Hello and welcome once again
to Flatpicking Guitar Magazine’s Free lesson portion of our monthly
newsletter. This month’s selection is the ever popular standard,Limehouse
Blues. Written in 1922 by Philip Braham, >Limehouse
Blues has been played and recorded by everyone from
Django Reinhardt to Tony Bennett. The great bluegrass banjo player Don
Reno can be credited for popularizing this tune amongst bluegrass
players. He had a way of recording jazz standards and making them
accessible to bluegrass pickers. I have always enjoyed flatpicking this
tune and jamming on it. For this lesson I have presented a very melodic
version as well as a more advanced solo through the chord changes.
The form of Limehouse Blues is
AB. Each section has sixteen measures. Both sections begin
with the same C7 to A7 theme but they both have different
turnarounds. The first turnaround ends with unresolved
tension on the D7 chord while the final turnaround brings closure and
resolution on the G chord (which is the key this song is in).
I am confident that you will find the melody easy
and exciting to pick. I find it interesting to note the repeated
melodic phrase that appears over the C7 and the A7 chords. I enjoy the
sound of the chords changing but the lick staying the same! Once you
get the simple melody under your fingers you can begin tackling the
included solo. Inside
the solo are various ideas I have picked up from listening to lots of
different players. When I learn another players solos I try not only to
learn that solo, but I try to pick out which licks I like the best.
Then, I organize those ideas so I can apply them over any chord in any
song. This tune is built for going to town on the improvised solos and
it can be a great vehicle for inserting licks or phrases you have
learned in the past. Don’t be afraid to try to improvise a solo. In
fact, the overall tense feeling of this tunes makes it great for trying
out new ideas as you jam. Lots of weird notes might end up sounding
pretty cool. Just try to navigate your way to a “G” note by the end of
the form.
In reality, the “improvising a solo” concept is a
lifelong study filled with endless musical ideas. Hopefully you will
find some of my lines interesting. Check out the included
lesson mp3 to hear the chords, melody, and solo in action.
I hope you enjoy learning this famous standard
and adding to your list of not just tunes, but cool tunes! I
am certain your picking buddies will have a great time with these
changes and have fun coming up with hip solos. As always, if
you have any questions or comments on this e-lesson, or any ideas for
tunes you’d like to see featured in our newsletter in the future, don’t
hesitate to email me at [email protected]
