52 weeks of blues

A Blues as the name suggests, is an instrumental blues played in the key of A in standard tuning. This version was recorded on the 20th of September, 1959, in one of the first shows Scrapper performed after his rediscovery. It was recorded at 144 Gallery in Indianapolis in a small show where Scrapper performed with Brooks Berry, a female singer Scrapper befriended after moving to Indianapolis. The venue was small and intimate – at one point you can clearly hear a telephone ringing in the background!
Scrapper had originally recorded this piece in 1935 (strangely recorded in the key of B) and it was released as a 78 with the similarly named ‘D Blues’ on the other side. The original version is similar to this one, with some different licks but Scrapper is a more technically skilled musician in this version with a more developed sense of timing and dynamics.
A Blues is a loose-ish 12 bar with most repetition of the progression featuring an extra bar, or extra beats in some bars. The song showcases Scrappers mastery of several techniques and each repetition features a similar structure.
The first 4 bars over the I chord consist of licks in A, playing around with chord shapes up the neck that build momentum and lead into a 2 bar IV chord section featuring a series of wonderfully executed rakes of a D7 chord over a shuffle bass.
Then it’s back to 2 bars of A in open position, with some licks that should be part of every blues player’s trick bag, into a slightly unusual turnaround with 2 bars of the V, then in bar 11 a beat of A followed by a momentum building 3 beats of D and back into the I chord for the last bar to quiet things down and lead into the next repetition.
Scrapper has some great accurate playing in this piece, but the main feature is his ability to generate terrific momentum through dynamics – the use of subtle and hard playing playing and slight tempo shifts. It’s very delicate in places, and a few bars later it’s rocking as hard as anything. The left hand needs to be organised and agile, but it’s your right hand that will make or break it – you have to be able to mix it up, play both hard and soft, and you really can’t afford to miss any notes. You have to have your timing perfect, and you have to be very, very accurate – a single mistake can kill your momentum.

Great riffing all throughout the song, pay attention to the changes in pitch and timing. The D7 chords are played as up rakes using just one ginger- it takes a fair bit of practice to get smooth at it, especially with the shuffle bassline going on behind it.
Intro Verse 1
Verse 2
Verse 3
Verse 4
Verse 5