GC King of the Blues Contest

[old blue]

Not sure this is the right place to post, but anyway.

Any of you blues masters going to enter the contest? Any thoughts from previous entrants? Is this worthwhile to enter?

I've never even seen the tryouts before and was wondering if it might be entertaining to enter anyway and embarrass myself. Or maybe I should attend and see how this works before I do.

If nothing else, some of the backing tracks from the website sound pretty good.

[Gris]

My friend won (or was runner-up, can't recall) the one down here. There were a LOT of great bluesmen and my friend isn't even a blues guy. He and the other top guy did well because they are technically very profficient (semi-shredders).

If it doesn;t cost much you should do it. Maybe you'll get some good feedback. But don't expect it to be any true measure of blues playing - just saying, ya know... ;-)

[clayville]

I've never been to one either, but ZeroG across the hall at the LPF gave it an earnest shot for a couple of years. He's a terrific player with a blues heart, but says that after the first round the judges put a premium on pyrotechnics and stage antics rather than soulful playing true to the roots of the genre (not my, or his idea of the blues in other words). In any event he just offered up this advice to someone over there: enter yourself for the 2nd or 3rd day of the first round, then go and watch the first day so you'll know what to expect... he ended up working real hard on a specific arrangement rather than winging it, as I recall, but as Gris points out you'll eventually be up against the same shreddy wankers that give you headaches every time you walk into a GC.

[Gris]

Yeah, it's so funny. I was at a music store at lunch today playing some cool jazz (or my fake version of it) and this kid and his family walk in and ask the owner about lessons never noticing me. Then this 14 YO kid comes in to PU his POS guitar from repair and starts this awful pinch H wanking scale shredder wanna be and the newbie kid and his fanily are mezmorized, looked like they had been hypnotized, LOL!

[refin]

Yeah, it's so funny. I was at a music store at lunch today playing some cool jazz (or my fake version of it) and this kid and his family walk in and ask the owner about lessons never noticing me. Then this 14 YO kid comes in to PU his POS guitar from repair and starts this awful pinch H wanking scale shredder wanna be and the newbie kid and his fanily are mezmorized, looked like they had been hypnotized, LOL!

You gotta play that way to be a GC hero..........it's the skating rink of music stores.

[chuckocaster]

doucheoff two thousand and 9...

save your money and get a good band together, you can "hot licks" it up all you want but at the end of the day it's all about the band.

[Franklin]

I know I don't get involved with that crap, but I often wonder if I should try. I knew a couple of judges in the past, neither were Blues players or fans. Another was a drummer/music teacher from a former band and that particular panel that year placed way too much empahsis on "stage presence". I wasn't at any of the competitions, but someone who was there that year said pretty much the same; "If you can't shred and bang your head, forget it".

[Guitar Ray]

I get a charge out of heading in to GC and playing some Steely Dan or maybe a nice soulful version of All Along the Watch Tower with plenty of nice smooth bends and good vibrato. It's usually good to get at least one staff person to stick their head around the amp display to see what's going on.

[jrgtr42]

I'd say check out the first week or 2 - they usually don't fill the entry sheets right away. If you think it would be cool / fun to enter, go ahead.
It doesn't cost anything excep some time, and you may be able to meet some other good players you wouldn't have otherwise.
Of course, you will also meet some players that should have their guitars taken away from them...

[refin]

Why are guitarists so competitive?

[Kap'n]

Why are guitarists so competitive?

I don't know. I stopped thinking of myself as a guitarist many years ago for this whole reason years ago. I'm not a guitarist, I'm not a musician who plays guitar, I'm just some guy who plays guitar.

In the words of Dan Tyminsky...this is not a race.

[chuckocaster]

Why are guitarists so competitive?

because people are A holes.

[elicross]

I could be 1,000 times as good as I am now, and I still wouldn't have the balls to enter a contest called "King of the Blues."

[Stonefreefuzz1]

doucheoff two thousand and 9...

You said it brother.

[gibsonjunkie]

Why are guitarists so competitive?

PRIZES!

[Doc W]

doucheoff two thousand and 9...

save your money and get a good band together, you can "hot licks" it up all you want but at the end of the day it's all about the band.

Bingo!

The term "blues" has become synonymous with wanking. My bet is that the ratio of male to female in that audience will be about 500 to 1

[sweetness]

I just heard about the contest and signed up, though I'm really just an over the hill guitar geezer. However, I do love the blues and that's what I play almost exclusively.

The competitive aspect weirds me out, too, so I'm just looking at it as a chance to get some practice playing in public (just started doing that at jams in the last couple of years), and maybe meeting some other musicians. Hey, maybe some other non-winner will want to form a blues band!

I looked at some of the winners from 2007 on Youtube, and none of them fit in the shred/wanker/headbanger category. I actually enjoyed some of their stuff.

[chuckocaster]

you've got to take every opportunity for what it is. you could possibly meet some like minded people to play with.

but when it comes to competitions, well, it's cutthroat. every man for himself, may the best win. that's how it is. you've got a couple minutes to play every awesome lick you know. but in the real world we're talking sets, and usually 3-4 hours. so if you don't have the depth to pull that off, then it's really a waste of time. live music is all about flying by the seat of your pants... gotta be able to flip 180 degrees if needs be.

all that to say that you might find some good players going to these events. but i bet in the end 98% of them are ego maniacs that you'll have to stroke their egos. just saying. ymmv.

[boobtube21]

PRIZES!

$2500 Levi's shopping spree? Good Lord, how many pairs of blue jeans do you need. Or straps, if we're talking about that Levi's.

I entered a "Guitarmaggedon" contest a few years back (precursor to king of the blues)...sort of by accident. I was just in the store messing around and a guy who worked there talked me into it. I won (tied for) 1st place, but felt like a tool and never came back.

[Don]

...I'm just some guy who plays guitar.

I like that! You don't mind if I repeat it, do you?

[Kap'n]

It's all yours.

[NeoFauve]

Why are guitarists so competitive?

It afflicts players of other instruments too.

Fiddle
Banjo
Piano
Dulcimer... Hammered AND Moutain!

I have to hand it to them though. They at least throw down in nicer venues than the local GC.

[twentyeight]

Heres some basic stuff to help get out of the standard 12 bar blues really basicE-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------B-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------G-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------D2-2-4-2-2-4-5------------------------------------------5-4-2-2-2-4-2-2-4-A0-0-0-0-0-0-00-2-2-4-2-2-4-5--5-5-7-7-5-5-7-7-3-2-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-E--------------------0-0-0-0-0-0-0--3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3- -----------------------E--------------------------------------------------------------B---------------------------------------------------------------G---------------------------------------------------------------D5-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7---------------------5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5A0-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-7-3-3-3-3-3-3-3-3E-----------------------5-5-5-5-5-5-5-5---------------------RepeatJust a simple little rhythmn thing good for starters not sure how much theory there is behind it just sounds sorta cool

[Don]

28, your tab gets completely messed up depending on screen size. Maybe you could as a graphics file or something?

[refin]

"If I................were the king............of the foreeeeeeeeeeest!"

[stratovani]

I tried out for the 2006 KOTB. Ten of us tried out, and I was the only one playing blues, the rest were Steve Vai wannabes (actually, I was a Clapton wannabe!). Of course I lost. That was four years ago, and I swore I would never do another KOTB again, and so far I havn't!

[Goshawk]

I have to say I can dig it.....
and double slide 2 boot!! {:{

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNrFu_p_ajY

[dez]

A friend of mine judged one of those a few years back (he was a friend of the GC manager). He said it gave him a headache.