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T-Bone Walker

Posted on 16. Apr, 2008 by Drew in Blues Who's Who

Long before Freddie King, Albert Collins, Billy Gibbons and Stevie Ray Vaughan made the lone star state a hot spot for Blues, Aaron Thibeaux “T-Bone” Walker held the distinction of being the king of the electric Blues guitar in Texas. In addition to influencing all of these musicians, his music is said to have inspired B.B. King to learn the guitar as a youngster. Talk about influence!

Walker’s distinctive style mixed elements of Jazz with Blues, and his tunes often featured interesting chords and embellishments that are great material for intermediate and advanced players looking to spice up their standard Blues fare. To get the sound, plug an electric guitar into a fairly clean tube amp. Use the middle or bridge pickup to get a brighter tone. Play with a pick, and aim to play partial chords (as opposed to open or full barre chords) when comping. You’ll also find that T-Bone uses a lot of chromatic (passing) chords to jazz up the proceedings. For leads, try using the third as your target note as often as you do the root note.

Here’s a great clip of Walker doing his classic “Stormy Monday.” Check out the unorthodox method he uses during the solo, holding his guitar so that the strings are practically parallel with the floor!

Popular T-Bone Walker numbers include:

• Papa Ain’t Salty
• Stormy Monday
• T-Bone Shuffle
• Why Not?

You can learn more about T-Bone Walker’s life and influence over at Wikipedia.