Chapter 3
Musical Riffs: Bedrock of the Blues
IN THIS CHAPTER
Mastering the basics: Single-note riffs
Exploring double-stop riffs
Shooting for high-note riffs
Taking your skills to the next level: Mastering rhythm figures
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It can be tough to find your own blues voice because you can’t spontaneously improvise the blues any more than you can improvise baroque or bebop; you have to learn the vocabulary. And the vocabulary for blues includes licks and riffs.
Although related to chords, riffs aren’t tethered to chords the way the rhythm-based approach is. It’s always good to know where your riffs spring from — especially if they’re derived out of a chord form. But you don’t need to grab a chord first to play a riff. In this chapter, you play riffs with a liberated left hand.
When you learn chords, strumming, double-stops, and single-note riffs, you have most of the ingredients necessary to start really developing as a player. In ...
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