Mastering Blues Music: Expert Tips & Advice From Four Acclaimed Guitarists
We spoke with four acclaimed guitarists - Dave Barnes, Troy Redfern, Ricky Comiskey, and Jim Kirkpatrick - to get their insights on tone, technique, and what defines modern blues guitar.
The Blues has existed for nearly 100 years and still has a wide audience. Modern blues is becoming more popular with musicians interested in improvising on the guitar.
I talked to 4 professional guitarists to see what makes a modern Blues sound.
Dave Barnes
Photo by Dennis Carpentier
Dave Barnes is a Toronto-based musician who is the lead guitarist of Bywater Call. A band that combines Southern Soul, Blues, and Roots music. Dave is known for his incredible slide guitar playing.
Magesh Magesh, Musicngear: When people think of the Blues, they think of Robert Johnson and B.B. King. How would you describe the modern blues guitar style?
Guitar players today are still very informed by the original blues masters. Today’s blues players combine sweet, soulful sounds from the past with a few modern ideas.
Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?
Music is a language. The best way to get better at any musical style is to keep listening, keep learning, and keep playing, as often as possible.
Musicngear: The shuffle rhythm, which is common in the Blues, has a 'jump' in the beat'. Do you have any advice for musicians to try and get better at playing over this beat?
Listening and locking in with the rhythm section is the best way to sound musical. Listening to how B.B. or Freddie locked in with their rhythm section is the best bet.
Music is a language. The best way to get better at any musical style is to keep listening, keep learning, and keep playing, as often as possible.
Musicngear: Tone is very important to guitar players. Can you recommend any gear (strings/pedals) that can help give you a better Blues guitar tone?
The Amp is everything. A great amp can make a bad guitar sound good, but a great guitar can’t make a bad amp sound good. Most players I’ve met turn the amp up the way, then turn the volume on the guitar way down and balance the output and tone from there.
The right-sized amp for the room is also key. No need for a Marshall 4 x 12 stack at the coffee shop gig.
Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?
I usually play a Gibson ES-137 semi-hollow body, or '77 Les Paul Deluxe, into a vintage Super Reverb or Princeton Reverb, with very few pedals. Love those old amps!
Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?
Always writing, recording, and rehearsing with Bywater Call…and a little practice whenever there’s time.
Connect with Dave Barnes
Instagram
Find out more about Bywater call at https://bywatercall.com
Listen to Bywater Call’s new single “Sunshine” (Live)
Troy Redfern
Photo by Haluk Gurer
Troy Redfern was referred to as a virtuoso musician by Blues Matters magazine. His slide guitar playing is a combination of soul and high-level technique. Troy is also a band leader who has just completed a multitude of shows throughout the UK.
Magesh Magesh, Musicngear: When people think of the Blues, they think of Robert Johnson and B.B. King. How would you describe the modern blues guitar style?
I would say modern blues guitar is an amalgamation of what has come before.
For it to be blues, musically speaking, you have to be in the minor or major pentatonic. That is the harmonic atmosphere that has the sound that we all associate with blues.
For me, blues guitar should convey ’feeling’ above all else.
Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?
I think the easiest way to work on playing over a 12-bar is to understand those basic changes. Target the chords, once you understand that, then it’s down to experimentation with trying out different phrases.
Your ear and technique need to be developed until everything is instinct, in the same way that you don’t think when having a conversation, you just speak.
It’s the same with the guitar.
I would say modern blues guitar is an amalgamation of what has come before
Musicngear: The shuffle rhythm, which is common in the Blues, has a 'jump' in the beat'. Do you have any advice for musicians to try and get better at playing over this beat?
The shuffle is an essential blues rhythm to master. Playing with a good drummer that can shuffle is the best way to lock into that rhythm.
John Lee Hooker is worth checking out for that boogie vibe. It’s all about the swing, learn to lean into that, and it’ll all fall into place.
Musicngear: Tone is very important to guitar players. Can you recommend any gear (strings/pedals) that can help give you a better Blues guitar tone?
Personally, I’m not a fan of trying to get an authentic blues tone. I think the reason the players we know and love had a unique identity is because they had different setups, which gave them a voice.
So, to me, it’s worth finding your own sound, but if you do want what is considered to be a good blues tone, grab a Fender amp and a tube screamer.
Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?
Now I’m using a Magnatone Twilighter Stereo amp with an 80’s Rat and Hermida Distortion pedal in front of it.
My board is quite extensive at the moment as I’m playing in a duo format, so I like to keep the sounds interesting. I have an MXR Script Phase 45 and a Mutron Phase 2, and various delay pedals, also an Akai Headrush 2 for looping.
The main guitars that I’m using right now are my ‘29 National Triolian and a ‘62 Silvertone Jupiter.
Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?
At the moment, I’m recording a bunch of songs to capture what I’m doing, either the duo setup.
I wanted to get back to raw, unfiltered songwriting.
Hopefully, this music will be released later in the year.
Connect with Troy Redfern
Website / Instagram
Ricky Comiskey
Ricky Comiskey is a professional guitarist with over 170k subscribers on YouTube! His videos have been viewed over 2 million times. He is the founder of Ricky's School of Rock Music School and RickysGuitar.
Magesh Magesh, Musicngear: When people think of the Blues, they think of Robert Johnson and B.B. King. How would you describe the modern blues guitar style?
B.B. King will always be the King of the Blues to me. Modern blues has a more sophisticated, colorful language, borrowing from jazz and rock. Blues and jazz fusion influences from John Scofield and Robben Ford have become standard blues language.
Sometimes the lines between blues and other genres are blurred. It's very easy to overplay with too many notes, and blues becomes a shredfest and loses taste.
Derek Trucks, Jimmy Herring, and Jeff Beck are the three styles that I hear a lot in modern players. The thing I like about Trucks is that he's singing through his guitar and sounds like his wife, Susan Tedeschi. It's very gospel.
Sometimes I get weary of the modern blues sound and need to remind myself why I fell in love with the genre. That's when I dig into recordings by Alan Lomax of field songs and spirituals and try to inject that into my playing.
It's easy to try and follow the trends, but going back to the source is valuable and shouldn’t be overlooked. Blues is a bigger genre than most think.
Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?
The notes are the notes. They create tension or release; that's easy to tap into and formulaic if you learn your intervals and chord formulas. But creating space to craft phrases - that's the human touch.
Improvising a solo is no different from having a conversation with a human being. That's actually what we're trying to do. So, call and response, question, and answer (this is where the Lomax recordings can offer inspiration) - this is the outline for creating phrases.
Phrases create a story. The story should affect the listener.
I often talk to students about the "primary listener", which is themselves. Before they produce music for others to consume, they have to be happy consuming it themselves.
Creating a mental dialogue based on focused listening with yourself is the first step.
The notes are the notes. They create tension or release; that's easy to tap into and formulaic if you learn your intervals and chord formulas
Musicngear: The shuffle rhythm, which is common in the Blues, has a 'jump' in the beat'. Do you have any advice for musicians to try and get better at playing over this beat?
Some easy wins are note groupings. Beginners tend to play on the beat in a scale-like manner, which sounds "scaly". Coming into a phrase or lick on the offbeat is super powerful.
Limiting the palette of notes and focusing on triplets, groups of 4, 5, and 6 notes is a great way to predefine what you’re going to play, but you need to add breath between your call and responses.
You can play rhythmically outside of the beat, which has a very lumpy feel to it, which is interesting, but pulling back in with the beat gives a rhythmic resolution.
If in doubt, pretend the guitar is a wind instrument; breathe with the notes you play. Don’t play notes when you breathe in to create gaps and gather the idea forming in your mind’s ear.
If we were getting into harmony as well, then chasing chord tones is a great way to stay “in” as well.
Musicngear: Tone is very important to guitar players. Can you recommend any gear (strings/pedals) that can help give you a better Blues guitar tone?
I’m not a gear snob. I say that despite having a ’62 Vox AC30 and an original ’73 Fender Strat. But I really love my Yamaha Pacificas. They’re a “student guitar,” but the neck suits my stumpy sausage fingers.
I have a few more amps, like a Fender Supersonic and an ’80s Polytone, but these days I love the ease of use of my Yamaha THR10. It acts as an interface.
I’m somewhat of an analog Luddite, so if there are screens with umpteen settings, I get bored, and that’s not the point of gear.
I’ve been trying to build a pedalboard for the last 20 years, but eons ago I discovered the Digitech GNX3000 and stuck with that.
Gear should inspire you to play more. I’d also add that, as most would say, “tone comes from the fingers.”
Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?
Right now, I have a bunch of guitars. My go-to electric is an early 2000s Yamaha PAC612. I’ve got guitars in lots of different tunings.
I used to own a music school, and we had a parlor guitar on sale there for 6 years. When we closed down, I got one of my tutors at the school to give it a setup, and it’s a wonderfully playable guitar. The company that made it, Acoustica, went bust a few years ago.
I also found a Sigma acoustic at a company called Eagle Music in my hometown. It was hiding in a corner. It was old, “new stock,” and the last in the guitar showroom with the old headstock logo. It sounds and plays wonderfully, too.
I use the Capo a lot with the acoustics; Schubb is the best as they don’t get in the way of your fingers. I pretty much use Jim Dunlop Jazz III XLs for everything.
Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?
YouTube and my online community keep me pretty busy. When I closed down the music school I owned and ran for 19 years with my wife, Mrs. Ricky, I said to myself I would get back out into “gigland.” So, I have a few more things to do to create some time, but hopefully, by the end of summer, I’m hoping to be able to skulk in the back on stage, playing guitar in a band. I’m not bothered about what genre it is.
As well as creating courses and writing books, I try to write music when I can and have a whole bunch of songs and partial songs backed up. I do that for myself, though, because I’d go crazy if I didn’t get the ideas out of my head.
That all said, teaching guitar and simplifying the fretboard is my life’s mission. I teach a live class every Wednesday on my YouTube channel (7 p.m. UK time), and that is like gigging in a strange way.
I teach lessons from my best-selling Amazon book, where I reinforce the material, expand, and link it to other lessons in the book. I’ve just released a beginner’s guitar course, and I’m currently working on a new course and another book.
Connect with Ricky Comiskey
YouTube / Website / Fretboard Fraternity
Jim Kirkpatrick
Jim Kirkpatrick is best known as the guitarist for the British melodic rock band FM. His slide guitar and fingering technique have had him compared to legendary guitarist Joe Bonamassa. Jim's current solo album 'Dead Man Walking' was referred to as a 'Masterpiece’ by Metal Planet Music.
Magesh Magesh, Musicngear: When people think of the Blues, they think of Robert Johnson and B.B. King. How would you describe the modern blues guitar style?
Blues' playing has come on so much technically, and there are so many amazing players these days that it’s hard to keep up. I'm glad it’s still alive and kicking in whatever form it takes.
Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?
To me, it’s all about phrasing. The number of notes is irrelevant. It’s what the notes say that counts. If it’s from the heart, then it’s good.
Musicngear: The shuffle rhythm common in the Blues has a jump in the beat. Do you have any advice for musicians to try and get better at playing over this beat?
Just listen to lots of different players and look at how they approach this. BB King approached this in a very different way to SRV, but both equally as brilliant.
Musicngear: Tone is very important to guitar players. Can you recommend any gear (strings/pedals) that can help give you a better Blues guitar tone?
Hmm, well, it’s all cliche really, but most tone is in the hands. A good valve amp is the most important thing to me.
There are so many different pedals out there that it’s hard to know where to start.
The tone in the hands comment…I played with Bernie Marsden for 17 years. He picked really hard. It gave him a great tone.
To me, it’s all about phrasing. The number of notes is irrelevant. It’s what the notes say that counts
Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?
It depends on the gig. In FM, I’m using the Satriani Marshall JVMs on the road, but in the studio, I have a JTM45, Marshall Astoria, Fender Pro Sonic.
Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?
We have a new FM album out in September. On top of that, I’m working on a new solo album as well.
Connect with Jim Kirkpatrick
Instagram / Website
Listen to Union Train
About Magesh Magesh
Magesh is a musician and producer who has worked with Rihanna, Lionel Richie, Ricky Martin, Chris Brown, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Nelly Furtado, and Vernon Reid of Living Colour.
He released an instructional drumming DVD called "Unique Beats" where he mixed the drum kit with electronics and Indian hand percussion. He recently moved from Australia to the UK to explore new musical opportunities.
Website: mageshdrumteacher.co.uk
Contact Magesh Magesh at magesh.magesh7@gmail.com
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