interests of speed, and volume. Listen to Alexis Korner’s 1960’s band which introduced John McVie, Peter Green, Mick Taylor etc. and it’s a world apart from Metallica. Obviously, the heavy blues rock bands of the late 60s and 70s such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin influenced the evolution of the 80’s heavy-metal style. But many people make the mistake of labeling a band like Led Zeppelin as “heavy metal” (BEFORE the genre was even invented) when in fact their version of “Whole lot of love” by Willie Dixon is actually “Heavy blues rock”. The reason people are still nostalgic for the great British bands like the Rolling Stones and Black Sabbath today is because they’re still connected to that swinging blues feel that sounds much more musical. Many young musicians today have misunderstood the vital connection of blues to rock ‘n’ roll which is why a lot of music today sounds soulless and forgettable. Imagine trying to play jazz music in a 4/4 time signature? Just wouldn’t sound right. When young people hear the heavy blues rock of Hendrix or Led Zeppelin for the first time, most are blown away, and wonder why modern music simply doesn’t sound as good. Today’s rock ‘n’ roll industry has lost its way. The only way back is to study the roots.

[@elpeluca7780]

I mean no disrespect, but that is such a boomer comment. Now I'm gonna go listen to death metal, you should give it a try, too. You can tell you haven't listened to much metal because it has plenty of soul, maybe you just don't get it and that's fine, music is subjective and that explains why not everyone connects with the same music.

[@zappas10]

@@elpeluca7780 I mean no disrespect, but that is such a millennial comment. I was watching Metallica and White Zombies LIVE, while you were still in diapers! As a musician, I’ve been open to ALL kinds of music. In the 80s we listened to punk, disco, glam, and heavy metal. Most of it ended up, as did thrash and death metal, on the ash heap of history. At that point I moved on to jazz and jazz rock, which attracts musicians who play more than 3 chords. You can assume my age or taste in music, but remember this. It’s the previous 60 years of rock ‘n’ roll history that gave birth to the death metal you’re still listening to today. I was simply observing the huge demographic, spread across a very broad age span, (NOT just boomers) that love blues based rock, and are STILL willing to pay $400 to see the Rolling Stones. So this obviously begs the question. What is it about blues rock that makes it so widely popular? That was the topic of conversation. ANY ideas?💡

[@MrDazzlerdarren]

"Since I've been loving you" feels like this, Jimmy just feeling the music and the emotion (well the whole band TBH)

[@robparsons1527]

Love this man, seeing a musician discover themselves in their music. That is now with you for life, totally cool. Long live the blues!

[@franckgauthier1978]

Man, that's the first time I see/hear you, that's a really cool story and a wonderful music/life lesson. How beautiful it is to start the day with that. Thank you for sharing 🙏💖

[@robertpaulis439]

When you come to the understanding of "the blues" you'll eventually realize that the best musicians didn't play the blues, they lived it, and it was expressed through emotions and feelings!

[@nikkoalpha2]

Impressive observation. Many believe select notes and chords are the blues. But as you wisely noted, it's the emotions and experiences. These cannot be written on paper.

[@nineteen8486]

That’s the comment that should be pinned at the top

[@oldgittarist]

It's about feel and emotion, not logic. I count myself fortunate indeed to have heard both Jimi and BB play live.

[@nathanjasper512]

Wow dude, that's awesome. I've seen Buddy Guy, and Jeff Beck and I feel pretty lucky.

[@roterfuchs8201]

@@nathanjasper512 I saw Robbie Williams's first performance at Glastonbury Festival

[@kolossimike]

@@roterfuchs8201 Lol.

[@victorbrown3570]

You are indeed a lucky person. Saw B.B live, became a Jimi super fan after he had already died. That said I'll never forget the first time I saw film of him playing.

[@oldhollywoodfeelings7758]

that’s so cool!

[@quentinervin6019]

Congratulations my friend. U figured out what most musicians can't understand.. feeling is the key . I always play with feeling and intent. Thanks friend!!!!!

[@kyleveazey7931]

Probably the biggest thing that changed my playing was hearing Colbie Caillet say that something that changed her was how John Mayer didn't care about messing up. That was like an explosion in my head.

[@geoffreydlang]

The general moral to the story: If you *really* want to immerse yourself into a musical instrument, it’s necessary to familiarize / learn / understand the history of that instrument - and those artists who excelled at it. Regardless of how long you’ve been playing, it’s really never too late to backtrack.

[@sachachanyan]

Loved your story..... Hendrix is a particular very special case. The man was connected to the other side. He was channeling something higher and bigger than just himself. That’s my best attempt to explain it. The enormous emotional depth of the man and his music is what makes him still stand apart from other otherwise fantastic musicians.... 😘👍

[@Geopholus]

Exactly !

[@stevebadachmusic]

He was a direct channel.

[@mindsigh4]

kind of a detour but last year i had a dream that was demonstrating hands on healing, instructed me that in order to channel healing, to the degree that i could get outta the way of the energy, to let it flow, was the degree to which the healing would have chance of being most effective. and then was told that if the healee was also able to get outta the way of the healing...then that was the optimum balance ⚖️ for healing to take place 🙏🌱🐾🐾👣🌿🕊️💌

[@davidannderson9796]

Look up interviews of him. It wasn't just when he played. He lived it. You listen to interviews... it feels like listening to a higher form of mind. Hendrix was amazing.

[@sachachanyan]

@@mindsigh4 Not that much of a detour if you ask me....I think you’re right on the money. We’re talking about slightly different facets of the same thing. I think the enormous love and beauty and perfection over on the other side is what informs the healing and beauty on this side as much as it does when it does.... Being „conducive“ is the key. Maybe this is why the Greek word for „instruction“ or „tuition“ is „ΑΓΩΓΗ» (aghoghee) which means exactly that... Conducting, in the sense of channeling! 😘👍

[@bumpyroad3251]

Many people make that mistake - they can''t distinguish between playing the guitar in 1968 and in 2000s - a world of a difference. For his time Hendrix did much more than all them Satriani, Paul Gilbert and Vai together, his playing although pentatonic based and lack of flashinest was genuine and from the heart and most important he copied nobody, he just felt the things. Everyone can be a giant if there are giants to step on their shoulders.

[@paulhopkins8148]

Excuse me, WTF? Hendrix had a lack of flashiness? The guy who set his guitar on fire? You must be confused about somethings.

[@sgshumblecrumb6046]

@@paulhopkins8148 He was less "technically" flashy though. His performance was flashy but his actual guitar playing without the stage antics was more of a standard bluesy style with unique added psychedelic effects. He wasn't as fast and precise of a player as say Eddie Van Halen or Steve Vai, but what made him special was how much soul he put into his playing.

[@unique74muzik]

It's about the feeling..spaces and the groove..

[@jerometene]

Damn!!! The best video I've seen on KZbin about playing with "feel"..Music is a feel & I'm trying to explain this to my band. I play bass & when I play a song, I step inside and wrap my soul in the song!..."Great job my man"...😁😁😁

[@rereficoli4983]

Not being a musician, but being a huge blues fan, I learned a lot from this video. Very insightful and well expressed.

[@kobalt77]

me too !

[@kobalt77]

I think the underlying message is to be yourself and not try and copy others, in all aspects of life. Everyday is a school day !

[@ceelothatmane9421]

This is the difference between learning techniques and learning feel. Feel can be learned, but you have to have an open mind like you learned to have. A lot of ppl never learn that feel because they’re closed minded to playing out of the beat.

[@BadRonald1]

Feel can be learned ? I think you meant Feel can't be learned.

[@Leo_ofRedKeep]

"Clementi plays well, as far as execution with the right-hand goes. His greatest strength lies in his passages in 3rds. Apart from that, he has not a kreuzer's worth [4 pennies] of taste or feeling - in short, he is a mere mechanic." W.A. Mozart to his father, January 1782.

[@buschovski1]

Mozart was so cool.

[@cameronpyke7485]

My piano professor in college introduced me to Clementi. Clementi was very complimentary about Mozart - Mozart not so about Clementi. However. Clementi rocks - everything you've heard about him isn't true. The Sonatinas Op. 36 are in no way merely mechanical or bereft of taste and feeling. Piano students everywhere owe a massive debt to Clementi. I heard a much more ambitious concerto on the radio recently and it was magnificent. Clementi is hugely underrated.

[@kkjhn41]

@@cameronpyke7485 You are talking about written music, not his execution of it. Mozart heard him play, no one alive today has. I'm gonna give Mozart the benefit of the doubt here.

[@themagicminstrels476]

@@kkjhn41 cause musical geniuses are never known to be wrong about other musicians. They are people just as you and I are, they can be wrong about things too.

[@themagicminstrels476]

@@kkjhn41 that'd be like basing your musical tastes off of what the musicians you listen to like, which would be fake. Everyone can have their own opinion on someone's art Mozart included. A horrible musician with no feeling to one person, could be an amazing player full of soul to another.

[@telephonetlm]

This was a both a good and instructive video, but I can never understand why, even when talking about Blues Guitarists, Johnny Winter is never mentioned. The guy was an absolutely incredible guitarist, yet he's somehow sort of semi-forgotten. Even the great Muddy Waters said that Johnny Winter was the best Blues Guitarist the he (Muddy) had ever heard in his entire life, and, coming from Muddy, that was one hell of an accolade.

[@dsa513]

A lot of great guitarists are forgotten. Especially with a lack of exposure and smart criticism in the culture. I think Johnny Winters is not as well known because you never had someone like Stevie Ray come up on his style.

[@monkeysbum999]

I remember meeting a guy who worked in a music shop in the nineties ,who could"shred" and he confessed ,albeit laughing ,that he'd wasted his life listening to the wrong stuff .Steve Vai said in an interview that he had a similar feeling watching Ry Cooder warm up in the studio.

[@k3v1n47]

When I hear someone say about a guitarist, _"Well, such and such was a sloppy player",_ I invariably seem to enjoy their music more than the _"non-sloppy player."_ John Lennon complained about the urge to "excellence/perfection" by his musical contemporaries. Honestly I agree. Basically, I'd rather listen to Chuck Berry than the almost _"neo-classical"_ rock and roll that many metal bands do. Oh well, to each his own.

[@cathybroadus4411]

So funny how this is full circle for me. I struggled as a young black girl to get into BB and Hendrix. Finally John Lee Hooker had to come along to heal me. Pun intended. At age 62, trying to learn guitar. I looked the tab and was so confused that how could this music be so simple and yet makes me sob. If I was raised on Motown and Stax, you know I can feel syncopation in my DNA but playing is a whole other thing.

[@briguy1960]

Nobody was more fluid with time than John Lee except maybe Muddy

[@Nghilifa]

Playing is just a mechanical thing. You won't be able to truly express yourself until you've built up enough strength in your fretting hand, consistency in your picking/plucking hand etc. It's mundane, but it's just one of those things that everyone has to do. Good luck!

[@cathybroadus4411]

@@Nghilifa I keep trying to trick the process. Just because I understand it intellectually does build muscle memory and stretch those tendons. Thank you so much for the reminder.

[@section9809]

I have felt this but you nailed the way to explain it. I always chalked it up to emotion and expression in playing that style and as a self taught, instinctive player, I never questioned it. I saw it as the difference between a modern and traditional way of playing. Thanks!

[@ballhawk387]

Musicians like Hendrix, B.B. King, and their bands weren't playing to a metronome, but to each other, feeling the music and its dynamics, going from whispering to thundering, sometimes a bit ahead or behind the beat, as the flow and dynamics of the music. A very "right brain" approach. And it was *magic* when it all came together. Props for listening with an open mind and developing as a musician. I grew up on the likes of The Who, Hendrix (who along with his band was *greatly* influenced by Townshend and The Who), The Beatles, and later punk rock and new wave bands who emphasized energy over technique to the extreme. So I went about it the other way around, learning in a very non-technical manner, then tightening up. So this sort of thing comes natural in my playing, and I find I play best to a metronome by just having it in the background and not focusing my attention on it.

[@brianbulger8894]

They way you spoke on your love and how it inspired you to be more comfortable makes me feel comfortable just starting off like you have to go off the vibe more then speed

[@andrelotter9590]

The important thing you can do as a musician is play with other people-particularly people who are better than you . In those jams you can really play with emotion . Backing tracks are better than nothing but jam,jam,jam.

[@cnking27]

Hendrix was primarily a composer, and BB was primarily a singer, at least originally. I never got either of them until I started listening to them in a 60s R&B context. The guitar always, always served the song.

[@lopezb]

Very interesting his story. He's much better than me technically, but I have always intuitively loved Hendrix, and I can play with "feel", even if slowly....Excellent his tip about imagining you are saying a sentence!

[@paulmercerevp]

My teacher Rafi said “music is that which colors the mind. At the root of each song there is a color, a shade. The purpose of the melody, the chords, the scale, the timbres you choose are to express that color as exactly as you can. Knowing the melody but not the color of the song is like knowing the route on a map without knowing the destination or why you are going there. Only when you can see that color clearly can you express its’ sound”

[@JonnyMack33]

"you started playing in an imperfect way"... but that makes it perfect! Not to sound aloof or anything but I really struggle to understand how this just isn't second nature for a guitarist... but as a drummer and a guitarist, I can see both points. You got a new subscriber anyway, you seem like a really top guy!

[@lorddouglas6659]

As a bass player, I must play on-the-beat with the drummer to support you moving emotionally off-beat. This was a good video.

[@DenisDeS-Pb]

as a bass player you could put the 1st and 3rd on beat and 2nd 4rd with some "timing". for ex. if the drummer knows how to hold the time, of cause

[@jackgriffith9229]

Dave, Just because Mr.King and Mr.Hendrix DON’T play on the beat doesn’t mean that they can’t. Their music is unique because of what they DO play. I would love to go play a gig and have people think it them !🎸🎸🎸🎸🤣😂😀😎

[@gmb858]

A lot of guys don't let themselves loose to make that axe scream and howl. Stevie Ray Vaughan let out all the pain and suffering the lyrics were saying. When you got the lyrics and the guitar singing together then you have a chance to catch lightning in a bottle.

[@RoomAtTheTopStudio]

Thank you so much for your insights David. I've experienced this but you explain it so well. Being able to go off the beat is also a vocalist thing. Slurs, skips, slides work just like the guitar but unless you can do it with feeling it won't sound good. I wrote a song for a publisher a couple of decades ago and I sang it straight. The publisher gave my song to a well known singer who put the feeling into it and I couldn't believe that my song could sound like that. The gulf was kind of embarrassing considering I wrote it. I'm no where near the level to play guitar like that but even though I'm not that singer's level I now can do vocals of my oldest songs with that feeling as I've sang them for so long I go into automatic mode and the feeling just takes over.

[@kobalt77]

I dont even play guitar, but I was totally captivated by this video and your changing the way you look at and hear things, absolutely wonderful video, thank you so much !

[@RedBarchetta910]

Stevie Ray Vaughan's playing in relation to the beat on "Tin Pan Alley" is a wonderful example of what you have discussed in this video. The backstory of the studio recording is incredible too.

[@marctoleds6259]

Great job, man! One of the best guitar lessons on YT!!

[@captaincrash9286]

I struggled to play blues, I just couldn't find my way into it.. until I got a job stacking sacks of potatoes onto pallets. I got home with my hands locked into claws, and couldn't play my usual classical, rock, or folky fingerpicking stuff. One night I picked up the guitar and produced a raw note born out of pain, poverty, frustration and anger.. that's when the penny dropped.

[@brianmaiden1185]

Collect half a pound of purplarized potatoe shavings in a copper-bottom pot at an altitude of no less than 721 square kilometers perpindicular to the magnetronimic south pole of the third star from the sun, Boil in non-ionized triple-chamber ice-bong water for 4-7 mins on a mighty heap of heat. Leave to cool in the freezer for 1d4+1 hours. Strip naked and drink in a single gulp while listening to Purple Haze by Jimothy Hendricks. *_TRIP BALLS._* PS: Chances of death are approximately 20% per 75 lbs bodyweight. Good luck.

[@captaincrash9286]

@@brianmaiden1185 I could only find round kilometres, will they work?

[@GeorgeSmiley77]

Really informative, thanks for educating me on the Blues. I too used to think Jimi played a bit sloppily, but it bugged me why everyone thought he was so good. In the end I just told myself I must be wrong. Now after all these years you've filled in a large gap in my understanding.

[@ascendantindigo271]

I create with MPC Studio and I noticed a 64 triplets shift really helps lock in a groove. Shifting notes to slightly before or after the on beat creates different grooves.

[@silkee59]

Blues is a simple form however to really play it with nuance and authenticity takes a lifetime. Check out some lesser known blues guitarists Johnny guitar Watson, Lowell Fulson, Tbone Walker, Otis Rush, and for some current players Kid Andersen, Alex Shultz, Junior Watson, Anson Funderburgh and many more ... Blues is a feeling

[@mikeb5372]

I wouldn't say it takes a lifetime to learn to become authentic and nuanced. It takes absorbing oneself in it. Some do it well quickly some never really get it

[@Lyingleyen]

Jimmy's technique was to play it from the heart. You learn it with your head, then play it with your heart.

[@lladnar69]

I really enjoyed your video. I appreciate your willingness to continue to learn. More people should try that. Also, Frank Sinatra made an entire career by being either before after the beat in his vocal phrasing.

[@scizmeli]

It's an amazing breakthrough to hear a metalhead opened up to emotions. Congrats. You nailed.

[@dennishinkle5010]

Too many artists don't play with soul just wanting to shred. There has to be a part of yourself in each note. We call it having a case of the blues. Emotion is always the driving force in blues.

[@josemolina959]

Great story! Yeah, me too, but, B. B. King I got right away as soon as I heard him in 1968. But Jimi Hendrix I couldn't get what all my musician (guitar players) friends saw or heard in him, I liked CREAM and Eric Clapton a lot better at that time. But Jimi"s LP "The Cry Of Love" changed my thinking about his playing and writing. The songs were much better and his playing had grown a lot too. Always wonder what his career would have been, if he didn't pass away so young. Great analysis about their playing. And kudos to you for taking music seriously from the start.

[@gentrydaniels]

I always thought Eric played very basic compared to Jimi!

[@passenger62]

Mark Collins got it, maybe accidentally, when he said it's 'not logic'. A lot of the music we hear nowadays was formed by kids practicing to quantized notes and synthetic beats. Many of them are technically precise, but Jimi and his friends practiced together, or played along to records that didn't have this strict (some would say 'cold') tempo.

[@SmallSpoonBrigade]

That wouldn't surprise me, and even if they don't do that, the producers have the ability to force those sorts of changes in a way that wasn't even possible 30 years ago. Between that and the excessive compression of the songs, it takes a lot of the life out of the music.

[@blairmiller1416]

A great book around this and more Zen Guitar. Also this is central to Delta Blues.

[@michaelCMcGhee]

This was a really good story! You understood what the blues is really about, feeling! It's wild to think about how so many legendary blues guitarists were self taught, but technically proficient in a whole other way. There's a lot of history in the blues! Thanks for sharing your story!

[@TheOutlawHour]

You rediscovering these artist echo's my own rediscovery... I listened to hard rock more than anything when I was younger and didn't think too much about the slower blues. The older I got the more the blues resonated with me and the more I just got it... such beautiful music these guitar gods left for us