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Mastering Blues Music: Expert Tips & Advice From Four Acclaimed Guitarists

Larry McCray, Howard Hart, Erja Lyytinen, and Marcus Trummer share insights on the sound, gear, and feeling behind today's blues guitar.

By Magesh MageshContributing Author

Although the blues have been around for a long time, this music still resonates with many people. Its classic 12-bar blues chord progression is simply timeless. It is a truly deceptive and difficult style of music to play.

I caught up with four incredibly talented guitarists from different corners of the globe to talk about all things Blues.

Larry McCray

Photo credit: Curtis Knapp

Blue's guitarist, Larry McCray, is a true legend in the music business. He has played and shared the stage with such blues greats as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Albert King, John Mayall, Johnny Winter, Robert Cray, Keb' Mo', Jimmie Vaughan, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Joe Bonamassa, as well as rock legends the Allman Brothers, Phil Lesh, Jonny Lang, Joe Walsh, Levon Helm, Chris Robinson and Dickey Betts.

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 think that modern blues guitar at a high level is reflecting on all of our mentors’ music and trying to bring it to today's Forefront. To be effective, we must find a way to make it palatable for today's audience, who aren't as versed and experienced in that music, and bring it to something that they can comprehend and understand.

I also feel that it's important to give this music a certain amount of octane, meaning bravado or rhythmic stamina, to be comparable to today's popular musical genres.

Melodically, we cannot lose the soul and inflections of our mentors, but we must use our own interpretation to avoid being a carbon copy.

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 to become well-versed in playing over a 12-bar blues progression, you must first pick your favourite of the Blues Masters and listen to them, copy them note for note, until you develop a repertoire and language comprised of phrases and notes that you have learned from them.

Once you learn those notes to where they become part of you, you learn to express them and place them according to your own personal liking, also use vocal phrasing as a guideline to use on your instrument.

Personally, I am inspired by gospel vocals, and that's what I comprise my original licks and repertoire from - outside of what I learned from the Masters and took to try to make my own.

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?

I think for Shuffle Blues, everyone would agree that Jimmy Reed, Eddie Taylor, Lazy Lester, Slim Harpo, and Elmore James would be a strong place to start to learn to play the shuffle traditionally.

To beef it up a little bit, you have Freddie King, Luther Allison, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Johnny Winter would also be a good place to learn what we call the 'lump' or 'lumpy lump'.

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 speaking, to have a good Blues tone, I think it's easy to have it oversaturated. So, you don't want to focus too much on fuzz pedals but more so on drive pedals, something that will give you a little colour but more driving to sustain, as opposed to unpleasant noises and saturation.

Some industry standards that don't cost an arm and a leg would be something like Boss BD-2 Overdrive with a Keely mod, the White OCD Drive pedal, the Maxon OD-808 Tube Screamer, Ibanez TS9 Tube Screamer, just to name a few.

Melodically, we cannot lose the soul and inflections of our mentors, but we must use our own interpretation to avoid being a carbon copy

Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?

I currently use a Jim Dunlop Cry Baby Wah Wah, also a Joe Bonamassa Fuzz Driver, and a Klon Centaur. That's all I have on my pedal board.

On the road, my choice is Deluxe Reverb by Fender, Fender Super Reverb, or any of the many other choices of tube amps that are available. I really like Magnatone, they are my favourite right now. I really like Category 5, I like some Friedman gear, there's some great sounding Mesa Boogie stuff out there, Marshall, and Red Plate, just to name a few.

Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?

I am currently celebrating my latest release with Joe Bonamassa and Josh Smith as producers on my latest record. For the label Journeyman Records.

The single ‘Bye Bye Blues’ was released on April 18th, and 'Bright Side' followed on May 16th. The title of the album is 'Heartbreak City', and it will be released on June 13th.  I'm very excited about the album, I think it's my best work, and I think that Martin Blues lovers will really appreciated the rhythmic approaches, the diversity, and the sentiment of the album. 

I was also involved in a single with guitarist Greg Koch early this year on his record - we did a single of the Muddy Waters song 'Can't Be Satisfied'.

I was also involved earlier this year with one of my heroes, the great Miss Candy Staton. She released a new record earlier this year in March, and I was part of the music I sang with her on one of the songs entitled 'God Is At The End Of Your Rope'. This made me very proud, and I feel very fulfilled with this effort because she has always been iconic and one of my favourite blues singers that I think was never recognized for her contribution what she made to the music. I love this lady very much.

Those are all my most recent recording efforts.

I will be on the road this summer with Devin Allman and his blue Summit. It will consist of Devon Allman and his Blues project band featuring Robert Randolph, Sierra Green, Kingfish Ingram, Jimmy Hall, and Larry McCray. That's all I know about it right now. I know that we all did a track, and there's going to be a compilation CD behind the effort, and I'm just looking forward to taking it to the road, really looking forward to getting out playing for the people this summer.

Hoping everybody can come out and show their support, and I don’t think you would be disappointed. I think it's going to be a great summer for the Blues.

Please come on out and check it out.

Larry McCray’s new album “Heartbreak City” is released on Joe Bonamassa’s KTBA Records and is available to pre-order from https://larrymccrayofficial.com/

Connect with Larry McCray
Instagram

Howard Hart

Guitarist and teacher Howard Hart has been performing, recording & teaching in the world of guitar for many years. He has appeared in many leading guitar magazines, including Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Guitar World, and Guitar For The Practicing Musician.

Howard has over 1000 videos on YouTube with over 130k subscribers.

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 think it's a blend of tradition and some fresh ideas.

If you look at Grace Bowers, she's playing Blues, but with a bit of R&B, Funk, and Soul tossed into the mix.

Marcus King is more traditional, but he has that edge in his playing. And I think it all starts with Stevie Ray Vaughan. He reignited the Blues with a heavier Rock kind of attitude - that Hendrix influence.

And you can hear HIS influence in newer players.

Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?

That's a great question. I just finished a 4-part series on my YouTube channel called "How To Play Great Blues Solos" that addresses this very question.

It's easy to get stuck relying on the usual Blues and Pentatonic scales, but there's so much more you can do to play more expressively.

It's all about getting inside the changes, targeting the 3rd, adding double-stops, chord scales, and blending the Major and Minor Pentatonics.

It's amazing how much more musical your playing can become. It takes a bit of practice, but it's well worth it.

It's easy to get stuck relying on the usual Blues and Pentatonic scales, but there's so much more you can do to play more expressively

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?

In the Blues, you have the straight 8th note feel and then the shuffle feel.

Once you understand that the shuffle feel is based on a simple triplet, it becomes a bit easier to wrap your head around (if you're having trouble with it, of course).

You can view it as a triplet with the second note missing, so to speak. And that's what creates the shuffle feel. Instead of 1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2-3 - it's 1-3, 1-3, 1-3.

I know just understanding this has helped a lot of my students in the past.

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 get asked this a lot on my channel. There are many Blues tones, of course, and I suppose it's somewhat subjective.

There are bridge position tones, neck position tones, dirty ones, clean ones, etc.

Bending expressively is a big part of the Blues vocabulary - I think 9 through 42 is an excellent choice for strings. I use Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. If you are tuning down a 1/2 step or more, then a heavier gauge is probably better.

As far as pedals, I favor analog. Digital just doesn't do it for me :-)  

I think the Proco Rat is a great classic-sounding pedal. And I also like the Rude Mouse from Sonicake.

Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?

I've used Mesa Boogie amps for a long time, and still do.

But lately I've really been into Orange amps. I use their Orange Crush 20 RT practice amp to shoot videos for my YouTube channel, and it's been great!

It really combines well with my Tele.

I use it in combination with the Pedals I just mentioned, and also Sonicake's Multi Effects Pedal for Chorus and Delay.

Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?

I'm in the middle of putting together a compilation series for my channel - "Acoustic Blues Guitar Lessons". Each one has 3 lessons in it.

I launched the first one just recently, and viewers are really enjoying it. The 2nd and 3rd ones are in the works.

I'm also planning a Blues-Rock project with vocalist Melisa Kary. That's a ways out, but I'm looking forward to it.

I contributed a track to the "Led Zeppelin Salute" CD, and she provided the vocals. She absolutely killed it!

Connect with Howard Hart​​​​​​​
YouTube / Website

Erja Lyytinen

Erja Lyytinen is an incredibly talented Finnish blues-rock guitarist. She has toured America and Europe several times, as well as releasing 12 solo albums.

Her talent was recognised by guitar legend Carlos Santana, who was quoted saying, 'She is the future!'

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?

When it comes to the performance of modern blues, there are faster licks, more notes, and simply more happening in the solos. It´s a different kind of attitude compared to traditional playing.

Maybe it´s partly the way the world is nowadays, everything is very “busy” and we get easily bored. So, this transfers to playing as well.

You can hear more distortion used on modern blues guitar solos, and you might hear modulation effects and delays.

Instead of a traditional blues chord changes I–IV–V, there might be other chord progressions in the songs, which of course affect the solo you´re creating. So, you can easily “step out” from the traditional blues scale.

Of course, there are still blues guitarists who don´t use guitar effects and aim to make more traditional solos, keeping it more in the interpretation and traditional approach.

Some modern blues guitarists borrow the attitude and interpretation from 70s hard rock.

Also, the equipment plays a big part in the soundscape. I´d have liked to hear what Robert Johnson would have done with a Stratocaster and a Marshall amp!

Musicngear: The 12-bar blues is such a staple in this music. How does someone get better at soloing over this common chord progression?

You can always get better by improving your guitar techniques. Can you play tapping over a 12-bar blues progression? Oh, yes, you can! In the up-tempo songs, I usually like to play “slide tapping” with my bottleneck.

I´m still learning to play sweeps with a regular guitar, and I’m always fascinated when I hear someone shredding in rockier blues songs.

You can also have just one chord to solo over, and you can still create tension. For example, playing with different modes, scales, and arpeggios. If you are playing in A-minor, try playing B – B-minor or C- C-minor pentatonic scale and then land it back on A-minor. Is it still considered “blues”? Probably not, but you might come up with something completely new.

I like to use modes; I sometimes use Overtone dominant scale or Alt-scale to spice up the solos. The sky is the limit, but many times our ears are keen on repeating the old, usual patterns.

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?

In the shuffle rhythm, the weight is on the first eight notes, and the latter eight notes are shorter. It literally goes “shuff—le”.

I remember practicing shuffle rhythm slowly at first, just to get that right feel on the rhythm. So, trying to make it relaxed and thinking of “leaning back” rather than pushing forward.  

And practice also playing with chords and playing the chords only on the backbeat.

You can always get better by improving your guitar techniques. Can you play tapping over a 12-bar blues progression? Oh, yes, you can!

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 legendary Boss BD-2 Overdrive works well with traditional stuff.

If you want to do Hendrix-style solos, then it´s, of course, the Vibe and Vox Wah Wah pedal. I love Wah Wah, and I got three different ones (Fulltone, Vox, and Dunlop Cry Baby).

For amplifiers, any old tube Fender amp for me sounds bluesy! On stage, I would choose Fender 65Twin Reverb or Super Reverb.

Fender Champ has a raw, distinctive sound that I’ve used when recording delta blues style of rhythm guitar in the studio.

Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?

I’m currently using Mesa Boogie Head T-30. It´s an old one, and I use it with a Framus 2 x 12” cabinet that has an open back.

I have two separate pedal boards combined, where I have multiple pedals. There´s Digitech Whammy 5, Electro Harmonix Superego, Keeley Dyno My Roto modulation effect, Suhr Jack Rabbit tremolo, delay, and a chorus pedal by TC Electronic, and so on.

I also use Shure DLXD+ wireless system to have more freedom on stage.

Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?

We just released my new solo album called “Smell the Roses”, and we are currently working on a tutorial book with full tablatures of each guitar solo on the album. The book will be available later on my website.

It´s a lot of work to transcribe all the music notation and try to remember how I played it! I´m working on recording videos for my Erja Lyytinen Official YouTube channel for guitarists to have videos to watch, on how I play the album solos.

Also, the festival season is starting soon, so I´m going to be flying all over Europe with my guitars. And that´s really the reason why I practiced so hard to become a guitarist - to enjoy playing live shows around the world!

Connect with Erja Lyytinen
Instagram 

Listen to Smell the Roses // Abyss // The Ring // Snake in the Grass' feat. Jennifer Batten

Marcus Trummer

Photo credit: Heather Saitz

Marcus Trummer is a talented musician from Calgary, Canada. He is quickly making a name for himself in the music business.

His raw talent earned him the “New Artist of the Year” at the Maple Blues Awards he also won the 2023 Telluride Blues Challenge.

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?

Speaking for myself, I’ve been deeply influenced by the whole history of electric blues guitar in particular. Everyone from the three Kings (B.B., Albert, & Freddie), to Elmore James and T-Bone Walker.

I think modern blues guitar players still maintain a strong connection to the early pioneers of blues, however, now there is more freedom in terms of the format.

With blues as the foundation, the way of modern blues guitar is to seamlessly blend it with genres like rock, R&B, funk, and hip hop, all of which exist because of blues music.   

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 the feel. It sounds trite, but I think the best way to get better at playing is to play.

The key is to really listen and be present when you’re doing it. Don’t just go through the motions, try to tell a story, and let your emotions come through your improvising. 

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?

When it comes to rhythm, the more time spent listening, the more comfortable you will be at grooving with it when it comes time to play.

If there’s a particular style that’s a struggle for you… Listen to that more!

If you spend lots of time taking in good music, it will seep into your subconscious. Once that happens, playing it becomes second nature. 

I think modern blues guitar players still maintain a strong connection to the early pioneers of blues, however, now there is more freedom in terms of the format

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?

For a blues tone, all you really need is a well-set-up guitar and a good tube amp.

The key is… turn it up to the sweet spot. It should be loud. Not so loud that everything is distorting, but it should be right on the edge of breakup.

You have to get the amp working and moving some air.

Musicngear: Can you talk about the setup you are currently using?

I’m almost always playing my 1960 reissue Gibson Les Paul. While I like Fender guitars, and I use them in the studio, I’m a big fan of humbuckers for live playing, especially for lead tones and slide.

I find with humbuckers I can dig in more, and the added bottom end is helpful when trying to push a solo hard. I have a couple of pedals I use, but I try to keep it simple.

On my board, I keep a Strymon Flint tremolo/reverb, Analog Man Prince of Tone overdrive, and a local Canadian-made Dingotone Germanium Hybrid fuzz pedal.

When it comes to amps, I use various Fender tube amps depending on the size of the stage, but typically a Deluxe Reverb or Super Reverb. 

Musicngear: What projects are you working on right now?

I just released my debut album “From The Start” late last year, which is available to stream or download wherever you get your music.

I am currently in the writing process for my next album and am looking forward to getting back in the studio in the near future to record it.

Connect with Marcus Trummer
Website / Instagram

Listen to Holding Out For You (Live at Festival Hall) // Holding Out For You // Hard Time // The Only Thing (Live at Festival Hall)

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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