The Bluesman’s Basics Series – Home Page
Overview:
The Basic Blues Series introduces the beginning guitarist to the blues progression and shuffle (rhythm and chords) and offers a few ways to elaborate on it using a variety of tools such as fills, sliding chord inversions and putting chords together using voicings that are harmonically close together. It builds to creating a “stand alone” blues solo that sounds good without accompaniment.
Part 1 – Learn the 12 bar blues progression, including rhythm. Demonstrates the fingerings for E7, A7, and B& chords.
Part 2 – Use the chord fingerings learned in part 1 and slide them around between the lower frest to elaborate on the basic blues rhythm.
Part 3 – Learn hammer-on fills in the open position to embellish your progression.
Part 4 – Learn to use chord inversions in higher positions and slide into them to create a bigger sound for the progression.
Part 5 – Introduces the shuffle rhythm and how to play it with a few variations.
Part 6 – Learn the pentatonic minor scale in E, the scale which can be used to create solos over the blues progression.
Part 7 – Learn some traditional sliding pentatonic/blues scale licks in the lower regions of the fretboard. These fit nicely as fills when working towards the goal of playing a “stand alone” solo (part 9).
Part 8 – Learn to use chords that are “voiced”, and usually played as far as fingerings go, together to create tension and resolution within the progression.
Part 9 – Put everything you have learned in the other 8 parts together to create your own blues solo composition.
