https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/ Guitar Noise Discussion Board en-US Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:31:36 +0000 wpForo 60 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-317469 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:26:55 +0000
R&B was basically Mississippi delta blues "plugged in" and then it evolved into it's own art form.

Listen to Bobby "Blue" Bland (especially anything released on the Duke label), T-Bone Walker, BB King, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Albert King, Otis Rush, early Ray Charles, pre funk James Brown (the first Live At The Apollo disk recorded in 1962 is excellent), Koko Taylor, Etta James, Otis Redding, and you get a good idea of what I call rhythm and blues. In the 60s groups like the Stones, Cream, Blues Breakers, Yardbirds, Zeppelin, Allman Bros, and others paid homage to the original artists and made something a bit removed from the original, but still nice in its own way.

I rented a nice Martin Scorsese disk set called "The Blues" from Netflix http://www.pbs.org/theblues/ that is a great introduction to the Blues and Rhythm and Blues and I feel that if you don't know what R&B is, this is a good place to start. Listening to a lot of old music on the Chess or Stax label is also a good education.

I cut my musical teeth in Rock bands that listened to R&B when we weren't playing top 40 music (and sneaked as much R&B into the act as possible). I sat in with a lot of blues bands, and even though my tastes have widened and matured (everything from R&B to Symphonies), I still thoroughly enjoy a good Bobby "Blue" Bland, Muddy Waters, pre-funk James Brown, Etta James, etc., R&B song, and there are plenty on my iPod.

Unfortunately for me, what they call R&B now is not necessarily what I call R&B, it's changed. Not that the current music on the R&B charts is either better or worse (that's of course a matter of opinion) but different. I think it deserves a different name, but nobody asked me ;) If they gave it a different name, it would be easier to identify it.

But labels are put out by record company executives, not necessarily the musicians. The musical meanings of words like Jazz, Funk, R&B, Dance and others have gone through many changes in my lifetime so far, and I don't expect them to change. Example, Duke Ellington (jazz), Charlie Parker (jazz), Weather Report (jazz), and Kenny G (jazz) have little in common.

Insights and incites by Notes]]> Guitar Players Discussion notes_norton https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-317469 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-317458 Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:03:43 +0000

Here's It's a Shame by The Spinners before the lead vocals.
Marvin Gaye's Mercy Mercy Me
The Supremes You Keep Me Hanging On

Just to get you started.]]> Guitar Players Discussion StormyMonday https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-317458 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316921 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 15:55:29 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316921 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316899 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 07:01:28 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316899 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316892 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 04:14:16 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion AKFlyingV https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316892 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316881 Tue, 23 Dec 2008 01:05:19 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion dogbite https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316881 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316853 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:28:42 +0000
The Stones were considered at the front of the r'n'b boom in the sixties, along with bands like the Yardbirds and the Spencer Davis Group and the Pretty Things - bands who were influenced by people like Chuck Berry and Fats Domino as well as Robert Johnson. I always understood r'n'b to be blues-influenced, but with a rock'n'roll rhythm - but maybe I'm over-simplifying.

R'n'b guitarists? I'd have to mention Steve Cropper - tight rhythms, short solos, keep it simple but effective. Or listen to some of the more up-tempo Motown records from the 60's. Records like Wilson Pickett's "In The Midnight Hour" and Arthur Conley's "Sweet Soul Music" and Booker T and the MG's "Time Is Tight" and Sam and Dave's "Soul Man" would be considered (by me, anyway!) as r'n'b rather than rock, or soul, or blues.

But it's certainly a broad genre, and you can have a hell of a lot of fun exploring it!

:D :D :D

Vic]]> Guitar Players Discussion Vic Lewis VL https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316853 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316845 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:32:06 +0000 Guitar Players Discussion Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316845 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316827 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:42:02 +0000
Thanks you]]> Guitar Players Discussion AKFlyingV https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316827 https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316821 Mon, 22 Dec 2008 05:31:40 +0000 http://www.hoyhoy.com/

Some of those guys were rocking out way before the term "Rock & Roll" was applied to the music!

(And most everything "radical" that Jimi did had earlier precedents as well.)]]> Guitar Players Discussion Ricochet https://guitarnoise.forum/guitar-players-discussion/rb-guitar/#post-316821