Trouble Is...

by

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Edit

For young people coming from a rock/metal background it can be pretty hard to put on the breaks and start to dig the Blues. The closest a metal head may come to authentic blues is Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. For rock/punk fans they can start with The Black Keys and their Punk Blues revival but for metal heads it can be a hard transition. Kenny Wayne Shepherd gives them a transitory experience which they can then use to delve into the 60's R&B scene (The Yardbirds, John Mayall & The Bluesbrekaers/Eric Clapton, Savoy Brown, etc). And from there they can descend into the delights of Albert King, Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, Otis Rush, Robert Johnson, B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, etc.

Kenny sounds like a kid who has just discovered that people dig his guitar playing. His enthusiasm shines through the music. This is a cat who just loves to play. He loves to rock, he loves to boogie. And he also likes fireworks. His solo's are often relatively simple but come off sounding bigger and more impressive than are through the mastery of his bending, raking and shuffling.

I recommended any intermediate guitarist picking up some of his tab. Give some of his solo's a burl, they shouldnt be too hard to grasp and will provide you with some ideas of how effective the minor pentatonic can be. (Make sure once you have got him down pat you move on to Stevie Ray Vaughan for a real challenge). For anybody else who like to get into the blues but dont know where to start, Give this a go.