General Shuffle Question

[oldrocker]

What do you guys play along with a basic blues rock shuffle when you just want to support and not play a basic blues line.

Say its a blues type song an the guitar is playing the A5 A6 type chord thing.

[oldrocker]

I guess my original question was vague or overly broad.

What I mean is - there are some blues songs with a shuffle beat where the rhythm guitar or chords alternate between the 5th and the 6th or the chord. For the I in the key of A for example the chords are A5 A6 A5 A6. Key to the Highway is an exmple of this.

The usual stuff I would normally play for a blues progression doesn't seem to fit in this type of song.

Should I hang on the root, play the 5th and 6ths along with the chords or do something else.

I'm just looking for ideas.

Thanks

[DocBop]

A good shuffle is a driving beat and doesn't need much. A lot times I'm just playing the root and 5th below. Then walk up to the change and root and 5th some more. That establishes the groove and lets everyone know when a chord change is coming.

[oldrocker]

Thanks Doc - I usually play root - lower 5th on country sounding stuff. I guess I'm looking for something a little more bluesy or someting to follow 5th and 6ths chords

[Paulie Jay]

You could try a mixture of holding down a solid root as well as occasionally highlighting the 5th and 6th.
For instance:
Try this. The notes are all quarter notes (crotchets) except for the little skip in the middle.

G-----------------------------------------
D----------------------------4---2---4---
A---0----0----0----0----0-----------------
E----------------------0------------------
  


G------------------------------------------
D------------------------7----4--------4---
A---0----0----0----0---7----------7-------
E------------------------------------------

This way you can maintain a pulse, hint at the shuffle with the kid placed skip, as well as adding a little melodic colour.

[BassChuck]

When the high end is busy (generally true with shuffles) keep the low end simple. No need for everyone to do the same thing.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by oldrocker

Thanks Doc - I usually play root - lower 5th on country sounding stuff. I guess I'm looking for something a little more bluesy or someting to follow 5th and 6ths chords

No not like a Country line that's alternating 1 5 1 5. But mainly on the 1 and then the 5 on the 16th before 1 and 3. That lets the drum back beat stand out, but drives into 1 and 3 of the bass drum.

[JKT]

+1 to simple. That is usually the best approach. Yet a number of things you can do here.

Here's another one: if your I chord is A walk up chromatically from the V (open E) back up to the root. You can use this either as a pick-up line, or as the basis for a hook in the bass line.

Also remember that many standard blues scales can sound cool if you take them apart and move the register around.

A standard I chord line in A, low to high could be: A-C#-E-F#-G-F#-E-C#-A

How about with the same feel, focusing on the 6 and 7 high to low? It can be simpler,slightly less typical and a springboard to other ideas when the next change comes around: A- E(low)-F#-G-F# (2X)

JKT

[oldrocker]

Thanks guys - you were right simple worked well. The song in question was "Same as You" by Scott Henderson.

There are a few parts in the song (the verses) were it hangs on the shuffle in E, sometimes for 8 to 12 bars.

What I ended up playing, which fit and went over pretty well, was playing the low E on the shuffle beat and every other measure add a little flavor along the lines of what was suggested by Paulie Jay.

[DocBop]

Originally Posted by oldrocker

Thanks guys - you were right simple worked well. The song in question was "Same as You" by Scott Henderson.

That's funny I went to music school with Scott Henderson, great player. That is Dave Carpenter on bass who passed away a few months ago. Dave was a great DB and BG player in all styles of music and played with everyone.