How to play blues like the early electric guitar masters

Hubert Sumlin and Howlin' Wolf
Hubert Sumlin [Left] and Howlin' Wolf (Image credit: Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

When the guitar ‘went electric’, its potential as a solo or featured instrument – especially in a band context – blew wide open. A new breed of players, including John Lee Hooker, Hubert Sumlin and Sister Rosetta Tharpe, began to exploit these different possibilities and sounds, which were later built upon further by Chuck Berry, Buddy Guy and Jimi Hendrix. 

What I’m hoping to capture in these examples is a snapshot in time, when people first began to turn up their amps and discover just how raucous things could get! 

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Richard Barrett

As well as a longtime contributor to Guitarist and Guitar Techniques, Richard is Tony Hadley’s longstanding guitarist, and has worked with everyone from Roger Daltrey to Ronan Keating.