BB King once said that the blues was the easiest to learn and the hardest to master. There's a lot to what he said if you are doing it the old fashioned way.
Most people just think that learning the blues is just about banging out that blues scale over and over again. They play the same scales and patterns over every chord of every tune... and then wonder why everything sounds the same after a while.
Have you ever watched Eric Clapton or BB king or Stevie Ray Vaughan in concert, or listened to them in your car and just wondered why every song sounds so freakin' cool?
I mean, isn't it all just blues?! What do they know that we don't? Well, I discovered that it's all about how we think when we play blues so we need to get "inside the minds" of our blues heroes.
Let me give you a good example of the right thinking.
Learning to play blues is a lot like a baby learning to talk. When my son was 3 years old he had to learn to make some sounds and babble a bit then, after a while, he turned those sounds into some words and finally, he learned how to really say something.
Do you think he went right from never saying anything to saying the Gettysburg Address - NO WAY!
But that's what too many people try and do. It's like trying to eat a watermelon in one bite, it ain't gonna work.
One way is to get started with some good old fashioned blues chords. And when you've got those chords down, you build on that. Slow is the way at first, just like learning to talk, and then the full vocabulary starts to flow quickly. That's exactly how to learn to play the blues!
Here is where I finally figured it out!
More to come!
Jim
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For just about anyone, you can learn how to play blues guitar in the same fashion as learning how to play any other type of guitar. The primary difference is in the feel while strumming, and the note choice of the scales. When you have those things together, it all boils down to of practice and patience.
Normally in pop and rock songs, eighth notes divide each beat into two equal pieces. The eighth notes create the familiar "one&two; & three&four &" feel that we're used to in rock songs. On the other hand, blues guitar uses a swing feel, where each beat is divided into three pieces. Instead of "one&two &," we get "one & a two & a three & a four & a." Breaking the beats into three pieces creates what are called eighth note triplets. Since there are usually four beats per measure in the blues, you are usually playing four groups of three.
When you are learning how to play blues guitar, you want to practice strumming a chord like an E7, which is a shorthand way to write E dominant 7, with a swing feel. You should practice strumming down on the strong beats, those that fall on the one, two, three, or four, skip the ‘&,' and strum up again on the ‘a.' With that rhythm you get the do DAH do DAH do DAH do DAH sound made famous by artists such as Buddy Guy, Robert Cray, and BB King.
Another big part of learning how to play blues guitar is learning how to play a dominant seventh type of chord. All chords have 2 pieces, and blues guitar chords are no exception. If you have an A7 chord, you know two pieces of information from that name, you know that the chord is built on an A note, and you know it has a dominant seventh chord quality, or sound. Dominant seventh chords use the root, third, fifth, and flatted seventh of the major scale. It is that blending together of the major third and minor seventh notes that give dominant seventh chords their unique appeal. In most forms of music, only the chord built from the fifth tone is permitted to be a dominant seventh chord. Not so in blues, every chord is a dominant seventh chord often.
The last thing about blues guitar is the use of the blues scale. From a major scale, take the root, flatted third, fourth, flatted fifth, fifth, and flatted seventh degree and you have a minor blues scale. To get the major blues scale, you take the root, second, flatted third, third, fifth, and sixth tones from a major scale. What really makes these scales sound ‘bluesy' is the way they contain a flatted third, but are played against dominant seventh chords which have a major third. This usage is one of the more prevalent characteristics of blues music. It is also a major component of a lot of blues-based rock and popular music.
If you are learning how to play blues guitar, never forget the words of the great BB King, "The blues is the easiest music to learn, and the hardest to master." As in many facets of life, the blues is taking small ideas and constructing them together in such a way that they make something great.
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About the Article Author: Griff Hamlin is a professional guitar teacher with 25 years of experience. His new book on How To Play Blues Guitar is now available Here.
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The 4 Note Solo has to be one of the easiest riffs to learn for newbies or aspiring players.
Griff Hamlin is the teacher in this video and, aside from being a really great blues player, Griff has a simple, no-nonsense approach to teaching. It's pretty rare that you find a guy who plays like this and who can show you exactly how to easily do it yourself.
Griff has put together a free video showing how you can create an entire blues solo out of 4 notes... yes, 4 notes! The video is a promo for his course and will also get you more free video lessons if you sign up to his email list but that's your choice. Anyway, the 4 Note Solo is really, really cool and I highly recommend you check it out.
Honestly, I've never thought about blues playing this way... you've got to check it out. Click here for The 4 Note Solo!
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As an old Rock N Roll player myself, the first thing I found out, when looking for free blues guitar lessons on line was this: I had learned to play guitar based on some really bad habits. My fingering and picking were all wrong from the start. In effect, I didn't know how to play guitar correctly which made it more difficult to perform blues riffs.
When I first decided to learn to play guitar as a teenager, I was told that the keys in learning how to play guitar successfully were to be able to read music, to learn theory, and practice, practice and even more practice. But, who had the time, energy, and money, to do all that when you are throwing together a garage band?
I was also told to find an instructor who spoke my language and who understood that I needed to start at the beginning. The fact is, most guitar teachers are not very good at teaching. They can't seem to communicate the basics because they are too accomplished. They have forgotten what it's like to be in our shoes.
Teaching anything takes a certain kind of person. Think about your favorite school teachers. How many can you remember? One, two? Well, it's the same with guitar instructors.
If you long to learn how to play blues guitar, you have only a handful of free online videos, and courses to choose from on the web. Finding free blues guitar lessons is a frustrating exercise that will eat up hours of time as you dig through all that is being offered. So, what's the next Blues All-Star to do?
If you have surfed these so-called free programs, you know that most leave you hanging or confused because they assume too much about your level of skill. They throw out technical terms as if we understand about open E tuning, 12 bar blues, tablature, and on and on they lecture. We get buried in theory that only Beethoven could understand. Most of these freebies are not for beginners or if you play other styles of music on guitar. Playing blues guitar has its own unique set of moves and techniques that must be learned on their own.
Now, it's completely up to you to choose which free blues guitar lessons that will suit your level of understanding and skill. At some point you need to choose your favorite course and just go for it. This is the trick. Which program will move you along the fastest so that, within a few weeks to a month, you will begin to see and hear the enormous improvements that are taking place in your style of guitar playing?
My quest right now is learning how to play blues slide guitar. It's something I've always wanted to do not only to impress family and friends but to accomplish a lifelong dream I've never let die. The sound of a great blues player just does something for me that I can't explain.
Playing slide blues seems physically easy in one sense. You just drag a slide over the strings and instantly hear the effect. Well, I can tell you that, at first, it can be difficult to get sliding under control to play in tune and keep the accompanying buzzing and rattling sounds from making your cat run for cover! Now, slide guitar doesn't require left-hand strength the way normal acoustic guitar playing does, but it does require learning the basics and learning the right touch!
Free blues guitar lessons are great to get your juices flowing but, if you really want to learn how to play blues guitar, my advice is to go to your local bookstore or look on line for a course that starts with the basics. You just have to start at the beginning if you want to sound like the great blues players.
Or, take my advice and check out my instructor, Griff Hamlin. He gives free blues guitar lessons on video just to show you his teaching style. He covers both non-slide and slide playing. He understands the need to start from the beginning and he is one of those teachers you would remember from your school days if you were lucky enough to have him. Click for Blues Guitar Video Lessons Here!
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