blues

can anyone tell me how to start writing a blues song, with no vocals?

Start with a good backing track in a good blues key... I like E... Then you can work off of that. Since you're not going to have vocals and its a blues song... concentrate on high points and low points of the song... When I play blues (mostly all that I play) I try to tell a story or show a timeline of emotion as the song goes by... A good example is Texas Flood by Stevie Ray Vaughan. I know it has vocals... but listen to how he has some slow parts and then he has some pretty insane runs. Also try to give a listen to Down, Down, Down by Joe Satriani... its an instrumental and obviously not as bluesy but you get the idea what I'm trying to say. If that seems hard just get a good backing track going and jam over top of it a lot and if you get a good riff or lick going try to remember it. Sometimes you can write a complete song, even instrumentals, based around one 5 second lick.

can it be done by starting off with a scale and a guitar only, and free backing tracks?

Yeah, it sure can! A lot of great blues instrumentals only have a drum beat and a bass line... the rest is lead guitar. I think that sound the best personally. One of my favorite backing tracks to jam to is the one from Tin Pan Alley by Stevie Ray Vaughan its just a slow bass line and a slow drum beat. But sure, you can start out with a scale in whatever key you like... obviously you might want to choose a blues pentatonic scale to start with... and just play away try to express yourself and make the guitar talk... thats how I usually go about it.

I have bought several "Blues Practice Track" without vocals and lead guitar in differnt keys. Some are slow and very Bluesy and some are faster and mor rock & roll. I play the different pentatonic "boxes" in the given key and make up my own leads. It's a great way to express yourself and practice. :cool:

the thing about blues is: there really arent any rules. as long as its rocken, its the blues. i mean it sort of has one rule and thats the skeleton, thats how blues work. ya know 1-4-5, or as i like it E-A-B
as long as you workin in that format GO FOR IT. and "it" being anythin. i mean the class blues will do a lil riff at the beginning, like muddy waters does. You could also have a lil drum bit like la grande by ZZ Top. Chuck Berry is blues almost all in the blues format, and he usually does a lil guitar riff at the beginning of every song. so just go for it.
good luck and rock on
Aaron

Also, since you are trying to write a blues instrumental, don't forget about the obvious: Listen to some good blues instrumental songs! Surely you will get some ideas for your own tune.

Like Nick said, listen to some good intrumental blues tracks. Pay attention to the techniques that they use as well as the scales, arpeggios, etc.

Hey,
I can sum that up in one sentence. 12 bar blues. Learn it. master it. then build off it. Solos use 5th patter pentatonic

Originally Posted by: Ito1221Hey,
I can sum that up in one sentence. 12 bar blues. Learn it. master it. then build off it. Solos use 5th patter pentatonic

...And, once you've mastered it, think about moving beyond it. Listen to Albert King and Eric Clapton for some examples of blues that transcends the twelve-bar format.

Another thing to try when creating a blues insrumental is watch for the chord changes and shift your pattern to correspond with these changes.

Example Em -- Em Pent Blues , Am -- Am Pent Blues Scale, BM -- BM Pent Blues


I also recomend learning as many turnarounds that you can.

Also start a song with a turn around. "Queen Bee" by SRV is a good song that displays both of the things I have mentioned.

Also to mix it up a bit play a Major Blues scale instead of the standard minor Pent Blues. It has a a unique sound that still works with the minor chord progression. This usually works best with slower songs but ther are no rules.