David's Tip of the Day: Tramp - Blues Standards

"Tramp" provides our most common rock beat (straight-eighths) in the blues. You can hear derivations of this groove in William Clarke's "Pawnshop Bound" and my recent "Here We Go" on the It Takes Three CD. This song also provides a good challenge of dealing with what's basically a 12 Bar Blues in nature, but with an irregular length (some of the chords are double in length and it's not consistent from chorus to chorus). The band's challenge is to turn the form into a consistent form. Take a listen to the original Lowell Fulson track (mine is from the Living The Blues - 1965-1969 Blues Classics CD). Most bands decide to play the opening I7 Chord for 8 Bars and the IV Chord for 4 Bars and then use a standard form after it. Give the song a listen and see what you think would make sense... its good practice... many songs in the blues have these irregularities.