I've got a woman - Ray Charles live at Olympia

HowTo Play The Blues Bass

Instructions

1. Know Your Styles

   • 1
     Study. Though blues doesn't require the clinical study that other genres such as metal or classical music, knowing which style of blues you're playing will help you find the right bass line. Blues sounds different depending on the region of its origin, so it's helpful to know the difference between 12-bar blues, shuffle blues, jump blues, Delta blues and the other blues styles.
     
   • 2
     Listen. People become great blues players by listening to other great blues players. Taking in a night of music at a blues club, taking lessons from a blues bassist or simply listening to the recordings of masters such as B.B. King and Muddy Waters will help you get the right feel.
     
   • 3
     Work on your timing. Blues bass lines are largely spelled out by the style, but the timing is where the bassist makes a mark on the music. Many styles of blues, especially slow blues, sound more powerful if the bass is played "behind the beat," or lagging ever so slightly behind the tempo.
     
   • 4
     Work on your dynamics. A bassist can also influence the performance with the dynamics. Playing with dynamics means knowing the right times to play loudly or softly. Developing good dynamic skill requires good picking-hand technique---the best players can go from raging to near silent or anywhere in between in a single note, and it's all about how hard you're plucking the strings.
     
   • 5
     Study sheet music. Blues has a musical theory all its own, complete with modified versions of the standard major and minor scales of Western music. You'll learn these scales by playing blues tablature (sheet music made especially for guitar) to songs you know.
     
   • 6
     Experiment. The beauty of the blues is that it's emotional, not clinical. Though you should know and respect the standard styles, consider players such as Jimi Hendrix, who took his deep love for the blues and reinterpreted it so effectively that he became the best-known guitarist in history.
     
   • 7
     Play with others. Blues musicians have a brotherhood; they love to jam with fellow blues artists and share their secrets and techniques. Attending a local open-mic night at a blues club can put you in touch with people to teach you new tricks and tips. And though playing along with recorded music can be helpful, nothing beats performing with competent musicians.
     

Sam & Dave - Soothe Me

Rules Of The Blues (funny)

1.	Most Blues begin, "Woke up this morning..."
2.	"I got a good woman" is a bad way to begin the Blues, unless you stick something nasty in the next line like, "I got a good woman, with the meanest face in town."
3.	The Blues is simple. After you get the first line right, repeat it. Then find something that rhymes... sort of: "Got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Yes, I got a good woman with the meanest face in town. Got teeth like Margaret Thatcher, and she weigh 500 pound."
4.	The Blues is not about choice. You stuck in a ditch, you stuck in a ditch--ain't no way out.
5.	Blues cars: Chevys, Fords, Cadillacs and broken-down trucks. Blues don't travel in Volvos, BMWs, or Sport Utility Vehicles. Most Blues transportation is a Greyhound bus or a southbound train. Jet aircraft and company motor pools ain't even in the running. Walkin' plays a major part in the blues lifestyle. So does fixin' to die.
6.	Teenagers can't sing the Blues. They ain't fixin' to die yet. Adults sing the Blues. In Blues, "adulthood" means being old enough to get the electric chair if you shoot a man in Memphis.
7.	Blues can take place in New York City but not in Hawaii or any place in Canada. Hard times in Minneapolis or Seattle is probably just clinical depression. Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City are still the best places to have the Blues. You cannot have the blues in any place that don't get rain.
8.	A man with male pattern baldness ain't the blues. A woman with male pattern baldness is. Breaking your leg cause you were skiing is not the blues. Breaking your leg 'cause a alligator be chompin' on it is.
9.	You can't have no Blues in a office or a shopping mall. The lighting is wrong. Go outside to the parking lot or sit by the dumpster.
10.	Good places for the Blues:
	a. Highway
	b. Jailhouse
	c. An empty bed
	d. Bottom of a whiskey glass
11.	Bad places for the Blues:
	a. Nordstrom's
	b. Gallery openings
	c. Ivy league institutions
	d. Golf courses
12.	No one will believe it's the Blues if you wear a suit, 'less you happen to be a old ethnic person, and you slept in it.
13.	You have the right to sing the Blues if:
	a. You older than dirt
	b. You blind
	c. You shot a man in Memphis
	d. You can't be satisfied
14.	You don't have the right to sing the Blues if:
	a. You have all your teeth
	b. You were once blind but now can see
	c. The man in Memphis lived
	d. You have a pension fund
15.	Blues is not a matter of color. It's a matter of bad luck. Tiger Woods cannot sing the blues. Sonny Liston could. Ugly white people also got a leg up on the blues.
16.	If you ask for water and your darlin' give you gasoline, it's the Blues
17.	Other acceptable Blues beverages are:
	a. Cheap wine
	b. Whiskey or bourbon
	c. Muddy water
	d. Nasty black coffee
18.	The following are NOT Blues beverages:
	a. Perrier
	b. Chardonnay
	c. Snapple
	d. Slim Fast
19.	If death occurs in a cheap motel or a shotgun shack, it's a Blues death. Stabbed in the back by a jealous lover is another Blues way to die. So is the electric chair, substance abuse and dying lonely on a broke-down cot. You can't have a Blues death if you die during a tennis match or while getting liposuction.
20.	Some Blues names for women:
	a. Sadie
	b. Big Mama
	c. Bessie
	d. Fat River Dumpling
21.	Some Blues names for men:
	a. Joe
	b. Willie
	c. Little Willie
	d. Big Willie
22.	Persons with names like Michelle, Amber, Debbie, and Heather can't sing the Blues no matter how many men they shoot in Memphis.
23.	Make your own Blues name Starter Kit: a. name of physical infirmity (Blind, Cripple, Lame, etc.) b. first name (see above) plus name of fruit (Lemon, Lime, Melon, Kiwi, etc.) c. last name of President (Jefferson, Johnson, Fillmore, etc.) For example: Blind Lime Jefferson, Jackleg Lemon Johnson or Cripple Kiwi Fillmore, etc. (Well, maybe not "Kiwi.")
24.	I don't care how tragic your life: if you own even one computer, you cannot sing the blues.