We study electric blues pioneer T-Bone Walker. T-Bone may have been the first guitarist to play behind his head and be a real showman with his guitar on stage inspiring may other great players.
Welcome to this study of electric blues pioneer T-Bone Walker!
It is said that T-Bone may have been the first guitarist to play behind his head and be a real showman with his guitar on stage. Certainly Hendrix’s showmanship and Chuck Berry’s duck walk were influenced by T-Bone’s stage antics, along with other on stage tricks later adopted by Stevie Ray Vaughan, among others.
“All the things people see me do on the stage I got from T-Bone Walker.” - Chuck Berry
“When I heard T-Bone Walker play the electric guitar I had to have one.” - B.B. King
“When T-Bone Walker came, I was into that. That was the sound I was looking for.” - Albert King
In this first video we'll look at how T-Bone fused jazz and blues with his rhythm playing, and learn about his general attitude and playing style. So let's learn a jazz influence T-Bone Walker style blues rhythm!
T-Bone Walker rhythm study - interactive tab
Learn this 12 bar blues in the key of G where we add 9th chords and jazz influences.
N.B. Activate the fretboard graphic on the tab above to see scales, chords and neck shapes brought to life!
In the next lesson, we'll learn some T-Bones lead licks and look at how to improvise in his unique style.
