The Major Scale is the mother of all scales. It’s the basis for just about everything we do in Western music. It’s important. And it’s incredibly useful in jams and composing. But can you play the major scale, everywhere on the neck? Can you switch between keys fluidly in one position? In this course, we’ll […]
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Blues Rhythms You Should Know
Lesson ID: PC038
Holiday Songbook
Lesson ID: PC037
Open G Slide Fundamentals
Lesson ID: PC11A
Songbook: St. James Infirmary
Lesson ID: PC036
If you want to explore the dark side of Blues, this tune is for you. In this course, we cover an arrangement of St. James Infirmary in D minor that pays tribute to the iconic melody while embellishing the composition with 2 tasty solos. Get to know minor blues and add this timeless, traditional Blues […]
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Georgia Blues: Country Blues in C
Lesson ID: PC035
In Georgia Blues, we cover a laid back Country Blues arrangement in C that will surely have you pickin’ and grinnin’ on the back porch. We’ll take some liberties with a simple 12 bar blues arrangement in the Piedmont style. The arrangement builds over three choruses into a nice laid back tune with a couple […]
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Slide Soloing Strategies in Open G
Lesson ID: PC034
Is it time to level up your slide solos? In this course, we’ll arm you with a strategy for finding sweet notes you can use in your lead playing while tuned to Open G. Focusing on tones from the most commonly used chords in Blues is a sure-fire way to have you sliding with style […]
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Useful Music Theory for Guitarists, Vol 1
Lesson ID: PC033
Want to learn some music theory that will actually make you a better guitar player? Let’s face it theory can be confusing with all its rules and numbers for this and letters for that. Fortunately, a little theory can go a long, long way. In this course, we’ll cover the basics of music theory that […]
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Flatpickin’ the Blues
Lesson ID: PC032
If you’re going to play Blues, there are some styles that you just need to know. Perhaps the best place to start is with the venerable E Blues Shuffle. Think: Before You Accuse Me, Sweet Home Chicago In this course, we’ll expand on the material covered in Acoustic Blues Jumpstart and arm you with clever […]
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Delta Sliding in Spanish Tuning
Lesson ID: PC031
It’s hard to imagine Delta Blues without bottleneck slide guitar. Robert Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House and many others shaped the Delta Sound and frequently added sweet slide sounds to their hard-driving tunes. In, Delta Sliding in Spanish Tuning, we’re going to get into Spanish Tuning and put it to use in a 24-bar Delta-tinged […]
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Delta Blues Trail
Lesson ID: PC030
Powerful. It can be difficult to describe Delta Blues. This style of Blues is driven by many varied and often idiosyncratic players. But one common thread across the icons of Delta Blues is the sheer, honest power of the music. In Delta Blues Trail, we’ll begin to explore the sounds that helped bring this powerful […]
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Essential Acoustic Guitar Techniques
Lesson ID: PC029
Fingerstyle Fundamentals
Lesson ID: PC028
Fingerstyle guitar is difficult for most guitarists. Even if you’ve been playing with a flatpick for years, there’s something about fingerstyle that just doesn’t usually come easily. It’s frustrating that such a beautiful style of playing presents so many challenges. In this course, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step method that helps cut down on […]
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Country Blues in G
Lesson ID: PC027
Country Blues is a broad term covering much of the acoustic blues played in the early part of the 20th century whether Piedmont, Delta or Texas Blues. One of my favorite Country Blues pickers, Blind Lemon Jefferson was a technical powerhouse. He was fast and idiosyncratic in his picking. A mix of skill that’s fun […]
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Songbook: Jingle Bells
Lesson ID: PC026
Looking for a little Holiday Fun to toss in your Songbook? This course will walk you through the classic tune, Jingle Bells. If you only know one Christmas song, it should probably be this one 🙂 But beyond the novelty of this song, there’s quite a lot that you can learn from this song to […]
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Pentatonic Blender
Lesson ID: PC025
Scales, scales and more scales. There’s a bunch of them. As Blues players, we can say a whole lot on the guitar with just two very powerful scales: the Major Pentatonic Scale and the Minor Pentatonic Scale. But once you know these two “Swiss Army Knife” scales, it’s hard to know which scale to play […]
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Triads in Action
Lesson ID: PC024
In this mini-course, we’ll continue working with simple 3-note chords (triads) in a real bluesy composition. We’ll make use of the basic major triad but also the pesky diminished and augmented chords as well. I strongly recommend checking out Tuesday Blues #213 along with this mini-course. Tuesday Blues #213: Multiply the Chords You Know with […]
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Songbook: Amazing Grace
Lesson ID: PC023
Major Pentatonic Scale Bootcamp
Lesson ID: PC022
There’s just no getting around it; you’ve got to know your scales. Luckily for blues guitarists, only a few extremely important scales rise to the top of the “must-know” list. The major pentatonic scale is one of those. The sweet sounds of major pentatonics are beautiful and unmistakable. Think: B.B. King and Dickey Betts. Unfortunately, […]
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