Out of the Crossroads, into the Acoustic Guitar

There are a few topics I would like to tackle in the blog. 1) Robert Johnson and the Delta Blues and 2) Improving at Improv
1) So last week I presented Robert Johnson and the Delta Blues. I think the presentation went alright, but I wasn't fully impressed with myself at how I presented it. After my presentation I kept listening to Robert Johnson's music compared to others and came up with one solid conclusion: Johnson's music is much more abstract, emotional, and colorful than others of the time. I would argue that Johnson was ahead of his time. From what I understand, (and this is a stab in the dark hypothesis), Johnson played guitar licks that did not before make sense. It wasn't until recently I was talking to a friend of mine. He said, "in a class we were talking about the blues. The professor said that in the blues, the rules are meant to be broken." This got me thinking, and I believe that for the time, Johnson broke the rules. In 2008, we've heard many styles of music and everything from the 4 string guitar to the laptop creating a sound. The blues from the 20's sound rather simple, such as easy 12 bar blues songs. Johnson played abstract chords that no one had attempted before. Basically, my conclusion is that Robert Johnson, unlike all the other blues players of his time, played the different style. Could a guy who goes from playing like absolute crap to being the king of the Delta Blues players could quite possibly have sold his soul to the devil?
2) Group change: I enjoyed the blues, good stuff guys. The new group is good too. I think we're still figuring out exactly what we want to do, so perhaps a few weeks in the new groups would be pretty cool. I think I'm coming along as an improviser. I'm extremley glad I took this class because it has increased my playing skill a lot. Before the class I'd call myself just another kid who can play guitar. Now that I've taken this class, I'd still call myself just another kid who can play guitar, but my skill has most definitley increased. Since taking the class so far I've learned what notes or chords to play with certain other things and I can generally hold my own to a degree. I still have a lot to learn obviously, but so far it's been pretty fun and it should be great through the rest of the semester.

Feel free to comment on whatever, good things.

Sean