52 weeks of blues

Lonnie Johnson was one of the most influential of the really early blues and jazz guitarists, employing a unique style that featured lead breaks with rapidly played single notes – the guitar solo. He was a massive influence on all the legends in the 1920’s and 30’s, and enjoyed further success later in life during the blues revival of the 1960s.
Born as Alonzo Johnson on February 8, 1899, in New Orleans, Lonnie was one of 11 children in a very musical family. His father was an accomplished fiddler with an extensive knowledge of music theory, and gave lessons to his children as soon as they could hold an instrument. By the time he was in his teens, Lonnie was proficient on violin, banjo, mandolin but especially loved the guitar. His played jazz more than anything else.
His father had formed a family band that regularly performed around New Orleans. At 15 Lonnie started performing in the band, playing guitar and fiddle. His playing attracted attention and he was soon playing in other bands around town and performing as a solo artist, singing and backing himself on guitar. In 1919 he was invited to join William Marion Cook’s Southern Syncopated Orchestra. Cook was a famous black composer who had studied with Dvorak and has a leading orchestra conductor. He had organised a European tour with 20 musicians from diverse backgrounds, and they played a widely varying repertoire. Lonnie joined, and in May 1919, he shipped off for a 6 month tour of Europe.
Tragedy struck when he was overseas. The great influenza epidemic that started in 1918 and killed some 5% of the world’s population – 100 million people – hit New Orleans and killed every member of Lonnie’s family except one of his brothers, James “Steady Roll” Johnson. On his return, Lonnie reunited with his brother, and with nothing left to keep them in the city, the two headed to St Louis in 1921 to try their luck as professional musicians. They got jobs working on riverboats of the Strekfus Company that travelled on the Mississippi River between New Orleans and St Louis, working as a duo for Charlie Creath’s Jazz-O-Maniacs and the Fate Marable Band. They played vaudeville styles, working with horn sections and pianos where Lonnie played guitar, banjo, violin or mandolin.
His lifelong exposure to different music not only allowed Lonnie to play in a diversity of styles; it also meant that when he played in a specific style he could incorporate elements from all over the place and make it sound unique to him. In 1925, he entered a blues contest organised by Okeh Records where the first prize was a recording session. He won, impressing the judges with his fusion of blues and jazz, and recorded “Falling Rain Blues” and “Mr Johnson’s Blues” on April 11th, 1925 accompanied by his brother and John Arnold on Piano.
“Falling Rain Blues” – with a truly modern guitar part – became a hit and Lonnie became part of the house band at Okeh. He married Mary, a singer who would be recorded in 1929, and although only married for 7 years they produced 6 children. Lonnie’s work at Okeh saw him perform as a backing musician for a variety of artists, as well as continuing his solo career. In 1926 he released 24 sides under his name; the following year he recorded a further 40 solo sides, and appeared on records by jazz greats such as Louis Armstrong. He recorded “6/88 Glide” in New York in October of 1927 – a pure guitar song, with the guitar soloing in a fusion of blues, jazz and New Orleans funk over a piano background.
In 1928 he recorded with Duke Ellington and Victoria Spivey, leading musicians of the day. In 1929 toured with Bessie Smith, and relocated to Chicago. Although he was recording in jazz ensembles and with jazz artists, his solo work was pigeon holed as a blues singer, and rarely was his guitar work credited outside the musicians he worked with. In Chicago he teamed up with white Italian/American guitarist Eddie Lang and recorded two albums of guitar duets. Released under Eddie Lang and Lonnie Johnson in Europe, in the US Eddie’s name was changed to ‘Blind Willie Dunn’ to hide the fact that a black and a white man were playing together.
As the depression started to be felt, the market for “race records” began to shrink. Lonnie recorded a few sides for Okeh and Columbia, but by the end of 1932 the market was dead. He worked on the railroads, in factories and as a janitor in Chicago while earning a living playing at night. He moved on to Cleveland for more opportunity, and in 1937 band mate Baby Dodds convinced Decca Records to hire him as a backing musician. He recorded some 30 sides – often with Peetie Wheatstraw – backing other artists before Decca recorded him as a solo artist.
He continued to record in the 40s, sometimes with electric guitar and was the first ever artist to record with an electric violin, but war time rationing soon outlawed any new recordings. After the war, he moved to Cincinnati and adapted to a “Rhythm and Blues’ style and had a massive hit with “Tomorrow Nights” in 1948, but with the rise of the heavier Chicago style, Lonnie’s sweeter style found it hard to find an audience. With sporadic recording and performing through to the early 50s, Lonnie’s last perfomances were on a tour of England in 1952 then he seemed to disappear from the scene once back in America.
Living in Philadelphia and sweeping the floors of a hotel, Lonnie was rediscovered by the Jazz disc jockey Chris Albertson in late 1959. He recorded a comeback album “Blues by Lonnie Johnson” which was well received by blues revival audiences which allowed him to become a full time musician again. He had success throughout the 60s, recording and touring internationally. In 1965 he performed in Toronto and relocated to the city. In March 1969, he was hit by a car and suffered a broken hip. While recovering he suffered a stroke, ending his playing days. His last performance as a singer only got a standing ovation in February, 1970.
Lonnie Johnson, the undisputed creator of the guitar solo, died in Toronto on June 16th, 1970 and is buried in Philadelphia. His legacy lives on in virtually every song that features a guitar.

“Blue Ghost Blues” is a quick change 12 bar played in standard tuning in the key of F – either tune up a half step or use a capo on the 1st fret to match the sound of the recording. It follows the usual 12 bar pattern, with a quick change to the V chord in bar 7 and it keeps with the V chord in bar 10 instead of dropping to the IV chord.
It features the single note ‘lead’ breaks that Lonnie innovated, but also has some very nice chord based rhythmic figures and a few jazz inspired chord shapes and phrases that highlight Lonnie’s range of influences. There are two main “riffs” that he utilises – as seen in the intro – and each repetition of the progression improvises around the basic theme.
It’s quite a delicate piece, concentrate on playing softly during the verses to let the nuances of the rhythm rings out. The solo and licks are pretty quick, but the main thing is the really precise bending. The plug in I use to generate tabs doesn’t allow me to show bends, so listen to them to work out exactly how far to bend each string.

E                       A                             E
Mmmmmm, I feel myself sinkin’ down.
A                                                       E     B7     E
Mmmmmm, I feel myself sinkin’ down.
B7                                                                                 E
My body is freezin’, I feel something cold creepin’ around.

My windows is rattlin’, my doorknob turnin’ ‘round an’ ‘round.
My windows is rattlin’, my doorknob turnin’ ‘round an’ ‘round.
This haunted house blues is killin’ me, I feel myself sinkin’ down. 

I been fastin’ in this haunted house, six long months today.
I been fastin’ in this haunted house, six long months today.
The Blue Ghost is got the house surrounded, Lord, and I can’t get away.

They got shotguns and pistols, standin’ all ‘round my door.
They got shotguns and pistols, standin’ all ‘round my door.
They haunt me all night long, so I can’t sleep no more.

The Blue Ghost haunts me all night, the nightmare rides me all night long.
The Blue Ghost haunts me at night, the nightmare rides me all night long.
They worry me so in this haunted house, I wished I was dead and gone.

The intro gets straight into Lonnie’s single note lead style. The second bar features a riff used throughout the song, and the third has a sliding double stop riff that he improvises around in every verse and the solo.

The progression follows the standard quick change 12 bar pattern, and has some very delicate phrasing. You want to play it kind of quiet – it’s a sophisticated piece of blues. In bar 7 the E changes to a quick B7 (more noticeable in Verse 1) and back which shows off Lonnie’s jazz influences.
Every repetition is similar but different, I’ve included the first two verse here.
Verse 1
Verse 2

The solo features some smooth phrases and Lonnie’s very accurate bending is the feature. Listen to the track and make sure you bend precisely to the notes Lonnie is targeting. It pretty much is a more intricate repetition of the progression, and functions as the outro.