Blues records advise?

h3r3tic

Silver Member
Hey guys! :D

Not only am I'm trying to play some jazz recently and some other styles, but I'd also like to learn a little bit about blues.

Can you advise me which records should check out to get a better understanding on this musical style and its drumming?

Thanks guys!
 
BB King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Ry Cooter for old school examples.

Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gary Moore, Eric Clapton for more modern blues examples.
 
From The Cradle by Eric Clapton is a great all-around blues drumming record. Most of the popular grooves and shuffles are there and Gadd and Keltner are playing them... doesn't get better than that.

I really recommend attending blues jams. People think blues is "easy" to play, until they get up there to do it. It requires incredibly solid grooves and often the ability to play "in the backseat".
 
Generally speaking, blues drumming is all about understatement. Keep the beat, great meter and proper tempo are the 2 most important things you should be concerned with. If you're playing shuffles, the toms don't work so well. Just keep that shuffle feel and don't let it it drop out. Groove is king. Some drummers don't like it because they think it's "boring". I can understand that, when In was younger I felt the same way. I didn't "get" it yet. I do now. Keep the beat, cut way back even eliminate the fills, keep the volume in check, and don't stick out. Play tastefully. Support the soloists by giving them a great relentless pulse to latch on to, and don't play too loud behind them. Don't put too much energy into it, laying back is more effective. Forget fancy, instead simplify and attempt to make it feel great. Less is way more. Blues is all about the lyrics and the guitars and the solo instruments, definitely not the drums. I have Sirius satelite radio, great blues channel. Just listen to any blues you can get your ears on. The drumming itself isn't that spectacular, but the feel is what you need to acquire. There are only like 6 rhythms or so in blues, the shuffle, the slow blues (6/8 and 3/4), the flat tire beat, straight four on the floor w/ a backbeat, the rhumba, 16th's on the hi hat....There may be more but these are the main ones.
 
Check out SRV's older brother Jimmie's band, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, back in the late 70's and early 80's they were the defining American electric blues sound. The albums T-Bird Rhythm, Butt Rockin', Girls Go Wild and What's the Word would be required reading if there were classes for such a thing.
Nice and primitive recordings too.

Don't put too much energy into it, laying back is more effective.
I agreed with everything you said except that. There is no taboo in driving the band. It will inevitably separate you from the boring Duh-Dun-Tah blues bands that don't energize the audience. That's what brought the great blues bands to the top, the fact that they DID kick ass, like SRV, Eric Clapton, The Thunderbirds, Ronnie Earl, Duke Robillard, Roomful of Blues, these band didn't just sit there like a band reading the smudged print from yesterday's discarded Daily News! They PUMPED it UP baby!! They got the audience GROOVING to their brand of the blues!! Even oldsters like Koko Taylor, Albert King and Albert Collins, all of their bands were on FIRE with energy, no laying back for THEM!! They PUSHED the music into the crowd and made you FEEL it!
.
.
.

__________________
Most respect the badge, but all fear the drum.
 
Last edited:
Viper makes a great point about driving the band.
 
See if you can get hold of "Fathers and Sons." It was recorded in the late sixties and it has Sam Lay on drums, playing behind Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Donald Dunn.
I recommend this because Sam Lay is a great blues drummer and the recording is a technical gem, the drums are beautifully recorded. Everything you need to know about blues drumming is on this one, from 12/8 to shuffle to two-beat, everything. I'll bet you can still find the CD. It's on the old Chess label.
 
Hey guys! :D

Not only am I'm trying to play some jazz recently and some other styles, but I'd also like to learn a little bit about blues.

Can you advise me which records should check out to get a better understanding on this musical style and its drumming?

Thanks guys!

I currently tour with various blues artists resident in Europe - Jimmy Thomas (from Ike Turners Kings of Rhythm), Michael Roach (Country Blues master from DC), Johnny Mars (Harmonica Maestro), Angela Brown & Deitra Farr (Chicago Divas!) amongst others ... all of these guys want one thing - groove!!

There are hundreds of great blues records out there but you should really understand where it all came from - go to the source & learn the subtlties of what makes a great shuffle with a quality backbeat!

I learnt a lot listening to the real early Chicago stuff - Fred Below was the master at Chess Records playing on countless records with Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Otish Rush & Elmore James. An amazing rhythm section with Fred Below, Willie Dixon on Bass & Chuck Berry on guitar! Check out any quality Chess Records compilation for his stuff.

Jabo Starks played with Bobby 'Blue' Bland before joining James Brown - I would recommend "Two Steps From the Blues". I Pity the Fool rocks!

Sonny Freeman played with BB King in the 50's - check out Live At The Regal for some great feels (he was the master of the 'Flat Tyre' shuffle!)

For an idea of where it all started, have a listen to Earl Palmer playing with Fats Domino or Little Richard. He also plays on BB King's recent(ish) tribute to Louis Jordan - an excellent example of playing Jump Blues with brushes.

Check out some early Freddie King too - 'Tore Down' swings hard and the feel shifts in 'Hideaway' are cool - from the shuffle to the straight 8ths, back to the shuffle ..

Big Jay McNeely always had a good band, as did Lee Allen, King Curtis, Buddy Guy ... also listen to the earliest solo blues artists to figure where the vibe came from - Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Son House ...

One thing the drummers all have in common is a laid back approach with a real sense of authority to the backbeat. Create tension by pushing a slow 12/8 or really lay back on an up-tempo open ride shuffle. The Texas stuff really kicks, and the Chicago stuff is solid as a rock ... there are loads of things worth checking out really but it's worth going back to the source and really understanding where it all came from man!

Have fun!
 
I agree with the blues jam statement. Nothing better then doing it. A lot of great artists mentioned here. Listen up then go try it. One you get comfortable in 6 and with shuffles you will fine. One of the coolest thing is all the shuffle variations there are. You will never get board.

I have to say, there is nothing quit like playing the blues when it all clicks and the pocket is so huge you feel like you can't do any wrong.

The beautiful thing about the blues is you can just do it. You go to a jam and just play As long as you understand the basic structure and feel you are OK.

Man now I need to find a blues jam ;-)
 
I learnt a lot listening to the real early Chicago stuff - Fred Below was the master at Chess Records playing on countless records with Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Otish Rush & Elmore James. An amazing rhythm section with Fred Below, Willie Dixon on Bass & Chuck Berry on guitar! Check out any quality Chess Records compilation for his stuff.

Thank you, Matt, for mentioning one of my all-time favorite drummers. Did you know that Fred Below was originally a jazz drummer? True. And his drumming on the Little Walter records, with the Myers brothers, has that jazz swing vibe to it. His playing was perfect for that band. Great stuff.
Like you, I learned from those Chess records. It's all there.
 
Thank you, Matt, for mentioning one of my all-time favorite drummers. Did you know that Fred Below was originally a jazz drummer? True. And his drumming on the Little Walter records, with the Myers brothers, has that jazz swing vibe to it. His playing was perfect for that band. Great stuff.
Like you, I learned from those Chess records. It's all there.

Nice one Jay! Yeh - Fred Below starting as a jazzer makes perfect sense. He really knew how to swing and to play with real authority at low volumes.

i got to pay my own personal tribute to him when I visited Chess Records in Chicago a couple of years ago - I was the only visitor at the time and there happened to be a kit set up in the old live room ... the guys conducting the tour left me there to have a play! I was in my own little Chess Records fantasy world, laying down a deep shuffle, eyes closed, only to find some bemused German Tourists watching me when I opened them! They thought I was part of the studio tour - lol!!
 
Thirding Fred Below. The man is a timekeeping MONSTER!!!!

Go to allmusic.com and search Fred Below. Buy or download any album he's played on and play along to it. The greatest blues drumming I've ever heard BY FAR. Check out his work with Junior Wells, Otis Spann and Elmore James. Play along to this man and you will get something, I swear.
 
The blues genre is based on the blues form but possesses other characteristics such as specific lyrics, bass lines and instruments. Blues can be subdivided into several subgenres ranging from country to urban blues that were more or less popular during different periods of the century. Best known are the Delta, Piedmont, Jump and Chicago blues styles.
 
If you want to understand blues I would also suggest looking further back to people like Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton, Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, etc. There are no drums on these early recordings but listening to them is essential for a balanced understanding of what happened later, and the blues in general. Also, these are truly beautiful recordings in their own right which shouldn't be missed.
 
Back
Top