The Blues JamPod Resource Pack
Vocals / Blues Lyrics Writing Blues Lyrics s a group you need to write the lyricss to the blues song that you are going to perform. There s an example below to give you some ideas. Each verse has three lines that last two chords c (thee other two chords are for improvisation). The first two lines are the same, and the final third line rhymes. The chorus has lyrics for all of the chords. Verse 1 2 3 I woke up this mornin, had an achee in my head (2 bar riff on keyboard) D Yeh, I woke up this mornin, D had an ache in my head (2 bar riff on keyboard) Got to E go to town, D but I d rather stay in bed. (2 bar riff on keyboard) Chorus 2 3 I got the Blues, feel sick to ma stomach, the terrible blues, I m feelin really ill I got the Blues, feel sick to ma stomach, the terrible blues, I got a real chill E D I don t (chord chord) want them (chord chord) no more!!..
The lyrics in Blues music are often about topics such as love, the unfairness of situations and other troubles. When you are writing your own lyrics, try to consider this by singing about something you are not happy about, or want to have a moan about.school, love, homework, school dinners! Make it moody and use descriptive language but don t get too complex. Most Blues songs are pretty simple which helps them to be catchy. Tongue in cheek humour is also good. Verse 1 Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Verse 2 Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 Verse 3 Line 1 Line 2 Line 3 CHORUS Line 1 Line 2 Line 3
Drums Pattern 1 count 1 & 2 & 3 & & hi hat X X X X snare drum X X bass drum X X Pattern 2 count 1 & 2 & 3 & & hi hat X X X X X X X X snare drum X X bass drum X X X X Start with drum pattern 1 and if you feel you have mastered this, then go onto drum pattern 2. You could even try changing between the two during the performance and perhaps use the ride cymbal instead of the hi hat. If you are on a hand sonic, you can try to play the same pattern or improvise using the conga percussion setting. Don t be afraid to put fills in and cymbal hits when you feel that they are appropriate.
Keyboard X X X (or improv) X (or( improv) X X X (or improv) X (or( improv) X X X (or improv X (or( improv)
Keyboard (Improvisation) If you feel confident, you can improvise, on a Blues scale in, in thee sections indicated on the previous page. Feel free to use any of the notes, in any order, using any rhythm you y feel fitss with the performance. You should aim to use the improvisation during the verses of your song. During the chorus play the chords as normal
Electric Guitar (Beginner) Each bar in the tab below is worth four beats. It s important that youu only play the two strings indicated. You ll notice that we are only playing two notes of the chord. If you feel confident, you can try playing the chords, following the same 12 bar blues pattern shown below on the following f page or try playing it with a shuffle feel (your teacher will explain). IMPORTNT: This E string is the THICKEST string (thee one closest to your face)
Electric Guitar (dva anced) X X X X X X X X X X X X The chords for the 12 bar blues in are shown below. These can be quite trickyy to play. It s important to remember that the 1 indicates the fret, any timee you see an X you don t play that string and the O means open (you play that string with nothing held down).
Basss Guitar (Beginner) This is the beginner bass part for the 12 bar blues. Most of the part is played on open strings. If you feel that this is too simple, you can experiment with playing the part with a shuffle feel (your teacher will explain). If this is still too simple, you can try to play the walking bass part on the following page. 2 2 IMPORTNT: This E string is the THICKEST string (thee one closest to your face)
Bass Guitar (dvanced)) This is the advanced bass part for the 12 bar blues. Remember, the numbers represent the fret. Try to work out which finger is best to use when changing note. You won t want too play it all on your index finger as it ll be too difficult! 6 9 6 IMPORTNT: This E string is the THICKEST string (thee one closest to your face)