Blues Guitar Tablature

To be perfectly honest, there is no difference in musical tablatures between genres. A rock tab and a rhythm and blues tab read exactly the same way. The difference, however, lies in the music itself.

The main difference between blues and all other genres is the fact that blues tends to be more expressive. You can feel the artist’s emotion in the music; if the artist is sad, then you feel sad for him through the music he writes. The emotion may also be expressed in the lyrics, like many songs, but you can actually feel emotion in the singer’s voice in a blues song. Blues is like complete other world you can go to when you are feeling down.

Here is a tab by Robert Johnson from his song, “Cross Road Blues.” This tab is remarkable because of its simplicity. The one thing about Johnson that is important to note when attempting to play his tabs is that he never used picks for his music; instead, he played with his fingers. So, as you can see on the second bar of the tab (where the 6th, 4th, and 3rd strings are plucked), using a pick would be difficult because of the way the music is written. Remember that the x marks indicate muted strings that are plucked in unison.

Another general difference between blues guitar and other guitar genres is that the music is improvised. Yes, of course the music sticks to the 12-bar blues chord pattern. However, when the riff splits off for the solo or a break-away, then you have the improvisation. Notes are played from the pentatonic blues scale in ways that correlate to the chords at hand. If you are playing in an A minor chord, then you use the A minor blues scale for solos or riffs. Another great blues guitar tab follows:

The tab shown on your right is B. B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone – Live Version.” Especially in blues music, the live version is preferable to the recorded version because the music is more improvised. The tab is a very simple song to play, but as you probably already know by now, there is much more to blues than the written music. The importance of improvisation in blues music simply cannot be stressed enough to new guitarist.

There are many great blues guitar tabs that will help you understand the music better, but as mentioned above, in order to play blues, you really have to feel the music. However, if you still prefer to play other people’s music, by all means, go for it. Below is a list of popular blues guitar tabs for you to practice on:

Albert King – “Born Under a Bad Sign”

Stevie Ray Vaughan – “Texas Flood”

B. B. King – “Everyday I Have the Blues”

Robert Johnson – “Cross Road Blues”