Big Bill Broonzy Delta Blues Guitar Tricks - Full 12 Bar Practice Routine!

I'm having issues doing the barres here. There is alot of tension, and every now and then something either buzzes or gets muted. I'm capable of making full barred chords generally, but I have difficulty doing half barred chords here for some reason. Any tips on finger positioning to give

...and Bingo was his namo !

In addition to this excellent lesson, on Rob Swift’s Patreon site we also learn about blues and guitar greats such as Big Bill Broonzy. It happens that as I was eyeing this lesson, I was revising my first guitar book from 1970, “The Folksingers’s Guitar Guide,” and lo! And behold there was a photo of Big Bill Broonzy on p. 23. He has a venerable place in blues guitar playing and songwriting history and has influenced many who followed. This is an excellent lessons very loyal to Big Bill’s playing style. Thank you, Rob.

Glen Campbell was one of the pioneers of using a CAPO in the 60's. He stated he got session jobs only because he was able to play in higher keys and no one else in LA was using one.

This is a brilliant lesson. I’ve been trying to learn and understand the blues a lot recently and this is a great groove to practice to. Thank you

… to play blues, though, perhaps. Blind Lemon Ramsbottom, or T-bone Braithwaite, let alone Lightning Featherstonehaugh (pronounced Fanshaw) don’t really work.

Excellent lesson again. One needs the right sort of surname

Hey Bob, I personally love playing with a capo. For starters, I find the resonance of open strings in a higher key to be almost hypnotic. Second, it’s a tool that’s commonly employed in fingerstyle blues guitar, especially by one of my all time favorites, Brownie McGhee, so it’s genre appropriate. Third, there are some techniques that simply cannot be achieved reasonably without a capo, consider songs like “Here Comes the Sun.” Lastly, I have such terrible trigger finger and arthritis, the capo does a good job of lowering the action, thus allowing me to play with a little less tension and a softer touch. So, quite a few benefits, but of course this composition can be performed without the capo or on whatever fret you wish.

A capo is cheating is a take that many great musicians would disagree with. Did The Beatles cheat when they used a capo on the 7th fret for Here Comes the Sun? Did Robert Johnson cheat when he used a capo 100 years ago? Is it cheating to use open tunings? No, they are just tools musicians use to make music.

Dave Hearn

I'm an old timer and never cared for a capo; it always seemed like cheating. I understand that it allows for playing in other keys if you wanted open string sounds. But why wouldn't you play this song with no capo and in E? Just because you wanted to play in F# with open strings sounds?