Site icon Online Guitar Lessons

the most important Blues Guitar Lesson you’ll ever watch online.

the most important Blues Guitar Lesson you'll ever watch online.

[Music] learning the blues is a great starting 
point for any guitar player after all   the blues laid the foundation for 
western music as we know it a lot   of people seem to think that it's an overly 
simplistic style of playing but it's really   not in fact there's a difference between 
playing the blues and really playing the blues however there's a way that professional 
guitar play the blues that I think lends way more   to its authenticity and is definitely worth paying 
attention to so today I'm going to share with you   the professional Hallmarks of Blues guitar playing 
But be sure to stick around till the very end of   the lesson because I've got a free gift for you 
and your guitar that you're both going to love   from what I've observed over the years growing up 
in Texas not just playing the Blues playing blues   clubs with older musicians that really showed 
me the ropes but also getting to just be around   professional Blues guitarists in both Texas and 
in LA and now in Nashville I've noticed a lot of   patterns in a way that these professional guitars 
play the blues and I really try to pick up on them   and the funny thing is it really boils down to 
some very simple principles so let's talk about   the first one which is really nailing down the 12 
Bar Blues most guitar players who play the blues   or even just dabble in it are familiar with the 12 
Bar Blues it's the very Foundation that most blues   music is written on and it's just really easy 
to pick up and also duplicate when you're either   writing your own blues songs or even just jamming 
your your own blues jam but there's a certain   depth to your musicianship that really comes from 
having the 12 Bar Blues like in your bones just   knowing that framework so well that whatever kind 
of situation that you plug yourself into if it   involves a 12 Bar Blues Jam you're going to know 
exactly what to do for that entire time no matter   how many times it repeats and it's something that 
I invite any guitarist to learn whether or not   you're trying to learn the blues at all just being 
able to count that's really what it all comes down   to and if you want to work on getting the 12 Bar 
Blues down what I recommend you do is throw on a   blues tune and don't even touch your guitar just 
count your way through it now not all Blues is   written in the 12 Bar format but most of it is so 
if we're talking most famous Blu songs let's say   there's a good chance that it's written in the 12 
Bar format and here's what I want you to do when   you throw on that record and you count I want you 
to have every first count of every measure reflect   the number bar that you're in so for example we're 
starting off would be 1 2 3 3 4 2 2 3 4 3 2 3 4 4   2 3 4 all the way to 12 2 3 4 before it repeats 
this sets you on track for building the habit   of just having that steady pulse internally 
to where after a while you don't even have to   think about it anymore and you can just kind of 
feel the 12 Bar Blues and you won't even need a   backing track or a band to manifest it you can 
just start playing and you'll play Within that   format subconsciously but it really comes down to 
just count counting along when you're listening to   your favorite Blues records or just get on YouTube 
and just throw some random ones on and then just   start counting kind of quiz yourself it's fun you 
know but after a while like I said it'll just get   so ingrained in you that you just kind of count 
automatically whether you're conscious of it or   not and it just comes through and how you play 
so that's the first principle is just getting   the 12 Bar Blues down until it's just practically 
a part of your DNA right this is how you're going   to understand the blues on such a level that's 
going to come through in your Rhythm and Lead   playing and it Segways perfectly into the second 
principle which is being able to keep good timing   or as a lot of professionals say playing in the 
pocket basically what that means is no matter what   you're doing whether you're playing by yourself 
or in a band you are just locked in that timing   is just there right and it's pretty easy to see 
how that first principle leads into it right   having the 12 Bar Blues down to where it's just 
internalized right and then apply a good sense of   timing to where you're just locked in the pocket 
with that 12 Bar Blues format and it doesn't   matter if you're playing in a band or playing by 
yourself let's take for example what I did at the   very beginning of the video I played through a 
12 Bar Blues that was mostly improvised really I   just kind of had a key and a framework in mind and 
then I just stuck to some very very simple uh lead   stuff and then just made sure that I locked in the 
chord changes and followed through with that 12   Bar Blues so I'll show you the chords I was using 
it was an A9 a D9 and an E7 essentially the 14   five the three chords necessary that you'll hear 
in a 12 Bar Blu and we're in the key of a right   but I wasn't doing like a constant driving you 
know Cowboy Blues thing like I wasn't doing that   in fact I was just doing little cord stabs and 
this is where my point of staying in the pocket   really comes into play because if you're doing a 
driving constant Rhythm it's easier to keep time   because you're you constantly have a reference 
point right but in what I was doing at the   beginning of the video there's a lot of space so 
it really comes down to just letting that internal   timing take over so what I was doing I I won't 
play any of the lead stuff yet we'll get into   that in our third principle but uh with just the 
chords it was like this like one two one two 3 4 1 1 2 3 2 right that's what I was doing just these 
chord stabs kind of like something you'd hear   a horn section play on a great blues record 
especially like in Chicago Blues a lot of horns   in there right so let's break down these 
chords one by one let's start with the A9 chord you take your first finger you're 
going to play the fourth fret of the a   string your third finger is going to play 
the fifth fret of the D string your second   finger is going to play the fourth fret 
of the G string so it's kind of like a d   chord shape right like when you're playing a 
d chord you're doing the same thing up here   but then we're going to add our pinky 
on the fifth fret of the uh B string and this chord is the same as this you know it's 
pretty common to play like ninth chords in this   particular shape which you'll see when we get 
to the D9 chord the four chord right but that   one chord this is how an A9 would look and 
your root note a is right here so it's like   we're starting on the third we got all the 
notes necessary to make up that A9 chord so   that's what that looks like all right that's 
our chord our four chord A D9 chord is like   this we're going to take our second finger put 
it on the fifth fret of the a string our first   finger is going to be on the fourth fret of the D 
string right and then we we have two options here   we can either use our third and fourth fingers to 
play the fifth fret on the G and B strings or you   can bar with your third finger like this just 
kind of gently mash it on just the G and the B   strings you can do that or you can do it like 
this where kind of almost looks like a G chord   right almost but just like a more squeezed in 
G chord and that's the D9 chord that's our four   chord so here's our one chord here's our four 
chord for our five chord I went with the E7   now you technically could play an E9 which is the 
same as the same exact shape as the D9 brought up   two Frets but I just kind of like how the E7 is 
voiced comparatively with the um the D9 and the   A9 cuz they're all sharing this note here right 
so and then right and so you can hear how these   changing chords how the tonality shifts the feel 
of this single note here which is nice I like that so let's go ahead and go over this 
E7 shape so this is our five chord E7   we take our third finger it's going to go on 
the seventh fret of the a string second finger   is on the sixth fret of the D string pinky is on 
the seventh fret of the G string then our first   finger is going to go on the fifth fret of the B 
string so all three of these chords pretty much   occupy the middle four strings here A D G and B 
all right so that's all you got to worry about   we're not worried about any of the E strings right 
not the e or the high e just these middle strings   right here and we're only going to be employing 
these in little cord stabs right so when we're   counting them right if it's if we're going to do 
the 12 Bar Blues thing it'll go something like   this and of course we got to add a swing field to 
it so the count is going to be like one a two a   three a four a two a two a three a four or three a 
two a three a four or four or two and here we go a   one or two or three or four or two or two or three 
or four three or two or three or four or four or   two two or three or 4 five or two or three or 4 
a 6 or two a three or 4 a 7 or two or three or 4   a eight or two or three or 4 9 a two a three or 
4 a 10 a two a three or 4 11 a two a three or 4   12 a two a three or 4 so that was hard trying to 
like keep time count it out and make sure I was   making any sense at all right but I think I made 
it through so just to show you how sparse those   little cord stabs were right and of course there 
going to be more that we can do to fill on the   we're not just trying to emulate a horn section 
we're trying to apply a little bit more of a full   package especially as just playing solo guitar 
right but that's kind of the timing you know   one or two or three or four and as you can hear 
I counted through 12 bars so that was an entire   12 Bar Blues that I just played and of course when 
you're practicing this if this is something that   you're new to you don't have to go straight into 
the tempo that I'm using here obviously want to   start slow and give yourself time to think about 
your moves as you're doing them and that might   painfully slow at first but it's important to just 
get the consistency down and then over time start   to gradually increase your timing until you reach 
a Tempo like what I just did oh and by the way if   you're getting value out of this lesson please hit 
that like button and consider subscribing to our   YouTube channel really helps us out and it lets 
us know that you'd like to see lessons just like   this one which we'd be more than happy to give 
to you so thanks in advance and let's get back to   business and the third and final principle that 
professionals use when playing the blues is to   make the notes feel good whether you're playing a 
handful of notes or a bunch of notes they all just   got to feel right what this means is there's no 
room for wankery right or just overplaying I mean   you have the freedom to do that but it doesn't 
necessarily make you look like a professional   blues player and I'm I'm not trying to talk like 
I'm some kind of ultimate Authority on Pro blues   players everything I'm telling you is something 
I've observed from players much better than myself   that I respect and look up to and some of which 
I'm I'm lucky to actually be friends with that   I've really gotten to learn firsthand from 
and it's just ingrained in me so consider me   a messenger from having gone through all of that 
experience and all that observation and these are   all based on patterns that I've noticed this is 
something that these principles are all shared   with these guitar players you know and this is 
also true for legendary blues guitar players of   course these professionals emulate the people that 
have blazed the trail before them you know you   name it BB King Freddy King Albert King Albert 
Collins Robin Trower Steve Ron jimy Hendricks   I mean you name it they all do it now you may ask 
what does it mean for notes to feel good like what   is that is that even a thing that'd be a good 
question because it is something that goes into   that sort of intangible you know it when you hear 
it and it's something that you can really feel but   it's hard to quantify right but if I were to try 
to quantify it I would it would really come down   to this the notes just have to be in the pocket 
right your timing's got to be good so it hearkens   back to the second principle which I would say 
you know even though it's in the middle it's   probably the most important overall and since it 
doesn't matter what quantity of notes you're using   to make them feel good let's see what we can do 
with just a handful of notes let's use four to   be exact in fact if we're in the key of A like we 
did in the example with the chords let's just do   this middle pentatonic hot box right here fifth 
fret seventh fret on D fifth fret seventh fret   on G so those four notes but within that little 
framework we can do all kinds of things bend a br slides all that kind of stuff anything's fair 
game within that little uh box there so those   four notes are all we're going to need to use 
to to see how we can make them feel good so if   I were to recall what I did at the beginning of 
the video I was combining these four notes these   specific four note box here right with those 
chords right it's all kind of coming together   now and I started off with a line pretty sure 
that's what it was right something really simple   something that moves right so if I were to count 
it out you know like one a two a three a [Music] four there you go it's all coming [Music] together 
so like I'll stop myself right there but you can   see where I'm going with this right just using 
a handful of notes in combination with those   simple chord stabs with all that space that 
is fine that's not like dead space it's not   free form space it's controlled space because 
it's all within the 12 Bar Blues format and   I'm really making a point to stay within the 
pocket so that you could tap your foot Bob   your head snap your fingers whatever but follow 
along with what I'm doing rhythmically and those   four notes give you the perfect opportunity for 
playing lines in between those cord stabs so you   can make it a little more driving and less 
open as far as space goes but they're still   very much a lot of space so I did that little 
lead in [Music] lick four chord right back   to the one [Music] chord five [Music] chord you 
know then we get to the end you know like you can   choose to end it like however you want if you want 
to just do one round of 12 bars then you [Music] can something like that you know uh another 
thing actually what I just did there that   little that little sort of one fret slide you 
know slide out and back you can [Music] do add   some color you know so if I were to add 
that to the mix it'd be like uh [Music]   I like [Music] that you know and I mean you could 
keep it going because that's the thing about the   12 Bar Blues you can basically copy paste you 
know those 12 bars as many times as you want   then when you choose to end it that's when you 
can kind of free form it or you can do like uh   like a trash can ending you know where it's just 
like you know you can bring the one chord up a   fret like sharpen it and [Applause] then like 
do that kind of thing I mean it's it's it's   fair game at that point but as long as you're 
you know you stay locked in right you you you   got that 12 Bar Blues Foundation just inside 
your bones you got that 12 Bar Blues Foundation   just like ingrained within you and then you stay 
within the pocket your timing is good I mean be   to tap your foot while you're playing is a 
big part of it and I know that that's a huge   challenge for a lot of guitar players believe 
me took me a long time to to just line up my   body with what I was playing I get that there's 
definitely a learning curve there that's why you   want to start simple and if you really just start 
with you know tapping your foot or bobbing your   head or just moving your body in some kind of way 
like just a slight kind of groove right then you   can just start playing and then after a while you 
won't even think about it just something that you   do and by staying in that pocket whatever 
notes you play are going to automatically   feel good whether you're playing four notes 
or 100 notes so I invite you to start with the   examples that I just gave you before you start 
expanding outward and and throwing in different   chords or uh you know more of let's say the minor 
pentatonic scale don't get ahead of yourself start   with the foundation I mean there's a lot that 
you can do with just those simple chords and   the simple for note box that we've worked with 
there really is a lot you can do and so focus   on getting the most out of that first and once 
you do that you've laid this Foundation that   will set you up for everything that you do from 
now on within the blues will just have that same   kind of professional feel to it because you'll 
have the 12 Bar Blues down like the back of your   hand your timing will be locked in and you'll 
be making all those notes feel good no matter   how many that you use oh and by the way everything 
that we have just gone over is movable to whatever   key you want to use it in all you have to do is 
this find the root note on the low E string so   in this case we're in the key of a right fifth 
fret of the below E string and so I found that   A9 chord by starting off you know one fret below 
and one string down and then filled out the chord   and then you know the rest of them kind of all 
were anchored around this sort of central point   and then I had that that pentatonic box right 
if I wanted to move this to let's say the key   of C right find which happens to be right here the 
root note C on the low E string is the eighth fret   I would just remember go one string down one 
fret below and then form that now I have a C9 chord and then the four chord all right which is 
an F9 chord then I have and then the five chord   G7 right here F9 C9 and then that pentatonic 
box would be right here eighth fret 10th fret   on D and [Music] G so if I want to play the exact 
same thing just move it to a different key that's   all I'd have to do but if I were to move keys I 
would try to do different things like you know   like [Music] [Applause] a I know that sounds real 
similar but just make slight changes just to keep   it interesting so now you know what professional 
Blues guitarists keep in mind when they're playing   the Blues in order to make it sound the most 
authentic and the most Musical and you also   know the perfect cut and paste formula of using a 
fourn note box in tandem with three Blues chords   that'll work in any key and we touched on moving 
Keys just a little bit but if you want to take   it even further I got just a thing that's going 
to show you how to take what we learned today   and play it in any key even the hard ones and not 
just that it'll teach you how to confidently Solo   in any key as well and it just so happens to be 
my gift to you for making it to the end of this   video and here it is this is a free lesson on how 
to instantly Solo in any key it's going to show   you how to comfortably and confidently navigate 
the fretboard no matter what key you're playing   in rain or shine lead or rhythm and it's my gift 
to you absolutely free just be sure to click here   to claim your copy or check that link in the 
description box we've all heard that the blues   is a feeling but it's something that really 
shines through when you play it properly and   if you apply what we've learned today you're going 
to be able to play the blues like the best of them

As found on YouTube

Exit mobile version