Originally posted by
Fred Steeves
Dude, say it ain't so! Not a blues fan? The blues are the very heart of rock n' roll Memphis style.
I'm willing to bet that a boys night out to a show like this where I buy you a couple of tall beers, maybe sneak us in a little smoky smoke, you would walk out a blues fan.
Oh, don't get me wrong, Fred, I do like Gary Moore ─ and I happen to share my birthday with him ─ but that wasn't 100% pure blues, because Gary had influences from (and was also active in) prog rock and hard rock.
Myself, I come from a very diatonic background, with influences from Latin music on nylon-string acoustic guitars, progressive rock, hard rock, a little bit of prog metal, funk, pop and jazz-fusion.
I do have some influences from blues-rock guitarists, but all indirectly. For instance, most of my Jimi Hendrix influences came to me second-hand, from guys like Steve Lukather ─ who is one of my guitar heroes ─ and I can jam for a blues song or two, but after that, it starts boring me and then we have to play something else. I have also attended pure blues concerts, and then it's really hard for me to sit out the entire concert, because those guys all play nothing but pentatonic scales.
You have to keep in mind that I approach music in which electric guitars are being used from the vantage of an electric guitarist. I listen to it in a way different from what a non-musician listens for.