Doconc - Posted - 04/17/2015:  07:14:00

The band I'm playing with currently likes to play a lot of blues songs.  If they play in G,  I find I can keep up pretty well and that there are many licks I already use in bluegrass that work well.  However, playing blues in E, which is the other key they like to use for blues songs, is a challenge for me, particularly slow blues songs.  I typically capo up 2 and play out of D position to play bluegrass in E, but I just don't like the sound of it in blues songs.  I just started playing in E open with the fifth spiked to B and I like that better.  I do have Fred Sokolow's(?) blues banjo book and that's been helpful.  I'm thinking about trying a slide.  Any advice from others who have done this more often for a three-finger bluegrass picker?

Lew H - Posted - 04/17/2015:  07:24:13

You might try to tune down to open E, but you might need medium guage strings.

Mary Schons - Posted - 04/17/2015:  08:09:42

Tune your banjo to gCGBD and capo up 4 frets. You'll need a 5th string capo-- I'm partial to Earl's suspender capos. elderly.com/accessories/items/ESC.htm

Or get a long neck banjo. Uncapoed and tuned to eBEG#B, you'll get in E and it'll have a nice sweet growl, perfect for blues music. Come to the dark side. ;)

Laurence Diehl - Posted - 04/17/2015:  08:19:01

quote:

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Originally posted by Lew H

You might try to tune down to open E, but you might need medium guage strings.

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Yes, this can sound great but you kinda need 2 banjos so you can have one specifically setup for the low tuning.

Fathand - Posted - 04/17/2015:  08:55:11

For something bluesy in E I prefer to play the E chord at the first Fret  2102 it gives you as close as you can come to the bluesy 1st position E chord on a guitar. The A chord at the 2nd fret and the B at 4th or B7 at 1st fret. I will usually capo my 5th string to a B note.

You can also play 2 finger barre chords and add 7ths to them up the neck.

RedStar - Posted - 04/17/2015:  09:36:24

quote:

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Originally posted by Fathand

For something bluesy in E I prefer to play the E chord at the first Fret  2102 it gives you as close as you can come to the bluesy 1st position E chord on a guitar. The A chord at the 2nd fret and the B at 4th or B7 at 1st fret. I will usually capo my 5th string to a B note.

You can also play 2 finger barre chords and add 7ths to them up the neck.

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This is exactly what I do as well.

Mark

Doconc - Posted - 04/17/2015:  11:24:54

Yeah, I like the first position E chord, sounds nice and bluesy.  I using that along with the barre A and B and it's sounds ok. I'm working on Key to the Highway and it's about as different form bluegrass as it can be.  I figured out real fast that my rolls weren't gonna work!youtube.com/watch?v=KN_f0WVsHuw

Lew H - Posted - 04/17/2015:  12:41:01

Laurence,  I thought every picker had two banjos--or more!  

g3zdm - Posted - 04/17/2015:  15:52:15

 Rock band I play with do quite a few in E , including (mainly standard 12 bar) blues songs. I too like the 1st  position E chord - which allows an even easier E7 when/if required -  standard E chord but leave 1st string open.

For an easy one to practice one try the Beatles'  "Ballad of John and Yoko" - has easy transitions in logical places so easy to work with. E version is 1st one on this web page :tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/b/bea...2date.htm

Chris Muriel, Manchester, UK  

Dr H - Posted - 04/17/2015:  16:00:14

quote:

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Originally posted by Mary Schons

Tune your banjo to gCGBD and capo up 4 frets. You'll need a 5th string capo-- I'm partial to Earl's suspender capos. elderly.com/accessories/items/ESC.htm

 

Or get a long neck banjo. Uncapoed and tuned to eBEG#B, you'll get in E and it'll have a nice sweet growl, perfect for blues music. Come to the dark side. ;)

 

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Or get a six-string banjitar in guitar tuning for the blues stuff.

HarleySpirit - Posted - 04/18/2015:  03:31:50

My voice does not suit "Open G". I sing mostly in "Key of D". Therefore my banjo stays in "Open D" tuning (aDF#AD). You don't hear of this tuning used too often on this forum, but it suits me just fine. I believe Scruggs used this tuning for the song "Reuben's Train" but "Open D" tuning also suits so much more.

To play blues in "E", I simply barre or capo my fretboard at fret 2..

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Harley Spirit

minstrelmike - Posted - 04/18/2015:  08:37:01

For the key of E, I'll approach it 3 ways, open, capo 2 or capo 4. (5th string at B for all)

But for blues, it's always open.

There's a lot of kewl lefthand stuff you can do, but for bluegrass banjo folks, the first thing I recommend is doing these things while strumming. If you want to find a different picking pattern, first get the blues feel by strumming blues chords to a blues song. That gets you in the right mood for picking in the correct rhythm.

Do this E riff a lot:  2002 to 2102 (hammering the index finger down like a traditional blues guitarist would)

Add the 7th note with your little finger on the 3rd fret: 2102 to 2132 and bend it back and forth.

Here are some other E7 chords: 0100 , 2100 , 0132

A7 chords: 2022 or x022 , 5222 , 2225 , and a fake one that works: 5655

B7 chords: 1204 , 1201 , 4201 , 4204 , 4244 or x244.

General blues/rock chordal approach.

If you start from a barre chord, we'll take A 2222,

then you can make the 7th  chord this way 2225.

Remember where the 5 fret is and you can move up there for another version of the 7th: 5655

or go to the traditional f-shaped 7th: 7655   

That is a relationship for any barre chord on the neck.

You can also just slide up 5 frets from any barre, such as A-2222 to get the IV chord [D-7777]

and 7 frets for the V chord (E-9999) and using the 7th shapes you can sound a lot like a rock guitarist playing blues.

But I always find it easier to get the right rhythm by strumming first and then picking over that same rhythm once I find it.

I'd start with basic strum on E 2102 and try to get a blues sound with just that 1st fret hammer.

4 beats: E, E , Em hammer, E 

Doconc - Posted - 04/18/2015:  15:16:55

That's super helpful Mike!  Thanks!

JonL - Posted - 05/01/2015:  07:26:41

Another "buy another banjo" suggestion, I know, but a long-neck is made to do this specific sort of job (well, not bluesgrass per se...). Seeger had his Vega extended to get a better tone and feel in E than he got capoed up.

Edited by - JonL on 05/01/2015 07:29:39

Banjophobic - Posted - 05/08/2015:  10:16:26

Blues sounds for E can come from G pentatonic/Eminor pentatonic. In other words, many blues sounds for the Key of e can come from "G"...