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108 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues Applying Structures to Keys
Although every key is treated equally when discussing function and music
theory (see “Blues by the Numbers” earlier in this chapter), the reality is that
different keys and chords on the guitar present different moves. What you
can do easily in E, you may not be able to do in G, and G has other options
that E may not have. These variations are a delight (and frustration!) of playing
the guitar. Each key has something idiomatic that can’t be performed
comfortably or convincingly in another key. Composers and musicians write
and play songs in different keys to exploit these little differences that each
key provides.
A move with many chords:
The Jimmy Reed move
If you have the basic 12-bar blues under your belt, including the quick four
and turnaround bar, it’s time to shake things up a bit. (See the corresponding
sections earlier in the chapter if you look under your belt and nothing’s
there.) I like to start off with a move that’s been a blues and rock staple forever.
It’s known by many different names, but because this book is a blues
book, I attribute it to one of its most famous practitioners — Jimmy Reed.
The Jimmy Reed move — named after the Chicago harmonica player, singer,
and guitarist — involves going from the fifth to the sixth degrees in each
chord (the note E in a G chord, A in a C chord). Chuck Berry made this technique
famous in a straight-eighth, rock ’n’ roll setting in the late ’50s and ’60s.
For now, don’t worry about converting numbers to notes for the I, IV, and V
chords; just figure out the left-hand part.
To play a “move,” you put your left hand in motion. Figure 6-8 shows the
Jimmy Reed move in the key of E, using E, A, and B power chords (for more
on power chords, see Chapter 4). The chord diagrams are given above the
tab, allowing you to think of this move in two ways: as an extra chord
inserted in between the ones you already know or as a simple one-finger
move in the left hand. Whichever way works for you is the right one!
One of the best things about the Jimmy Reed move is that it works so well in
different chords and keys. When played in different keys, the figure preserves
the original relationship of the notes in the new key, but because it’s in a different
key, it just sounds, well, different. Not better or worse, perhaps, just
different — and still very cool! It’s like singing “Happy Birthday” in the key of
G or E%: You can recognize the melody in any key setting — but the Jimmy
Reed move is so much hipper than “Happy Birthday.”
TEAM LinG