LISTEN HEAR
But for me it’s the music on A Long Time
Comin’ and the first Super Session album
with Al Kooper that became the gateway
for turning people on to this extraordinary
musician. Bloomfield’s playing on these
recordings is both fiery and thoughtful. He is
not playing licks. He is constructing ideas, and
building a path to which he invites us to join.
And in 1975, in San Francisco, he literally
laid down that path when he accepted an
invitation to teach my junior high’s music
class about the blues. He arrived alone, a
harmonica in hand but no guitar. He borrowed
my acoustic and one of my electrics, and
proceeded to talk about and sometimes play
the blues for the next 90 minutes. As was his
way, he talked non-stop. It was exhilarating.
AND I RECORDED IT:
“As soon as there were
amplifiers, the first place
that got them was the
country, not the city. They
got them from Robuck
catalogs and Ward
catalogs.”
Mike Bloomfield:
A guitar lesson
on the early styles
of the blues.
O
ne of the earliest styles of blues I ever
remember hearing on radio, record or
anywhere was – it didn’t have chord
changes. It was based on a drone. If you ever
listen to Indian music, a drone is music that
stays in one key. It just goes over and over
and over. The variation is in the rhythm and in
a few notes but it never changes chords. The
song may change chords and the singing may
change chords, but the guitar playing doesn’t
change chords. (He plays an example.)
Now that stays in one key but if you were to
sing the regular blues refrain where one line
that rhymes with the other one and then the
third line, you could go right along with it. But
it doesn’t change keys.
Now, do you all remember what I sort of
just played? I’ll play some more types – just
different kind of blues. This style of playing
keeps its steady beat with the thumb. It’s
like a piano. Your thumb is like your left
hand. These fingers (the other fingers) is like
your right hand. They work independently
of each other. (plays an example) Which is
sort of different than (plays a bit like the
first example) what I was first playing. It’s
a lot more melodic and sort of - it’s just not
as primitive. It’s sort of more sophisticated.
These are all what I call basically country
blues styles because they’re not really for a
band. You can play them with a band but it
sounds real good just playing by yourself.
(Plays some more)
36
DIGITAL EDITION
DEC/JAN