David's Tip of the Day: Soulful Slow Blues

I was playing to a slow blues jam track many years ago and was frustrated at the way I sounded.

I went to my well of inspiration and listened to slow blues solos performed by Gary Smith. I noticed that the last note of each of his phrases was held (with a vibrato commonly) and the volume decayed slowly until the next phrase. It didn’t sound as if he actually stopped any of his last notes… they either disappeared into the mist of the noise floor of the band (maybe he was still playing, but I couldn’t hear it?) or he decayed to the point of almost stopping and he started his next phrase.

I recorded myself playing a slow blues and noticed that when I finished a phrase that I just stopped my last notes abruptly… no decay. I worked with a jam track, focusing on decaying the last note of each phrase and blending them into the start of the next phrase. I recorded myself and listened back. Magic… it made a tremendous difference on how soulful my slow blues playing sounded.