BOYS! IMPRESS YOUR FRIENDS! HOW TO PLAY LEAD AND RHYTHM GUITAR AT THE SAME TIME

"BLUE" JIMMY:  GUITAR SLINGER

BLIND DOG OZZY:  NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA

"BLUE" JIMMY: You can tell a lot about a bluesman from their guitar style.  
For example, if they play a whole lotta slide guitar, they probably came from the Mississippi Delta or the south side of Chicago or were at least influenced by players from that region.  If they do a whole lotta fingerpicking, they probably hail from the Eastern Seaboard.  If they play a whole lotta jazzy chords and licks, the West Coast was their home.  

BD OZZY:  If they play damn loud through a big amplifier, they probably came up playing in raunchy, disorderly roadhouses where they had to fight to be heard.

"BLUE" JIMMY:  And if they sound like two fellas playing at the same time, they probably spent time playing out on the street for tips with just them and one guitar and no one else to back them up.  Players in this style include Robert Johnson, Lightning Hopkins and Snooks Eaglin, guitar players who sat on street corners and played a mix of blues, old favorites and novelty songs to earn a living while competing with other performers for the attention of people passing by.  If you couldn't play lead, rhythm, percussion and sound effects all at once on one guitar, you didn't get no money.

BD OZZY:  No whiskey and no women!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  The example in the video is a Texas shuffle combining riffs from a couple of my original songs.  I could've easily played the whole thing on acoustic guitar but this time around I played it on a Fender Stratocaster through a Marshall amp turned way down so you could hear all the pick and finger and string noise.  I'm playing it in the key of E and I'm using a lot of open string lead licks and sliding partial and full chords to get that street corner sound. If you see me on the street, please throw some change in my guitar case.

BD OZZY:  And a swig of whiskey for me!

"BLUE" JIMMY:  Sake's Alive!

BD OZZY:  Wow!  Wow!

HOW TO PLAY LIKE HOUND DOG TAYLOR

"BLUE" JIMMY:  SLIDEWINDER

BLIND DOG OZZY:  NEUROTIC CHIHUAHUA

"BLUE" JIMMY:  Theodore Roosevelt Hound Dog Taylor was a bluesman extraordinaire who influenced pretty much everyone who put a slide on their finger and tried to make Hawaiian noises on a guitar.  Born in Natchez, Mississippi with six fingers on each hand, he took Elmore James' style of slamming slide guitar, played it louder and harder and put out a series of albums and live shows that drove big Afro and bell bottom audiences into a frenzy mostly in the 70's.

BD OZZY:  Together with his band The Houserockers, made up of Brewer Phillips on second guitar and Ted Harvey on drums, they literally rocked houses down and were a huge influence on George Thorogood, whose band The Destroyers were modeled after Taylor's band.

"BLUE" JIMMY:  His buck-toothed grin and between-song jive made him a favorite with the audience even though no one could understand a word he was saying.  Then he would take a sip of Canadian Club, put a slide made from the leg of a kitchen chair on his finger and peel the paint off the walls with a cheap, pawn shop guitar through an amp about to melt down with ear-splitting distortion.  The example in the video is played on an Eastwood electric/resonator guitar through a 100 watt Marshall MG series amp on full gain using a tapered, heavy brass slide and a thumb pick.  I'm not sure what tuning Hound Dog played in but the example is in open E tuning which will always give you that electrified delta sound.

BD OZZY:  Skull and glass a whiskey optional.

"BLUE" JIMMY:  Copy it as best you can and then take it somewhere with your own style.  That's how Hound Dog would've told you.

BD OZZY:  Maybe someday they'll write on your gravestone what Hound Dog wanted on his:  "He couldn't play s**t, but he sure made it sound good!"

"BLUE" JIMMY:  Sake's Alive!

BD OZZY:  Wow!  Wow!