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The Blues shuffle
On Mon, Feb 28, 2022 at 10:16 AM, “GJA” <aceaten@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I tried week 1 “Practice fretting with the blues shuffle” and was very disappointed. It is very confusing. The learning part indicates that you are hitting 2 different strings with your right hand, followed by changing to a different frett with your left hand and hitting the 2 strings again with your right hand. However, the play thru portion does not do that. He is hitting only 1 string with the right hand and he is not even fretting the same string he is hitting. I showed my wife and she agreed. That is what he is doing! This has taken too much time to try to figure out and has not been fun so far!!
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6 Replies
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Hi @GJA , welcome to TAC. Sorry to hear that you’re not having fun. I’ve seen the video that you’re referring to and although it may look like Tony’s playing only 1 string, I can assure you that’s not the case. The Blues Shuffle is played with 2 adjacent strings. The lower toned string is played as a “drone” and the adjacent higher toned string is the one being fretted – in this case the fretting occurs on the 2nd and 4th frets. The play video starts with Tony playing the A (5th) and D (4th) strings together – the A string is played open (not fretted) as a drone and the adjacent D string is being fretted (2nd & 4th frets). This pattern then shifts to the D (4th) and G (3rd) strings, where the D string is played open as a drone and the G string is being fretted (2nd & 4th frets) and so on.
When watching the play video, you can see the lower toned string (which is played open) vibrate, but it’s harder to see the adjacent higher toned string vibrate – making it look like it’s not being played, but it is. To see that both strings are being played together, pay close attention to the pick – you’ll see it striking both strings at the same time.
Hope this helps, enjoy your journey👍
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Okay, I got it! Thanks for your reply, that was quite helpful. Remove the confusion and this does get enjoyable. Sorry about the whining!
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Hi @GJA and welcome to the TAC community. I’m sorry you’re frustrated and not having fun. I agree with @Bill_Brown that it may appear that Tony is only hitting one string, but he is actually hitting both strings together. My suggestion is to breakdown each section and practice small parts and just focus on that part until you can play it. Then focus on the next small area until you can play it, and then play just the parts you’ve just focused on. Keep working on just the small pieces. Don’t worry about playing the entire song. Also, if you’re really frustrated, then move on to the next lesson and do something new. You can revisit this lesson later.
Hang in there and just take baby steps. You can take as long as you need in the course. 30 days is just a suggestion.
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Also very helpful. Thank you for responding!
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I’m going to have to rehash what has already been said. Take your time and try not to get frustrated.
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I’m happy to see that you are using the forum to work through confusions. In my guitar journey I have found that just a simple comment can lift a fog. Welcome to a serendipity of TAC… your fellow guitar geeks.
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