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Track 37, 0:33
Figure 7-19:
A low-note
ending riff in
E, using
triplets and
doublestops.
T
A
B
E
0 0 0 0
0
4 4 3 3 2 2
5 5 4 4 3 3
0
B7
1 1 0 1 2 1
2 2 0 1 2
Figure 7-20 is something completely different: a ragtime or country-blues progression
in A. The more complex-sounding chords and the voice leading
(where each note resolves by a half or whole step to the closest chord tone)
give the riff a tight, barbershop sound. You hear this type of progression in the
playing of the great country-blues fingerstyle-players like Mance Lipscomb,
Fred McDowell, Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and Taj Mahal.
Track 38
Shuffle (qr=qce)
A A7
1114
2fr.
3 114
2fr.
D/F
31
2 4
2fr.
F °7
1324
4fr.
N. C.
A
213
Figure 7-20:
A tripletbased
riff
featuring
sixths.
T
A
B
5 5 5 5
2 2
2 2 5 5
5 5 5 5
3 3 4 4
2 2 5 5
4 4 4 4
134 Part II: Setting Up to Play the Blues TEAM LinG
2 0
0 4 0 3 4
0
2
0
0 2
0
Mastering the Rhythm Figure
After you have a handle on the components of rhythm guitar — left-hand
chords, right-hand strums, riffs, and combinations thereof, it’s time to put
them all together in various ways.
In this section, you master the rhythm figure, which combines all the components
of rhythm guitar: left-hand chords, right-hand strums, riffs, and combinations
of the three. In some musical circles, a rhythm figure — usually
longer than a riff — describes any repeatable passage of music that forms the
basis for a song or section of a song.