First licks #3

Well not much to say about this one, it’s more of the same. But I got a question via email the other day that was sort of a “where are we going with this stuff?” email. So here’s what this is all about in a nutshell:

1. You have to play one note at a time before you can play many (which would be chords.) It just makes sense, first of all, and I’ve seen it time and again that it’s just too hard to play chords on the first lesson. It usually takes at least 3-6 before that is appropriate. So you’ll notice that so far we’ve only played one note at a time.

2. Nobody wants to play “Mary Had a Little Lamb” anymore than I want to teach it. This is blues, after all, so the single note lines that I’ve made up have a point. They are bluesy sounding, and can be used to play a real song, not something you wouldn’t want the dog to hear.

3. You need to play a song of some sort, soon. Obviously it won’t be a hard one, but I think it’s important to learn to play something that sounds like music, and play it from start to finish. There’s an important sense of accomplishment in that, and it gives you a good idea of what is to come.

These are the basic foundations of this whole Beginning Blues Guitar course. Actually, I’ll let Steve from Cambridge tell it for me… I received this email from him and he allowed me to share it with you….

“Hi Griff,
just a note to tell you that I received my Beginning Blues Guitar package last week and I am very impressed. I have been ‘noodling’ on the guitar on and off for a number of years, making little headway. During that time I have purchased many blues guitar tutor books & DVD’s and they have all fallen into two basic categories.
1. Try and teach music theory alongside some pretty boring play along songs that were never even close to being a blues song so that boredom soon set in.
2. Try and teach recognisable classic blues songs that are so advanced/difficult that after a short while of making absolutely no progress, I have given up totally frustrated.

Your course however is not only far easier to play as a beginner ( I have managed to get through the first licks/second licks and ‘sitting easy blues’ without any major problems ) even though I am learning new skills. More importantly all the lessons (which I guess must be really basic for more experienced players) sound and feel like REAL blues music even in their simplicity. Even better played along with the great backing tracks on the DVD’s etc. I just wish I had this course about 10 years ago !!
A very professional package.

Thanks

Steve Manning

Cambridge, UK.”

Well that tells it much better than I could have… so moving on.

This is the 3rd lick, and there will be one more after this. Then we’ll do some simple chords, and then we’ll put that all together into a simple blues song. When you’re done I think you’ll feel like you’ve learned something substantial. That is my hope anyway.

Downloadables (right click and choose “Save Target As..” or something similar depending on your browser):

• IPOD version of the video
• WMV version
• TAB
• Audio version

Tagged as: blues guitar, blues guitar lessons, blues guitar licks, guitar instruction, guitar lesson