Okay in this thread, BubbaDog asked for some blues guitar recommendations - but just as importantly, he asked why we made whatever picks we put forth.
Some folks have gotten back to him, but I know of a bunch of blues-guitar-loving Dopers who may not know that his hijack was lurking in that slide thread, so I thought it would make more sense to start a new thread.
Okay, with all that in mind and a big emphasis on the “why” behind the recommendation, I will start with my first pick - Truth by the Jeff Beck Group…and yeah, this is one long-ass rationale, but we’re talking Truth here…
So with that as a set-up, let’s go: Truth, by the Jeff Beck Group, featuring Rod Stewart in his recorded debut on vocals, Ron Wood on bass (yes, that Ron Wood of the Faces and Rolling Stones and yes, playing bass not guitar) and Mickie Most on drums.
Context: Jeff Beck had left the Yardbirds – he would argue that he was fired; they would argue that he was nuts – I suspect the truth is somewhere in between. But while Jimmy Page was holding onto the Yardbirds name and legacy, he had helped Jeff with a single track, Beck’s Bolero, featuring Jimmy on rhythm guitar (a bolero rhythm – duh), and John Entwhistle on bass and Keith Moon on drums. The track is amazing, but when it came to actually forming a group, Ox and Moonie balked and went back to The Who, and Jimmy stuck with the Yardbirds, but recruited all new personnel to become the New Yardbirds which became Led Zeppelin. In the meantime, Beck found the unsigned vocalist Rod Stewart and Woody and Mickie Most and formed the Jeff Beck Group. So at the same time that Page was producing Led Zep 1, Beck was creating Truth as his first Jeff Beck Group album.
Now – why am I recommending it: okay, here’s the deal – you may find this surprising, but here’s a secret: the blues is both really easy and really hard to play. It is really easy because the rules are simple – you typically play a limited set of chords in a very specific sequence, yada yada yada – I mean, it’s the blues; how hard can it be? Could there be a bigger cliché than bad blues? “ I woke up this morning and a dog peed on my leg” – or whatever; insert your silly blues analogy here. (and no, I have no idea where I got line that from – humor me, okay?)
But….but – we all know that when it is done right, well, the blues get you right there. The obvious example is BB King – the brother literally cannot play guitar at the same time he is singing (and can only sing when he closes his eyes), cannot play chords – think about that; he does NOT play chords! - and when he does play, he whips out your basic, everyday, I-learned-it-when-I-was-young-buck simple three-note blues lick. But *damn *he can sting it – when he nails the vibrato on a note, if you have a pulse, you take notice. If I need to explain it further – well, go back and learn some BB King, okay?
Okay, so why bring that up while discussing Truth? The point is that with the blues, less is more and simpler is better. So, what if you had the taste of BB King AND the technical prowess of Eddie Van Halen? Well, you would play simple, meaningful tasty licks that any absolute beginner guitarist could play – but pick out notes and riffs and changes that come out of nowhere and make you take notice. Or, to put it another way: you know how Hemingway is known for his hard-boiled style? Very few words, simple words, stripped down to their barest meaning – but when these simple words were combined in an honest, knowing way, well there was a truth in there that could not be denied.
Okay, now pick up Truth by the Jeff Beck Group and listen to track 2, Let Me Love You. Jeez, where to begin with this song. It opens with a big, tasty, Zep-ish rhythm lick, but then Beck nails the first note of an opening lead before finishing that sentence with a little riffy aside. Just listen to it – big, thick, tasty; bent up and held, then letting the bend come down. And it sets up the most amazing intro lead – this guy is talking to you; he hits the notes very aggressively – this isn’t some breathy, romantic Santana lead, bitch! 
– this guy is slamming notes IN YOUR FACE and bending the crap out of them. But not in an Eruption-hey-I-can-out-technique-you sort of way; this is more like a big, blues-shouting woman leaning into your face and belting her authority at you in very simple terms. This is Frances McDormand as the mom in Almost Famous lecturing Billy Crudup on the phone, putting Mr. Rockstar in his place. You WILL listen to this, and you WILL respect it – any questions?
Okay – now think about that: There is big difference between cockiness and authority. Between showing off and knowing who you are. Between arrogant strutting and saying something big you can back up. If you understand those distinctions, then you can hear what Beck is doing.
Jeff Beck claimed that with Truth, he had no interest in dazzling people – he wanted to say important things in the simplest way possible. Well, listen to that song – Rod Stewart delivers one of is best vocals ever (truly one of the great Wasted Talents IMHO) but only in support of the guitar – listen to the breaks where Beck plays lead lines and Stewart follows him with a vocal echo; it is very clear who is in charge, but Stewart is so good that he holds his own. But then listen to the lead – I just don’t know anything like it. The notes are so simple – I could play it when I was 15 and had just picked up a guitar – but where did he come up with this stuff?!
Okay – so this is one song. I haven’t touched on Shapes of Things – a blues rave-up of an old Yardbirds tune, or Beck’s Bolero (yes the one I mentioned above), You Shook Me which came out at the exact same time as the version Zep did on their first album, so you can compare them side-by-side. Or Morning Dew, an old folkie/bluesy tune which was regularly covered by the Grateful Dead (although if they ever heard Beck’s version, they should’ve just hung it up – his use of a wah pedal to get vocal tones out of his guitar is just amazing). And so on. There are some weak spots – Old Man River is tired and Blues Deluxe is a random ramble – but Rock my Plimsoul and I Ain’t Superstitious more than make up for those. And yes, he includes a fingerpicked version of Greensleeves, fercrissake - but damn if he doens’t pull it off.
How’s that for why?
