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Title: Blues Guitar - for beginners (article 1 of 5)
Author: Michael Long (axeface@hotmail.com)
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Hi everybody.  This article will introduce you to the blues.  We will 
start with the very basics - and unfortunately this will have to inculde
a little theory (but don't worry - it's easy as hell).


To begin, we should discuss what the blues is, in basic terms. Generally
speaking (that will be the case for the majority of this article) the blues
is based upon a I - IV - V (or V7) chord progression - that is, the tonic 
of the chord (the I chord), the sub-dominant (IV) and dominant (V) or dominant 
seventh (V7) (NB: these figures of I - IV - V translate to 1 - 4 - 5). 
In practice, this translates to an E - A - B(7) progression (in E major), 
A - D - E(7) (A major) and so on. I will focus only upon the E progression 
for the time being - but we will discuss other keys later on.

OK, so now we know the basic theory of the chord structure.  We now need to
use these chords to form the progression.  The most common form of progression
that can be found is a 12 Bar Blues.  This occurs in so much music, right back to
early blues, rock, even jazz.  Anyway...we can break these 12 bars down, and place 
the chords into it, as follows (use open chords to begin with):

Fingerings: Low to High
E:  022100
A:  x02220
B:  x24442
B7: 021202

bar# 1       2       3       4       5       6
  ||:E /// | A /// | E /// | E /// | A /// | A /// |

bar# 7       8       9      10      11      12    
   | E /// | E /// | B /// | A /// | E /// | B /// :||

To play the above, each of the letters represent one strum, and then each stroke
(/) represents another strum, therefore indicating 4 strums per bar (crotchets). So 
simply strum four times in each bar. Once you can do this with ease, try different
chordings - barre chords, changing the B to a B7 and so on.

I know that this may seem easy, but if we can begin right from the start, then
you should be able to handle some harder stuff later on (believe me, it is 
much easier to learn the right way, rather than re-learning something that
you THOUGHT you already knew).  

So now that you can play a basic blues progression, the rest should become a little
easier.  The next step is translating the above information into different keys, 
different strumming patterns, different picking patterns...basically modifying it to
improve upon the original, and make it your own.  You should start to
notice that you will develop your own style soon enough and that will
remain with you, and become your trademark sound :)   

In the next article in this series, will be be covering:
[a] different keys
[b] different chordings
[c] the beginnings of the solo, and if possible
[d] some soloing techniques (picking patterns etc)

Enjoy :)

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(c) Michael Long (axeface@hotmail.com) 1999.  All rights reserved.
(ok, there is no copyright, but it still looks good. If you wish to
use any part of this, just mail me and credit me, and it should be
fine)