COLUMNS
TELE-PATHY
by Jim Oblon
JIM OBLON
For video of this lesson, go to guitarworld.com/february2025
PLEADING THE 5TH
Putting the 5th in the bass in a blues shuffle
THE SHUFFLE IS a popular rhythmic feel used in various styles of music, especially blues. I play a lot of blues-based music in my live sets, and a fair amount of those tunes feature a shuffle feel, which is built on an undercurrent of eighth-note triplets and “swung” eighth notes.
A cool variation on the stock Jimmy Reed-style “root-5th/root-6th” blues shuffle rhythm pattern (heard in “Bright Lights, Big City” and “Baby What You Want Me to Do”) is to begin with the 5th of each chord as the lowest note in the voicing, or “in the bass,” instead of the root note being on the bottom. With the 5th as the lowest note, you can alter the voicings on every beat, so that the bass notes move up and down the neck.