Lesson #29: Swing Time in E Blues (Guitar, Intermediate)

To get a grasp of what it means to shuffle/swing, be sure to do the following:

1. Listen to a lot of blues and jazz records;
2. Read the Wikipedia article on the "Swung Note" for lots of background information;
3. Listen to those same blues and jazz records.

For the sake of simplicity, and due to the limitations of text lessons over audio-visual lessons, I'm going to say that a form of swing time goes: 1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a...and so on. It's a syncopated interpretation of the common time.

We'll do it over the twelve bar blues in E:

E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
A and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
A and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
B and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
A and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
E and a 2 and a A Bb B yeah...

Let's slow it down a bit, with the swing still there:

E 2 3 4 E 2 3 4 E 2 3 4 E 2 3 4
A 2 3 4 A 2 3 4 E 2 3 4 E 2 3 4
B 2 3 4 A 2 3 4 E 2 3 4 E 2 A-Bb-B-yeah...

When you have that down (and its myriad variations), try to play some bluesy lead guitar in E blues: