I am a
child of blues. Having grown-up in the
South,
Arkansas to be exact, I have been listening to the
blues since I was very young.
I remember sitting in our
ski-boat on the lake, singing along with Koko Taylor and
B.B. King with my mother.
Only recently did I begin liking Jazz. I quickly realized a gateway to a Jazz-Blues fusion sound for budding guitarists.
Traditional, down-south homegrown Blues follows a loose pattern... usually ; )
Riff A
Riff B
Riff A
Riff B
Riff C
Riff B
Riff A
This means you play one "riff", or pattern of notes, then you play the next. Then, you go back to the first, and so on...
In addition, a Blues sound can come from Pentatonic(spelling?) scales, which follow a rigid pattern.
This will all be played in a 3 beat pattern. Three beats per measure.
Take the guitar, and play this:
Riff A:
---
-5-
-4-
---
---
---
Play this in this pattern: 1 2 & 3
Next comes this:
Riff B:
-------------
-----------3 4---
-2 2 2 4------
-------------
-------------
-------------
Play Riff A, then Riff B. Do this 4 times.Then...
Riff C:
5-5-5-5-5--5--5--4--4--3------------------------
5-5-5-5-5--5--5--4--4--3------------------------
---------------5--5--4--4--3-------------------
--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
--------------------------------------
Then go back to Riff A and start the process over. If you improvise a bit, you can make this sound great. Add a wah-wah pedal, and a bit of funk background, and you have yourself a jazz-blues fusion sound of your very own.
By-the-way, keep the distortion down. Try for a vintage sound. That way, the jazzy riff itself won't be distorted to the point of being incoherent.
Good luck.