bloomfield lesson 4
TRANSCRIPT
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The next example is a 12 bar slow Blues in Bb demonstrating chords and movements Bloomfieldplayed. Its a composite of several recordings where Mike is comping behind other soloists. It featuresseveral examples of Mikes classic 6th and 9th chord approach phrases.
The pickup bar uses one of these melodic moves which is essentially a Bb6 voicing that is slid upfrom a whole step below. Then the top note is sounded as the chord is slid back down. Its a very usefulcoincidence that the same voicing works in two places for Bb7, at the 5th fret, in which case its Bb9, orat the 7th fret where its Bb6. Following the pickup move, the first bar uses a Bb9 voicing. Since this is aslow blues, Mike would usually keep a steady 1/8th note-triplet rhythm throughout the progression. Hewould then add the sliding-approach phrases at key points to help emphasize the chord changes.
Another move Mike often used is shown in at the beginning or bar 3. Its a common R&B andBlues technique of hammering from the minor to major third of a dominant chord. Im pretty sure Mike,like a lot of players, wrapped his left thumb around the neck allowing him to fret notes on the 6th string.Using your thumb on the low Bb makes the move easier as you can bar the 2nd, 3rd and 4th strings withyour first finger and hammer the D (major 3rd) with your second finger. It is, however, possible to playthis move without your thumb by baring with your third finger, root with your second and hammer the3rd using your fourth finger. Or you can just bar a full Bb7 (include the 5th-F on the 5th string) and ham-mer the 3rd with your second finger.
The chord progression also uses diminished 7ths and augmented chords in several places to add anice bit of motion and tension/resolution to the chords. Theyre chord substitutes and are optional, in aslow Blues like this, but Bloomfield would usually add them. Also, bar 4 demonstrates a common chro-matic chord move as the I7-Bb9 chord walks up in 1/2 steps for the change to the IV7-Eb9 in bar 5.
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===================& Important additional chords
_Cmaj 7
_ _ _Cmaj 9
___ b_Cmaj 7
_# _
(G,Bb,Db & Edim7)
bCmaj 7
b(G, B & D#aug)
bn #Csus 4
C 7sus 4 C 7#9 C 7#9 Gdim 7 Gdim 7 Gaug Gaug
TAB
5
54
3
3
24
38
899
7
1098
8
101088
35363
34
23
8878
5354
2323
4456
3445l
llll
Example 3
Slow Blues in Bb
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===================& 44
b b b _
b
Bb9 b
b b __TAB
656 8
78 6
878
656 6
65
5
6
565
5
56
6 6
65
5 5
56
6
65
56
5656
5656
66
88 8
lllll
{{
===================&__
b
Eb9 b _b _b _
_ _ _n
Edim 7
_ _ _
_ _TAB
8
88 6
6
66656
6
5666
6
6
6
566
66
6
56
6
6789
6
6
987 7
968
6
9768
6
9867
6
968
6
7lllll ===================&
b _bbj n_Bb7
_ _
_ _ b
n
Faug
TAB
6
66
76
66
76 6
66
7
6
7
6
6
66
67
6
7
6
666
87
66
87
66
78 87
66 8
6
78 87
66
l
llll ===================&
b _bJ b
Bb7 n_ _
_b b
(Eb) _
_
_
(Bb7)
(Bb9) bb n b
(B9) nnn
(C9) b _n(Db9) (D9)n _bn
TA
B
6
67
6
6 76
6
6 6
67
6
8
6
88 8
6
88
6
88
8 6
6
67
65
65
6767
787
8
8989
9109
10
l
llll ===================&
b b _Eb9 _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ b__ b _____
TAB
11101110
1110
1011
111011
101110
10
11
10111011
1110
1011
10
10
11
11
11101110
11101110
1110
10
11 111211
131213
11
l
llll
Example 4
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Slow Blues in Bb
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===================&__b
Eb9 b b _ _ _
_ _
Edim 7
b
b n
_TAB
12
13
13 1110
11 11
1110
10
11
10
10
11 11
10
10
11 1110
1011
68
78
8
7
6
8
8
78
68
87
6
6
56
8
78
6
l
llll ===================&
bBb9b
bn
Faug
b _ bb _
bJ _nBb7
_ b_b
_(Eb)
_ b _
(Bb9)
n _ ___
TA
B
8
87 5
6
6
56
65
5
656
6
65
5
5
6
65
6
76
8
66
87
8766
678
6
8768
6
66
6
6
7 7
6
6
676
6
6 888
6 6
88
8
888
6
65
63 8
91010
10
l
llll l
llll
===================&
___F9 __b __ __
____
__ ____
__ b __ __
b
Eb9
b _b _b _
_ _
bn Edim 7
_n _ _TA
B
10
1010
888
87
88
8
88
7
8
8
888
8
7
888
8
7 7
8
8
88
8
7
8
88
8
88
8
7
8
7
8
8
8
66
88
888
8
6
66
5
6
6
66 6
6
6
5
6665
6
6
66
6
6
5
7
868 8
68
7
868
7
565
6565
6565
6
l
llll l
llll
===================& b
b _Bb7 _
(Bb6)
b _
bj nb _ _ _
Eb
bb
Gdim 7
b n
_ _ _TAB
7
6
8
8
6
8
6
676
66
67
66
88
8 8
688
119
1110
119
1110
l
llll ===================& b _
b _b
Bb7 __
__ _
_ b _ F
7
___
__ __ (Faug)
__ b
b n _TAB
8
6
8
6
786
6
78
6
8
87
6
7
6
6
8
8
88
1010
10
87
88
888
78
8
888
87
6678
6
65
878
6
l
llll
{{
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Example 5
6
Double-Stop Phrases
Up next are some examples of Mikes double-stop-rhythm phrases. He often used them to addinterest to his chord playing. The next three examples are country/steel-guitar inspired hammer-riffswhich Mike used in many different situations. Example 5 demonstrates several positions of the moveover C major. Theyre essentially 4th intervals that are played followed by a whole-step hammer-on of
the lower tone creating a 3rd interval. The phrases in Example 5 also works great when played over Am.
For me, and Im sure many other young players at the time, learning these little double-stop movesoff Bloomfields records was a huge benefit to my own rhythm playing. Armed with just a few, you canliven up the chords of even the most boring and simple tunes.
A great recording that you can hear Mike play several versions is on The Weight from The LiveAdventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper. Its a great guitar performance all the way aroundincluding a fine country-ish solo and lots of classic uses of his double-stop phrases.
Something that has always stood out to me about Mikes rhythm playing is how well he laid backon the time. Ive been around hundreds of young guitarists and one thing they all have in common is thetendency to push or rush when playing rhythm. Its rare to hear a player in their mid-twenties havingsuch a mature rhythm feel like Bloomfield. Notice throughout The Weight how laid-back he plays thequarter-note comp.
Example 6 is a six-bar excerpt from The Weight. It occurs around 1:08 into the track during theCsus2. The series of hammer-on 3rds, in the first two bars, end with a Bluesy version at the 3rd fret.Then he plays just the triad bar-chords with the organ while the bass plays a descending line underneath.Mike then plays one of his classic 6th licks to set up the next chorus.
===================& 44
_C
(Am)
J __ ___ J __ J j j j _
TAB 3
H
5 755 5
5
75
59
88
HH
HH8
108 88
789 7
85
57
55
75
555
H
75
555
8lllll l
llll l
llll
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Example 6
7
===================& 44 ____J __Csus 2
___J __ J bJ TAB
101012 8
88 10
8 88 5
33
33 3
5333l
llll lllll
===================& G
Bm/F #
Am/E
G/D
C
__ ___
__J _ b
b _
_G
etc.....TAB
10
10 12
12 8
9
5
5
6
6
7
7lllll l
llll lllll l
llll lllll
Like most people, the first time I heard Mike Bloomfield was probably on the Bob Dylan classicLike a Rolling Stone. At the time I didnt know who the guitar player was but knew there was some-thing special about the cool rhythm part he was playing. And one of the parts that stood out was the ham-mer-triads he played up high on his Telecaster.
Example 7 is a short excerpt from Like a Rolling Stone during one of the Dm to F sections. If
you know the lyrics, its where Dylan sings After he took from you everything etc. Bloomfield plays anice Dm7sus voicing followed by an F at the 5th fret before shifting up to the 10th fret for the higharpeggiated Gsus2 adding the hammered 3rds. Check it out.
Excerpt from The WeightThe Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper
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Example 7
8
===================& 44
Dm
F
TAB
"After he took from you....."
7
85
7
85
7
85
7
65
7
65
7
65l
llll lllll
===================&
G __ _ _
_ __ _ _ __ _
__ _
_ _ __ _ _ __etc.......
_TAB
HH
12
1010
1210 12
1010 12
1010
H H
12
1010
1210 12
1010 12
1010
lllll l
llll
The final example is another 12-bar Blues, this time played entirely with 6th intervals in the keyof C. Bloomfield relied on this sound often when playing Blues or even Rock and Pop tunes. The exam-ple uses a classic melodic-triplet-sequence moving up or down the scale of the particular chord in theprogression. Most of the time the 6ths follow the scale but in a few instances, such as in bar 4, the lineuses chromatic passing tones for that classic Blues melody. The 6ths in the example can be played in afew different styles. The notes can be picked separately or played more legato with slides. The typicalway you would likely hear Bloomfield play this would be with slides on the lower notes. Bar 1 can easilybe played this way. Just keep your 2nd finger on the lower notes and slide down from one 6th group tothe next.
Excerpt from Like a Rolling Stoneby Bob Dylan
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===================& 44
C 7 ___
__ __ b _
F 7
_ b b TAB
12
12
12 10
10
10 9
8
9 7
6
710
10
10 8
8
8 7
6
7 5
4
5lllll l
llll lllll l
llll
===================& C 7
b
_
b _
__
__
#
#__
___ TAB
5
5
5 8
8
8 10
10
107
6
7 9
8
9 10
10
10 11
11
11 12
12
12lllll l
llll
===================&
_F7 ___ _
b ___ __
b __
b _
_
b
TAB
14
13
14 12
11
12 10
10
10 8
8
8 7
6
710
10
10 8
8
8 7
6
7lllll l
llll
===================&
C 7 __
b _
_ b
TAB
9
8
9 7
6
7 5
5
5 3
3
37
6
7 5
5
5 3
3
3 2
1
2lllll l
llll
Example 8
Slidin 6th Blues
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===================& G 7
_ # #_
_
F 7 b
n # _
T
AB
4
3
4 5
5
5 6
6
6 7
7
77
6
7 8
8
8 9
9
9 10
10
10
l
llll l
llll
===================& C 7__
b _ _F 7
b _
bC 7
bb b _b ___
(Ab9) ___nG 9 __
_ TAB
9
8
9 7
6
7 10
10
10 9
9
9 8
81111111011 10
9101010
l
llll l
llll
I hope this lesson got you thinking a bit more about you rhythm playing. Take it from me, some-one who learned the hard way that you cannot neglect your rhythm playing in favor of flashy soloing.Im sure Bloomfield knew this early on. When I was young, I was intensely focused on my improvisingchops and figured playing a bunch of chords during the vocals or other guys solos was a mindless exer-cise. It finally took the insistence of my fellow band mates to get serious about my comping. And as weall learn, you spend at least 3/4 of the time playing rhythm in most music situations. So you might aswell get it down.
Thanks for checking this out. -Don Mock
Don Mock is one of Americas most respected guitar educatorsand players. As one of the founding instructors of G.I.T. and
Musicians Institute in Hollywood, Don has authored severalbooks, CDs and videos on modern guitar including his acclaimed The Blues from Rock to Jazz. He also produced and directed nearly 100 instructional videos of some of the worlds top playersincluding Robben Ford, Scott Henderson, Joe Pass, Pat Martino,Paul Gilbert, Joe Diorio, Allan Holdsworth and many others.
For more information visit: DonMockGuitar.com.
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