From Texas to the Delta is a free weekly video
Video Guitar Lesson:
Big Bill Broonzy was a Chicago based musician who almost single handedly created that swing blues sound popular in the 30s and 40s. Like Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb, Johnson and a host of others, he played with a monotonic thumb beat, but with a difference, adapting this technique to fast ragtime pieces and driving country blues rhythms. Big Bill’s thumb would often strum across two or three bass strings, which produced a powerful driving sound which lagged a fraction behind the beat creating that familiar ‘swing’ sound.
Broonzy’s technique is not hard to understand, and there are many old fine examples of his work to listen to – it’s quite easy to figure out where his fingers were. However, Bill’s sound is very difficult to copy and reproduce – have a go and you’ll see what I mean. Listen to his renditions of ‘Hey, Hey’, ‘Glory of Love’ and ‘House Rent Stomp’ to get a feel for this hypnotic sound. Take it easy and most of all, have fun with it.
From Texas to the Delta is a free weekly video