30 Authentic Blues Grooves You MUST Know

Thousands of blues tunes draw on the core foundation of grooves and rhythm patterns spawned during the electric blues renaissance of the 50s and 60s. Unlike other genres of music from that time, there’s nothing nostalgic about these grooves — these same grooves and rhythm patterns have been used by every generation of blues player since right up to modern times. “Authentic” is the best way to describe them and Jeff McErlain’s 30 Authentic Blues Grooves You MUST Know is the best way to learn them.

For inspiration, Jeff dug deep into the music of Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Willie Dixon, Slim Harpo, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Charlie Musslewhite, Sonny Boy Williamson, Jimmy Reed, Freddie King, John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers, Peter Green, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and many other blues giants.

Jeff kicks things off with some blues authenticity inspired from Elmore James’ classic Done Somebody Wrong, Junior Wells’ tricky repeat pattern from Messing with the Kid, Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning (one of the most influential blues grooves ever!), the seminal swamp blues groove from I'm A King Bee and Sonny Boy’s Help Me with a tasty and nasty Charlie Musslewhite feel. These first five grooves will feed your blues bag for a lifetime but there’s much more to come…

Jeff then shows you how to correctly play a no-frills boogie woogie E grinder followed by tasty take-offs from another Howlin' Wolf classic must-know groove from Killing Floor (the definitive Chicago electric blues tune) along with the classic riff that outlines its basic I7, IV7, V7 progression. Then you’ll work through grooves copped from All You Love by Otis Rush, Muddy Waters’ Can't Be Satisfied benchmark blues groove, the awesome Little Red Rooster groove, and an uptempo swing blues feel you’ll call on over and over again.

You’ll also love learning the guitar grooves inspired from tunes like Freddie King’s Going Down, Willie Dixon’s Mellow Down Easy, Sonny Boy Williamson's On My Baby, Jimmy Reed’s High Heeled Sneakers and the Etta James tune, I’d Rather Go Blind. These ‘authentic’ blues grooves have been used a thousands times over in thousands of tunes to follow right up to present day.

Next up, a sweet minor blues variation with some cool changes to spice things up a bit on the turnaround, a tasty Peter Green-influenced groove, a classic 8-bar part ala Key To The Highway, an Elmore James-inspired part from Shake Your Money Maker, and an unaccompanied solo in the style of Lonely Years from John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers.

Jeff winds things up with seven more must-know grooves… Slim Harpo’s swamp blues classic groove from Baby Scratch My Back, a sweet groove inspired by Jimmy Reed’s Baby What You Want Me To Do?, the Hoochie Coochie Man groove (one of the greatest grooves of all time!), the folk-bluesy groove from Sitting on Top of the World as Howlin' Wolf approached it, Bo Diddley's She's Fine She's Mine, Slim Harpo’s Shake Your Hips with a Texas Boogie feel a la John Lee Hooker and a classic 8-bar blues with some extra changes to spice things up.

Jeff demonstrates all of the? grooves over killer rhythm tracks (recorded in the studio for real-world musical context), and then breaks down the techniques, rhythm patterns and creative approach in a clear and very accessible manner. All of the performance examples are tabbed and notated, plus you get all of the rhythm tracks to work with on your own.

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