 |
|||
|
|
||
|
|||
|
|
||
| GUITAR LESSONS: BEGINNER BLUES GUITAR | |||
| WorkshopLive's Beginner Blues Guitar Lessons are just the right thing for the beginning guitarist who is looking to get into this classic American style of guitar playing. You'll learn about some essential techniques and topics that all guitar players should know about such as Major, Minor and Pentatonic scales, barre chords, bending, trills, rakes, and hammer-ons and pull-offs. You'll also learn the techniques that give the blues its unique flavor such as bluesy 7th chords, the 112-Bar Blues form, swing and boogie rhythms, walk-ups and turnarounds, and of course, how to build and play bluesy solos. Once you have mastered these blues lessons, you'll be ready to take your guitar playing to the next level. |
|||
|
Return to Course Catalog List |
Printable PDF Version |
||
| COURSE | LESSON | TEACHER | DESCRIPTION |
| The Major Scale | Construction of the Major Scale on One String | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to be talking about the major scale. We'll learn how to construct this scale, by using whole and half steps, and how many pitches there are in this scale. We're going to do all of this on one string of the guitar. The major scale is very important to reading and playing music. Having a good understanding of the major scale will help you later on down the road. So let's get on the right road and get started! |
| The Major Scale | Numbering Scale Degrees | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | Today, in this lesson I'll be talking about numbering the notes in the major scale. The scale is written down and remembered in a variety of ways, from letter names to the Italian words 'do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do', to numbers. Numbering the notes in the major scale is extremely helpful when learning and memorizing melodies. It is also helpful when putting together and constructing chords. In this lesson, we'll learn the numbering system, simple intervals of the major scale and how we can use this system to learn a melody and even transpose a melody to another key. |
| Chord Review and the 12-Bar Form | Review the G7, C7 and D7 | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Hi. In this lesson, we'll review 7th chords. First, we'll review what they are and how they're constructed in relation to the diatonic major scale. Next, we'll review how to play three common 7th chords that work well together in blues music: the G7, C7, and D7. |
| Chord Review and the 12-Bar Form | 12-Bar Blues in G (Folk Style) | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | In the previous lesson, you learned how to strum the G7, the C7 and the D7. Now, I'll show you how to strum these 7th chords folk style in a traditional 12-bar blues progression. This is the most common musical form in blues. There are several variations, and you can play it in any key. This is the form you will use as you begin to develop your blues vocabulary. Let's get into it... |
| Open-Barre Chords | The Open A7 | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson we'll learn to play an open A7 chord. This particular form is a movable chord form, which is very important to the blues. We will learn to move this chord up and down the fret board creating many chords rooted off the 5th string. At the end of this lesson I will give you some practical tips for remembering new chord forms and their root names. This Lesson has no animated exercises. |
| Open-Barre Chords | The Open E7 | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson we will learn how to play open E7. We will learn that this is a movable chord form rooted from the sixth string. This E7 chord just like the A7 is very important to the Blues. We will combine the E7 chord with the A7 chord form to play a I-IV chord pattern in E7. We will also continue our practice of moving up and down the fret board to memorize the chord fingerings and root names. |
| Blues in A and Eighth Notes | Introduction to Two-Note Chords | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to learn and play two-note chords. Often these chords are called 'power chords'. They could also be called 'two-note rock chords' or 'two-note blues chords', depending on what style of music you're playing. We're going to learn three of these chord types in the key of A; specifically, A5, D5, and E5, which are open chords. We're also going to talk about what the Roman Numerals of I, IV, and V mean in relation to the music and what they stand for. So, with that ahead of us, let's get started. |
| Blues in A and Eighth Notes | Left-Hand Technique and Straight-Eighth Notes | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we are going to be talking about left-hand technique and the straight-eighth rhythm. We're actually going to be using our feet along with our hands. Be careful not to get up and start dancing all over the place during this lesson. We're also going to learn a variation in straight-eighth rhythm that I think will be fun to learn. Developing good technique will help bring your playing and your sound together. Technique and sound are what define you as a musician, so it's important to give this topic its due attention. And, there's nothing like articulating yourself well. |
| Blues in A and Eighth Notes | Play a 12-Bar Blues in A | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to learn the 12-bar blues in the key of A. This is the bread and butter progression that is used on a nightly basis by musicians all over the world; musicians that not only play blues, but jazz, country, and rock as well. We'll be learning the chord forms, names and, of course, the 12-Bar blues progression itself. We'll also learn a simple standard rhythm pattern and one of the many variations we can use when playing the blues progression. So, let's get rolling... |
| Blues in A and Eighth Notes | The A5 - A6 Diads | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to be learning and playing something that is an essential part of blues, rock, country, and even some jazz music. It's the A5 and A6 diad. These chords are also known as 'two-note rock chords' and 'open 5ths and 6ths'. Now, if all the terminology has you scratching your head a bit, that's okay. Join me for this lesson and you'll understand and recognize what we're doing. We'll become skilled at playing between the diads that you'll be learning and adding them to a simple rhythm pattern. So, let's get to work... |
| Blues in A and Eighth Notes | Using Diads over a 12-Bar Blues | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to be putting our A5 and A6, D5 and D6, and E5 and E6 diads to work over a 12-bar blues progression in the key of A. These diads are sometimes known as two-note blues or rock chords. The diads that you'll be learning are the first position forms. After we get that information out of the way and into our fingers, we'll add an eighth-note rhythm pattern. |
| The Shuffle Pattern | The Dotted-Eighth-Sixteenth Pattern | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Hi. In this lesson, we'll learn how to play the dotted-eighth-sixteenth pattern. It's a very common blues feel, and you'll probably recognize it as soon as you hear it. Robert Johnson is well-known for this style, as are the many blues greats who have followed in his footsteps. This pattern is the basis on which rhythm and blues and rock and roll were formed. So, let's get started and learn the basics. |
| The Shuffle Pattern | IIVV in A over the Shuffle Pattern | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | In a previous lesson, you learned how to play the shuffle or dotted-eighth/sixteenth pattern. Mastering the shuffle is an essential part of being a great blues player. In this lesson we'll explore how to use that pattern in the 12-bar blues form. We'll also review how to count the rhthym, and learn how to feel it. Plus, we'll practice alternating between chords and using an alternate picking-style technique. There's a lot to do, so let's get busy. |
| Blues in E | Open B7 and I-IV-V in E | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson we're going to learn an open B7 chord. We'll put it to use in a 12-bar blues in the key of E. We'll also talk a bit about the term 'open' and what it means to the chord and how to construct it. We'll put these chords to use and throw in a quick change to our progression, which is the traditional I-IV-V pattern. So, don't be flat. You don't even have to be sharp. Let's take a look at the B7. |
| Blues in E | 12-Bar Blues in E (Folk-Style) | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to learn the 12-bar blues in the key of E, and learn some of the variations that we can use with the progression to give it a folk, or country blues sound and feel. Also, as part of this lesson, we're going to learn a bass-note strum pattern to help give this style of blues an authentic feel. This will sound great whether you're playing an acoustic, or an electric guitar. Your also going to learn some vocabulary that is unique to the blues. So c'mon folks, let's get started... |
| Blues in E | Diads in E: E5-E6-E7 (Rock-Style) | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to be looking at the E5-E6-E7 rhythm pattern. This lesson is an extension of some of the things we've done already with the E5 and E6. This chord pattern is a must, regardless of the style of music you play, but it's definitely a must if you're playing the blues. We're also going to learn the difference between eighth-note rock and eighth-note blues or shuffle rhythms. So, let's get started... |
| Blues in E | Left-Hand Technique: Muting Strings | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, I'll be talking about left-hand muting. (It's not about putting your hand over your mouth before or after you've said something silly). But actually, we're going to see how you can use the thumb and fingertips to mute strings on our guitar that we don't want to hear. Those are strings that would otherwise ring open and cause your chords to sound bad. We're also going to learn a chord that may be new to you and put this idea to work in a chord progression. We'll also add this new idea to a strum pattern. I'm ready and I hope you are too, let's go. |
| Blues in E | The Walk-Up Between the I and IV Chords | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson we're going to connect chords by taking a walk. Not a walk in the park with your dog, but with our fingers, in a chord progression using a walking bass line. We'll also use the quick change and add that chord to the walk up. So, hang up that dog leash, grab your guitar instead and let's get our fingers walkin' the walk and talkin' the talk! |
| Swing-Eighth Notes | Triplets and Swing-Eighth Notes | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | The blues is all about feel, and sometimes writing out that feel is a lot more difficult than it seems. In this lesson, we'll be exploring eighth-note patterns where the first one is longer than the second one. This is known as swing eighths. Swing eighths are at the heart of the swing feel which is based on the triplet feel. We're gonna' unlock the mystery behind swing-eighths, and when we're done, you're gonna sound like you were born west of the Mississippi. Grab your guitar and let's get started. |
| Swing-Eighth Notes | I-IV-V in E using the Swing 8th Rhythm | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we're gonna learn to play the I-IV-V in the key of E. This is one of the most popular keys for playing blues music. It's a great key because, on the guitar, you can use all of the open strings and that lends itself well to playing licks, and doing hammer-ons, pull-offs, and other solo techniques that we'll learn about later. As we discussed in our previous lesson, the swing 8th-note feel is the most common rhythm in blues. Put these together, and you've got a great combination. Let's get to it! |
| Playing Boogie Patterns | Introducing the Boogie Pattern | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | In a number of previous lessons, you learned how to play a shuffle pattern. Now, I'm gonna show you how to play a boogie. It's all about the feel; that dirty, sleezy, backroom boogie feel. Think about Stevie Ray Vaughan and his Texas-style boogie. You know what I'm talking about... Boogie is a swing-blues rhythm and technique originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music adapted to guitar. It's often used in rock and roll, country, and, of course, blues. It's characterized by an uptempo rhythm and repeated melodic pattern in the bass with a series of improvized variations in the treble. Let's get started. |
| Playing Boogie Patterns | Transposing Boogie Patterns | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Previously, I showed you how to play a boogie vamp on the open, low E string. You also saw how it was played on the open A string. In this lesson, we're gonna learn how to transpose that vamp into any other key, simply by moving our index finger (our 1st finger) up the neck chromatically. The guitar is a great instrument and it lends itself well into transposing into different keys. It's easy, I'll show you how and knowing how to use this skill will help you to play the vamp in any key. ...All right, let's get started. |
| Playing Boogie Patterns | 12-Bar Boogie in E | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Up until this point you've been working hard learning your boogie patterns, your chord shapes, and your shuffle rhythms. Now, I'm gonna show you how you can put all this stuff together, and have some fun and play some cool, swinging blues. Imagine you're in a smokey bar in New Orleans or something and both people in the audience are paying attention. All those techniques including palm muting, pick scraping, shuffling, boogieing are going to come in handy now, because we're gonna put them to use over a 12-bar blues progression. Let's do it! |
| Playing Boogie Patterns | Transpose the 12-Bar Boogie to Key of G | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | You might be wondering to yourself, 'If there are only 12 bars and three chords, how can so much great blues music be created?' We learned earlier how to play a boogie and a 12-bar blues pattern in the key of E. Now, we're gonna do it in the key of G. Again, we'll use transposition which allows you to move a piece of music from one key to another. This concept will also help you to learn your fretboard so you'll be able to transpose and create your own fantastic blues compositions. |
| Introduction to Improvising | The Major Pentatonic Scale | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we're going to learn the major pentatonic scale. The major pentatonic is a five-note scale used by musicians who improvise in all styles of music. We'll be learning how to construct this scale, and look at its relationship to the major scale. Then we'll learn to play a single-string form, we'll also learn a movable form that covers all six strings as well. We'll take a look at what type of simple chords you can play this scale over when improvising. We have a lot to do so, let's get started... |
| Introduction to Improvising | Introduction to the Minor Pentatonic Scale | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | In this lesson, we'll be getting our hands on the minor pentatonic scale. When playing the blues, this is the 'go-to' scale, because it gives our solos the sound we often hear from the blues masters--this is what the blues is all about. We'll be learning its whole-Step, half-Step pattern on one string and its relationship to the major scale. We'll also take a look at a movable form that will enable you to play the play the blues in different keys. This is a helpful lesson that will give you more information and skill that'll add to your improvisational abilities. Ready? Let's go... |
| Introduction to Improvising | Adding the Flat-5 to a Minor Pentatonic Scale | Reggie Chavez & Jeff Bihlman | This lesson is all about adding the flat-5 to the minor pentatonic scale, otherwise known as the blues scale. We'll learn the new fingering and the name change that comes about when we add the flat-5 to the minor pentatonic scale. Then, we'll work this scale into a cool lick. Make sure that you have a clear understanding of the minor pentatonic scale before starting this lesson. That way the changes that we're going to be working with will make more sense to you and be that much easier to understand. So, let's get going... |
| Barre Chords | Root-6 Barre-Chord Rhythm in A | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson we'll learn to play a blues rhythm in 'A', using the movable E7 form we've already learned. All of our roots will be found on the 6th string, this is a good practice. We will not only learn a blues rhythm, but we will also become more familiar with the notes on the 6th string. You will want to be able to find the I-IV-V chords of a particular blues all over the guitar. The more ways you know how to do this the better. |
| Barre Chords | Root-5 Barre-Chord Rhythm in A | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this next lesson we'll take the open A7 chord form that we already learned and locate the IV and V chord of 'A Blues'. This gives us a new way to play "A Blues." Oh yeah, the best part. Now we can become more familiar with the notes on the 5th string as well. I'll also show you that you can play A7 twice on the 5th string. This could come in handy. |
| Barre Chords | Major I-IV-V Progression | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | This lesson is going to combine the 6th string, 7th chords that you learned with the 5th string 7th chords to make one blues. We'll stay in 'A Blues'. You'll notice at the end of this lesson you'll know three or four different ways to play 'A Blues', that's cool. That's what the others will be saying. You'll be at the jam in a couple of nights and the guy's are going to be jealous because your going to be up there all night. Because you know a couple of way's to play the same blues form. People will take notice, rest assured. |
| Barre Chords | Solo Construction over a I-IV-V | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we'll talk about solo construction over a I-IV-V blues in A. We'll get into these chords a little deeper than we have before. This will give us more places to resolve to in our solos. We'll also look at some more motivic development with our call and response licks. We'll also work on creating more suspense for the listener to keep them interested in our blues soloing. So, let's get started! |
| Barre Chords | Minor 7 Chords | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we'll become acquainted with the minor 7th chords. These are the chords used in modern Blues. The minor 7th chord is a very popular chord in Rock, Jazz and Blues. The knowledge of how to play the minor 7th chord will open up a lot of new songs for you to play. We'll learn to play these chords with just a simple modification to a chord form we already know. |
| Barre Chords | Minor I-IV-V Progression | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | This lesson is going to cover minor Blues progressions. You'll do this in A minor Blues. You already know the chord forms. We've already studied these in our previous lessons together. Now we'll take a look at the progression needed to play the minor Blues. The minor Blues likely makes up one quarter of the standard songbook of Blues. Let's get to work. |
| Moving the Pentatonic Scale | From Open to 5th Position | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we'll take the E minor pentatonic scale and move it up to the fifth fret, where it will become the A minor pentatonic scale. We'll learn that the E minor pentatonic scale is a moveable scale form. This one particular scale form is the scale most used by all instruments in Blues, Rock and even Jazz music. We'll also learn a few good exercises for building scale speed. |
| Moving the Pentatonic Scale | Building a 12-Bar Blues Solo | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | Now we're going to use the A minor pentatonic scale to improvise over A Blues in a i-iv-V progression. We'll learn that this is the same pattern as the E minor pentatonic scale, only there are are no open strings. We'll look at creating our own blues melodies using the A minor pentatonic scale and we'll learn some very basic improvising tools, such as 'call and response', to make us sound like real blues players. |
| Introduction to Bending | Bending and the A Minor Pentatonic Scale | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we'll learn to bend - not bending elbows, not bending over or even bending the truth, but bending pitches. Bending is an important technique in the Blues. Bending adds a lyrical quality to your soloing. Horn players and singers almost always have to make small adjustments before a note is completely in tune. As a guitar player, with frets, you don't really have to worry if your notes are in tune. As long as your guitar is in tune and you're on the right fret and string, then you have the right note. I will also give you some great tips for making your bending in tune and developing the hand strength needed for good bending technique. |
| Introduction to Bending | Bending in the A Minor Pentatonic Box | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we're going to add to our arsenal of bending techniques. You can never have enough bending techniques or licks. Bending, for a lot of great Blues guitarists, is a signature. This might be what develops your signature. We'll also continue to develop more great strategies for internalizing all these different bending techniques. We'll also combine our new techniques and licks into a one-chorus solo. Let's get started... |
| Introduction to Bending | Solo Construction | Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we will have the first of many discussions on the topic of solo construction. This time, we are going to learn all about target notes. We will discuss what they are, where they are, and why they are so important. This is a really good 'nuts and bolts' approach that you will put to use from here on. So lets dig in. |
| Basic Soloing Techniques | Trills | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | This is where the fun begins. We've been playing chords and rhythms up to this point, but the blues is not complete without the guitar solo. So, you want to be a gun-slinger? Well, it's gonna take more than a couple of box patterns to start turning heads and dropping jaws. There are certain techniques that you're gonna need to learn in order to do that... In this lesson, I'm gonna show you what a trill is and how to use it. This will not only add spice to your licks but it will also make your solos more effective. So, grab your guitar, and let's do this! |
| Basic Soloing Techniques | Return-Bend to Pull-off | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Bending is probably the one technique that evokes the most emotion in blues guitar playing. However many different emotions there are, there are that many different ways to bend a note. In this lesson, we're going to explore another way to start building your bending chops. We'll learn to do one of the coolest, basic soloing techniques called the return-bend to pull-off. This combines two very cool techniques, and opens the door to a world of possibilities. Let's check it out. |
| Basic Soloing Techniques | Forward Rake | Alan Bennett & Scott A. Smith | Like any art form, blues guitar playing really is subjective. There aren't any rules you have to follow and you don't have to join any clubs to get started. That's why I got into it in the first place, and why I'm still into it. There have been a lot of great blues guitar players who've left us with their brilliant ideas, and it's up to us to carry on that tradition. You can learn a lot just by listening to the records and going to the shows. To develop your own style, it's very helpful to have a few techniques that you can build on. Here's a really cool one that's used by all the greats: the forward rake. If you're a fan of blues, you'll recognize it straightaway. Let's get right into it... |
| 2nd Box Pattern in A Minor | Basic Phrasing Using the Top Three Strings | Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we are going to tackle the topic of phrasing. We are also going to check out a really cool pentatonic scale pattern. When we play a solo, we seldom play an endless stream of notes. It's common to break things up with various short licks and rests and so forth. How we arrange all of this solo material is referred to as phrasing. This can be thought of as the musical equivalent of speaking with your regular voice. Well, this is where we begin to learn how to speak with our guitar. |
| 2nd Box Pattern in A Minor | Simple Slide Exercises | Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we are going to investigate sliding and all of the wonderful things we can do with it. Sliding is a great way to move from position to position or just dress up an ordinary note. Many a blues solo uses this technique extensively. Without sliding, it would be very difficult to express yourself, especially in the blues. Ya'll won't need a sled, snow, or a hill for this lesson--just your guitar. Let's do it! |
| 2nd Box Pattern in A Minor | Solo Combining 1st and 2nd Boxes | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Now we're going to put it all together! Learning to play a solo using scales you have practiced is the final step in mastering any new box pattern. In the same way you learn the alphabet before you can read, real joy comes when you start putting letters into words to read and write. That analogy applies to guitar solos. We have learned what notes can be used, so now we must write the words so to speak to create phrases and riffs in a complete solo. In this lesson, we'll use the 1st and 2nd box positions of the A Minor Pentatonic scale to create a 12-bar solo. |
| A Major Pentatonic Scales | 1st Box in 2nd Position | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Pentatonic comes from the Greek prefix pente, which means five in english. Like the Pentagon building or a pentagram, five is the number. However, for us guitarists, we aren't looking for the number of the sides on a building or the points of a star. We are concerned much more about the sounds being made. This lesson, we'll learn the notes of the A Major Pentatonic scale in the second position. Just like in the minor pentatonic scale, there are five notes in each octave of this scale. In the major pentatonic scale, we are going to play all but two of the notes of a complete major scale. We will leave out the 4th and 7th scale degrees to get the commonly used major pentatonic. |
| A Major Pentatonic Scales | 2nd Box in 4th Position | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | There are happy movies and sad movies, happy paintings and sad paintings, happy expressions and sad ones. At the risk of being too trite, I say this to illustrate the most important thing about playing guitar. You are expressing emotions with everything you do. Every choice you make has an effect. Tradition, musical history, and plain instinct creates certain bonds in a listener's ear between the sounds they hear and specific emotions. And as a guitarist, you never want to lose sight of that fact. This lesson will show the A Major Pentatonic scale in the 4th position. It has a very straight forward, simple, and happy sound to it. Compared to the minor pentatonic, it has a brighter and lighter feel. When you want to create a more upbeat mood in a solo, this is a definitely a good choice to use. |
| A Major Pentatonic Scales | Major Pentatonic Versus Minor Pentatonic | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Understanding this lesson will help you start to carve out your own sound. It will give your guitar playing its personality. It's more important by a thousand times than the year and make of your guitar (like my 1972 Telecaster), or the settings on your pedal board, or the number of holes in your jeans, or the tattoos on your arms. It's the notes you choose when playing your guitar that creates the image and identifiable sound that is you. All the theory in the world won't prepare you to hit just the right note to say just what you want at just the right time. It comes from developing a deep sense of connection to the sounds of scales and chords. In this lesson we'll discuss the major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales and compare and contrast them in soloing. |
| A Major Pentatonic Scales | Introduction to Overlapping Boxes (Mix Maj/Min Pentatonic) | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | We've covered the major and minor pentatonic scales separately. Now comes the time to combine them. If an alarm is going off inside you right now saying: "Wait! I hardly know them individually! How can I think about combining them?!?" you need not worry. The funny thing is, often a mistake on guitar can become a new sound or the inspiration for a new idea. Perhaps you've been practicing a minor pentatonic at some point and hit a note outside of the scale. It might have sounded fine, which might have been because the note was in the major pentatonic. The combined scale is used extensively in blues and blues rock and is a familiar sound. |
| A Major Pentatonic Scales | Phrasing | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Ah yes, phrasing. This is where it all comes together. This is the word that defines the whole thing. It expresses with one word the importance of all the options given to you in a solo. Phrasing is to guitar playing what sentence structure, paragraph content, chapter titles are in a book. Phrasing is a word used to describe everything all at once in a guitar solo. |
| Double Stops: 3rds & 6ths | Theory of 3rds | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Sometimes just the mention of the term music theory can cause even the most accomplished guitarists to run screaming and hiding in a fetal position behind their Twin Reverb amps with the volume cranked to 7 or 8 playing 45 minutes of trills with a glazed look in their eye until the notion has passed and they don't have to think about it anymore. Color then returns to the skin and all is well with the world again. But not you! Really, understanding a few of the most important aspects of music theory is not difficult and will help immensely to speed your mastery of the guitar fingerboard. It doesn't need to be scary, foreboding, or even damaging to your hearing! Today we will go through the theory of double-stop 3rds. |
| Double Stops: 3rds & 6ths | Theory of 6ths | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Double stop 6ths are intervals heard everywhere in blues, country blues, blues rock and all popular music. They show up at the beginnings of songs, at the ends of songs, as turnarounds at the ends of verses in 12-bar blues. And they're also great additions in the middle of solos. They can add depth and variety to a solo. Really, it's a great way to build the excitement in a solo or end it with a flourish. They have a distinctive sound; they've been used in lots of classic songs. Now, getting a handle on the theory and shapes of 6ths will give you a lot of tools in your riff toolbox for great solos. |
| Double Stops: 3rds & 6ths | Rhythm Patterns with 3rds and 6ths | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson we're going to apply some of the theory of 3rds and 6ths that we've learned. Music theory is just that, theory. It's crucial to your understanding of what you are doing, and it helps you gain an overview of your guitar and of music. But the real fun comes from taking that knowledge and flying around the fingerboard with the material. We'll focus on some basic rhythmic exercises when using these intervals in this lesson. These should become regular warm-up drills for you as you get more and more comfortable with the shapes. |
| Double Stops: 3rds & 6ths | Soloing with 3rds and 6ths | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Using 3rds and 6ths while soloing is what we're going to do in this lesson. These intervals work well on their own, and can be used as turnarounds in blues at the end of every 12 bars. But they can also be thrown in the middle of solos in combinations with other single-note riffs. That use of phrasing is always an exciting variation for your playing! |
| Riff-Based Blues | Classic Riff Examples | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | We're about to learn some classic riff-based Blues riffs. This style of playing Blues is probably best associated with the urban Blues masters from Chicago. We will learn that these riffs come straight out of the notes of the chords. This is a more aggressive style of the Blues - a bit louder than in the past. I guess they wanted to to be heard above the trains and the traffic outside the clubs. |
| Slide Technique | Introduction to Slide | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Slide technique is the focus of this unit. For the blues soloist, sliding is a technique that is so common and so frequently used that it quickly becomes a very natural and automatic part of any soloist's bag of tricks. In fact, it's so common that a solo which intentionally avoided any slides would sound quirky and somehow out of place in a cool slow 12-bar blues. In the next segment of this lesson, I'll demonstrate this by contrasting two different solos: one with slides and one without. And then we'll get into the hows and whys of slides in detail. |
| Slide Technique | Solo over a Minor I-IV-V Progression | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson we'll do my, and hopefully your, favorite thing: learn a solo! Scales and theory and new chord shapes and technique tips and warm up drills: they're all good and always necessary. But, truth be told, putting together a solo is the fun stuff. It takes all the ingredients and throws them in a big kettle and it comes out smelling like teen spirit, or better yet, music. We're going to try out an eight-bar blues solo over a minor blues progression. |
| Slide Technique | A Minor Pentatonic and A Blues Scale | David Boye & Scott A. Smith | Let's face it, playing the same scales over and over again in the same way can get boring. And when your fingers play the same patterns they develop muscle memory. They end up going to the same places all the time, in the same order they've learned. At first, this is a positive thing because it means you've learned the scale. But the drawback is that in soloing, you start to repeat the pattern in the same order. Your sound becomes scaly and uninteresting compared to a well-improvised solo. That's why it's always good to mix up the notes and ways you practice the same scale. Today we're going to practice that with the A Minor Pentatonic and A Blues scales in three different ways using slides to add a spark to the sound and the fingering of the scales. |
| Two-Note Boogie Pattern, Closed Position | A5 and A6 in Closed Position | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | In this lesson, we will play a standard Blues rhythm. The Blues rhythm uses a power-chord root fifth fingering and adds the sixth of the chord with the pinky finger. This is another urban Blues style rhythm. This is the kind of rhythm you hear in a lot of Blues Rock songs as well. This rhythm can be used in almost all the different styles of the Blues - from acoustic Blues to all-out rockin' Blues. |
| Two-Note Boogie Pattern, Closed Position | Double Stops | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | Double stops have been a part of the blues since the beginning. The double stop can be thought of in two ways. They can be melodic, as in the solos you play, or they can be harmonic, produced by the rhythms you play. I use them in both situations quite a bit. Double stops are simply two notes at the same time. The double stops we'll be exploring in this lesson will be the intervals of 3rds and 6ths. These are the two most commonly used double stop intervals. So let's get started... |
| Other Techniques | Turnarounds | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | This lesson is going to cover turnarounds. Turnarounds are the last four measures of the blues, from the V chord at bar nine to the 12th bar at the end. There are hundreds of possibilities here. These can be chordal, and they can also be single-note licks. We'll be looking at a few of each of these in this lesson. A turnaround's whole purpose is to get you back to the I chord. They build tension and then release back on measure one. Let's learn a few. |
| Other Techniques | Solo Construction Combining All Techniques | Dennis McCumber & Scott A. Smith | This is a big lesson. We are going to construct a solo using all the techniques we've talked about so far. We are going to use call and response, root targeting, and double stops with a turnaround. We'll go through this lesson slowly, so don't worry. This is stuff blues guys just have in their soul. They don't think about it but we do, for a little bit. With practice, this will find its way into your soul as well. |
|
Return to Course Cataolg List |
|||