Category Archives for "Blues"

So what I played in that video was a mix between Texas Blues vibe and a John Lee Hooker riff! If you’re wanting to start a blues this is the PERFECT thing to use! You can start off on your own and get the band to join in on the second chorus.

Would you like to learn a cool and sophisticated blues chord?

Of course you do!

Dominant 9th chord voicings are the bomb!

If that sounds complicated, don’t worry! By the time we’re finished with this lesson it will be as easy as pie!

So let’s check out the JLH riff in action with some dominant 9th chord voicings:

Okay, have you got that? If you haven’t, watch this video a couple more times and put some time in practicing the lick and 9th chords!

We’re going to go from the beginning:

So there are many different ways and approaches to this! Here is a recap on everything I showed you in the lesson:

There we go! You now have an awesome sounding way to break a Texas Blues!

Today I’m going to show you the lick you just heard! You saw I did something cool there? 

Where I play the lick low and then an octave up! It sounds nice and fat - its a technique a lot of classic rock bands use!

Its a pretty cool lick and a really cool use of the E minor pentatonic scale!

Now that you’ve mastered it you can come up with variations! No need to be boring and play the basic riff - do your own thinh! What’s the point of having rules if you can’t bend them?!

Here’s a recap of the scales:

In today’s lesson we’re checking out a cool slow blues intro in the key of A.

Knowing how to launch into a blues jam will improve your level as a player and it just sounds better when you have a dedicated intro.

Believe it or not, but most guitar players don’t know how to properly start a blues jam.

Crazy right?

The good news is that once you’re done with this lesson, you won’t be one of “those” guys!

Here’s the intro you’ll be learning today.

And here’s the tab…

Let’s break that down real quick.

The cool thing is that this intro can also double as a turnaround.

Pretty nifty right?

Now you have a cool intro you can use whenever you’re launching into a slow blues in A.

If you’d like to learn the actual rhythm part, let us know in the comments below!

​​​​String Bending

​Let’s bend steel with our bare hands!!


When it comes to emulating the human voice bending is probably the most effective technique. String bending can be very emotive and if you want to be a confident lead player you’ll need to spend a fair amount of time to develop this technique.

There are two things that are very important when it comes to string bending.

Make sure you use the fingers behind the bending finger to support the bend. This will make the bend easier as well as help you to avoid injury.

​Pay close attention to the tuning of the bend. Since we’re moving out of the “fretted” territory we need to use our ears to make sure the bends are in tune. No-one likes to listen to an out of tune singer right? Well it’s no
different when it comes to playing guitar.

One way to practice this is to play the note you’re gonna bend into first so that you have a frame of reference of what the note sounds like. Then when you bend into the note try and make the bent note sound exactly the same as the fretted note you played before.

​Keep in mind that the amount of force needed to play a whole step bend in tune will vary across the neck. The higher up you go the less resistance you’ll have from the strings and the lower you go the harder you’ll need to work.

If you’re new to this don’t practice string bending for extended periods of time. Your fingers need to develop some strength first and that might take a while. Start by practicing your bends between the 8th and 12 frets and gradually work your way down lower.

​Another great articulation technique of course is vibrato. Once again no surprise here where that comes from right? We’re emulating the human voice of course!

So what exactly is vibrato? Vibrato is the rapid altering between two different pitches that are very close together.

There are two different ways of playing vibrato on the guitar. One way is using a horizontal vibrato which comes from classical guitar and the second way is using a vertical approach which comes from rock and blues.

Check out the difference below.

​The trick is to start off slowly and then gradually increase the speed of the vibrato. That will help you with the mechanics of playing vibrato. Once you have that down listen to some iconic players and check out their vibrato and try and emulate that.

Vibrato is so powerful that I can recognize a famous guitarist just by hearing one note. That is the one area where your DNA really shines through as a player so it’s well worth taking the time to develop a decent vibrato. Just don’t overdo it! Beginners tend to use way too much vibrato which doesn’t sound good at all. Use it sparingly and make sure you’re in control when using vibrato.

Let’s look at a couple of licks that combine various forms of articulation.

Lick 1:

This is a typical Rock & Roll style lick in the style of Chuck Berry, it’s berry nice.

Lick 2:

This lick works on both the I and IV chord in the blues and it’s reminiscent of Paul Kossoff from Free’s playing.

Lick 3:

Here's a flashy lick making use of the blues 

So there you go! Now you know how to bend steel with your bare hands( and make it sound good as well)!