Old Bones: A Blues Tune Insight

This is a blues tune inspired by the likes of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker.

Swing Feel

At the beginning of this piece, it states that the quavers are swung. This means that the quavers, instead of sounding like "1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and," now sound like "1 and 2 and 3 and 4", a bit like the nursery rhyme Humpty Dumpty, if you're familiar with that:

"Humpty Dumpty, Humpty Dumpty."

So that's the basis for swing.

Practicing Swing

A simple phrase to help you play swing music better is:

• Black Berry, Black Berry, Black.
• Another option: New Castle, New Castle, New Castle.

What we're going to do is click our fingers on the second half of that word. If we take Black Berry, we're going to go:

"Black Berry, Black Berry, Black Berry, Black Berry."

Then, stop talking and imagine that word. You really want to throw your click into the "Berry" part. The stronger or more weight you give it, the more it feels like you're starting to swing harder.

Listening Examples

Oscar Peterson is a great example of this swing technique. If you ever listen to Oscar Peterson, you'll understand how hard swing can sound.

Common Mistakes

We want to avoid saying:

"Black Berry, Black Berry, Black Berry."

Because that's too heavy, and the emphasis is on the wrong beat. Once you've grasped that, everything starts to swing a bit better.

Jazz Beat and the Shuffle

When we're playing a jazz beat with a backbeat, this is called a shuffle. There are many different ways to play shuffles:

• Both hands together
• Hand in between (you might encounter this in later grades)

In Bar 13, we start playing the right hand on all the beats:

"1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and."

You can hear how this sounds different from the jazz beat.

Recommended Listening

Do check out Muddy Waters, particularly in the '70s. He made some amazing records. The drummer on that was Willie "Bigeye" Smith, one of my favorite blues drummers.

The thing I really like about Willie's playing is that he makes the snare drum sound punchy, as if you're walking into a real blues den. If you want to understand how to play blues well, and since blues is the basis of all rock and roll, then Willie Bigeye Smith is an important drummer to check out.

Jazz and Blues Blend

Now, if we took the backbeat out, we're left with jazz time on the ride cymbal, which sounds like this. We also play hi-hat, opening on beat one and closing on beat two.

In certain kinds of music, this would just be enough. In fact, we see this in Bar 5 with the introduction of the hi-hat foot playing 2 and 4.

When you put the two together, without playing the snare drum but playing this jazz ride pattern and adding in the foot, that is commonly known as the jazz groove. This is crucial to practice.

You can also start to use the left hand as a cross stick on beat.

Important Tips

• Concentrate on getting the cymbal not to overpower the other sounds.
• Keep it sounding sweet; it's certainly not rock music.

Keep practicing your right hand with the ride cymbal and get the snare drum just a little bit louder, pushing it along a bit more.

Playing Fill-Ins

Playing fill-ins in this kind of music requires lots of triplets. One of the easiest exercises is playing triplets:

"One triplet, two triplet, three triplet, four triplet."

You'll find that when you're playing the first triplet, it starts with your right hand, and the next triplet starts with your left hand (if you're doing single stroke rolls).

You can also try:

• Right, left, left
• Right, left, left

Fills in Blues

If you listen to Willie Bigeye Smith, you'll notice he plays straight triplets and sometimes doesn't even put a crash at the end. He plays a beat like this and just transitions straight to the groove.

If you want to develop your blues playing, it may help to take more out. Sometimes don't put that crash in, sometimes do, but really adhere to the bass and snare drum.

Classic Blues Ending

The classic blues ending sounds like:

"Daga de de de de ba bosh bosh."

This is a real blues vocabulary, and most blues tunes end like that.

Developing as a Musician

In Bar 29, there's the term "develop," which can make many people worried. What should I be playing?

Start using your ears. Listen to the rest of the band and the track. "Develop" means to phrase with them; it's not a drum solo.

When you hear a guitar figure,

"Bosch de bonche de bonch de bosch,"

catch those figures. After that, decide to stay on the ride cymbal, as the next section continues on the ride.

Exploring Different Grooves

If you want to develop into different grooves, you can take this shuffle jazz idea and apply a halftime groove, like those used by rock bands in the '70s (e.g., John Bonham's When the Levee Breaks).

Playing that beat allows you to think of that jazz time:

"Black Berry, Black Berry, Black Berry"

in the background, which will inform how you play a rock beat.

Closing Thoughts

It's hard to say how important this style of music is; there wouldn't be any rock and roll without it.

As I mentioned, certainly check out Muddy Waters, especially with Willie Bigeye Smith. There are countless other artists to explore.

Listen to this music; it will inform your playing and make more sense the more you immerse yourself in it.

I hope you enjoy listening and playing very much!