| Blues, Part 1: Tonality and Feel |
Blues, Part 1: Tonality and Feel
In this lesson, Danny talks about the blues component in his music, both in bluegrass and other music, including straight up blues. Early bluegrass had a large bluegrass influence, as can be heard in the mandolin playing of Bill Monroe and others. Danny has also listened to a lot of the older acoustic blues musicians, like Son House, Skip James, and Robert Johnson and this had a big influence on his own playing. A lot of blues guitar is played in open tunings, and Danny talks about how the banjo, being open tuned, can easily imitate some of the blues guitarists licks and feel. He shows you the blues tonality, which you can get by flatting the third and seventh of a major scale, and talks about playing with a swing and behind-the-beat feel.
