Blues Guitar Lessons

Disclosure:We are compensated for recommending products.
Click here for details.

Most of the guitar legends are rooted in blues music, so it is no surprise that so many people seek to take blues guitar lessons. The blues can be one of the most versatile and intense genres of music. Universally blues music offers a great outlet for emotion. Blues music is at times fast and upbeat and is great music for dancing to or listening to while having a beer. At other times it is sad, passionate and extremely powerful.

A good course of blues guitar instruction will have students picking up beginner blues guitar techniques without too much difficulty.

Here are some tips to help you with your blues guitar lessons:

• Begin with learning the pentatonic scale – otherwise known as the blues scale or sometimes the box scale. This is a five-note scale, the most popular of which starts on the low-E string. So.......

• Learn the notes of the low-E string. This is important for knowing what key a song is in and which scale to use. Remember that chords and scales are built off of the root or bottom note. For guitar this is typically on the low-E string. So if a song is in the key of A, you know to use the shape that starts on the fifth fret.

• 12-bar blues. There are countless variations of the 12-bar blues, which is why it is such a common chord progression. It is made up simply of three chords – the I, IV and the V. For example in the key of A, two bars of I, one bar of V, one bar of IV, one bar of I and one bar of V.

• The dominant 7th chord. A traditional major chord is made up of three notes. For example an A chord has A,C# and E. To make the chord a dominant chord add a flat 7 or a G. This will add tension to your chords. In a 12-bar blues it is common to substitute each chord for a dominant or 7th chord.

• Listen to the Greats. Remember that music is an aural art form. So no amount of practicing can substitute putting your guitar down and just listening. Blues music dates back nearly one hundred years so it is important to study the pioneers like Robert Johnson and Charlie Christian. Each decade has produced its fair share of geniuses and instrumentalists who took guitar playing to a new plane.

• Learn how to add the tritone. All music is built off tension and release and blues music has a lot of tension. Many guitarists achieve tension through intentional wrong notes or notes outside of the key (called accidentals). The most popular accident is the tritone, otherwise known as the flat 5th. In the key of A this is the E-flat. Incorporating this into your repertoire will make your solos sound even bluesier.

Any beginner blues guitar player can start whaling with just a little bit of practice. Playing great blues guitar doesn’t require a degree in performance. In fact far from taking blues guitar lessons, most of the greatest blues musicians of all time were out of necessity self taught. They knew nothing more than a few basic chords, the pentatonic scale and how to play songs that inspired them. So now your job as a beginner at blues guitar is to carry the torch by practicing your chords and the blues scale and practicing the songs from the Greats.

 
CLICK HERE TO VIEW DETAILS OF THE LEARN & MASTER GUITAR SPOTLIGHT SERIES BLUES GUITAR COURSE