Shane
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5/28/2006 11:50:48 PM
the REAL HEAVY stuff...
about 1995 i began a slow migration towards blues based music. why? primarily because the radio rock music at the time did not have guitar solos. i wanted heavy rock guitar. i wanted melodic phrasing. killer licks. sweep picking and tapping. what radio provided was I-V-VI-IV progressions and ska/punk/pop/rehashed nirvana. what a bummer...
so i could have gone deeper into the metal scene, as it never stopped having guitar solos - heavy stuff like PANTERA for example, or more prog based stuff like Dream Theater or Fates Warning - which i own, but for some reason there was something about this Texas Blues Rock sound that kept grabbing me
i had been a fan of SRVaughn for since the 2nd Farm Aid. After Stevie died i started hearing cats like Chris Duarte, Ian Moore, Doyle Bramhall and Charlie Sexton, Eric Gales. then i saw Luther Allison play 3 months before he died. that night the light came on for me... this is the shit right here! the dude brought me to tears - honest.
These were dudes that were laying it down. Hitting me in the gut with awesome guitar based solely on the blues scale. No need for flashy tricks like tapping, no need for sweep picking arpeggios, no need for whipping thru scales like an INDY car race.
Easily Hendrix inspired, but for me it was different. where Hendrix was into stretching the blues limits, this music was more about embracing the blues foundation and testing the waters but not pushing it too far.
As with many other blues converts, my affection for this music lead me to searching out blues roots which opened doors to an insurmountable volume of music and history. what i learned was this:
for so many years, i had listened to guitar based music that i personally considered Heavy. I was turned onto the riffs, the leads, the energy - and i still do dig it. But when i get hit in the gut listening to Buddy Guy, or the hair on my neck stands up listening to SRV, or remembering Luther Allison looking me square in the eye from stage singing to me - "love your woman!", i know that blues is the is the original HEAVY music
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Kristin
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5/29/2006 12:38:59 AM
AH... The Blues!!! A man after my own heart, you are. I have just recently...(well, within the last 3 years) become a Blues fan. I had NO idea that SO much of what I was hearing in rock was blues based! I was amazed. I have several favorite Blues guitarists and artists myself. I LOVE Buddy Guy, Albert King, BB, SRV, Howlin' Wolf, DB II, KWS, ...(been to SEVERAL KWS shows, he can play the hell out of a guitar. Does a KILLER VooDoo Chile) I saw Chris Duarte up close and personal in a tiny little club up in the mountains last winter, he is amazing to watch. Some pretty unique music as well. I could go on ALL night with my fave blues artists....it is a subject near and dear to my heart. And I think you are so right Shane. Yeah, there will always be something magical about rock, but real, raw blues gets inside you like nothing else.
K
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