Blue Jean Blues is one of the coolest slow blues progressions you're going to find. Especially when you throw in the riffs and bass lines you'll learn today to help push each chord change to the next one.
Comments and questions are welcome below!
One of the most common rhythms you'll find in the blues is what's known as a Texas Shuffle. Stevie Ray Vaughan had a crazy-good Texas Shuffle, and in this lesson we'll look at a real stripped-down version of Pride 'n Joy, which uses the shuffle.
This rhythm is a great starting point - get this foundation down pat, and we can build on it and do lots more cool things soon after. For today, we'll be playing double stops (which is simply two notes played at the same time), on the I and the V notes of the chords in our progression. Then, to make things a little bit more interesting, we'll add in a major 6th to give it some extra character.
In this lesson, we're going to build on the last lesson and add the minor 7th into the mix. That takes an extra finger, and it might be a little bit of a stretching exercise, but it sounds really cool, and you'll hear this trick used in a lot of blues music too. Let me know your thoughts below!
This lesson is inspired by John Fogerty's "Up Around The Bend," and we're using it as an example of triads, which can be used to create great sounding rhythm riffs or intro riffs.
In this lesson we'll use a Johnny Winter style blues riff in the context of a 12 bar blues in G. Once you get the boogie woogie rhythm going on, tossing that riff in really cranks things up a notch!
Rhythm isn't only about playing chords, in fact, it is very common to use rhythm riffs as the background rhythm section for songs too! In this lesson, we'll look at how you can use the pentatonic minor scale to play a fun rhythm riff in the context of a 12 bar blues.
In this short lesson, we'll look at a different place to play that standard Em chord we've all used for eons. The secret to finding chords like these is knowing how the notes in a chord work. Understand chord construction, and learn a few off these lesser-used chords, and you'll have tons of great ideas ready to slip into your rhythm or solos!
To learn more of these unusual chords, please visit the following link:
Guitar chords are a really good place to start if you're looking for some great-sounding notes to put together into a solo or an intro riff. In the video above, you'll see three famous examples of triads used in this way. A triad is simply a three note chord. Understand chord construction, and learn a few off these lesser-used chords, and you'll have tons of great ideas ready to slip into your rhythm or solos!
To learn more of these unusual chords, please visit the following link:
In this lesson we'll learn the ultimate guitar solo scale! It is the pentatonic minor scale, covering three positions and three octaves, which gives you a great amount of reach all in one nice fluid pattern!
Below you'll find the tab for this scale.
In the last lesson, we covered how to play the ultimate blues solo scale. If you need a refresher, you can check it out here.
In today's lesson we're going to take a look at the most important note in any guitar scale - the tonic. The tonic is the anchor point that you can use to transpose that scale pattern into any key you choose... talk about powerful! That note also happens to be the single best choice for starting or ending a solo. In our ultimate blues solo scale, the tonic shows up three times, so you'd do well to learn each of the positions and practice ending at each one.
Below you'll find the tab again for this scale. If you've got questions or comments, I'd love to see them at the bottom of the page!
In today's lesson, we're going to cover how to apply I-IV-V theory to your pentatonic scale. Sounds pretty technical, but I hope you find this useful. Plus, once you see how the patterns work, it won't seem technical at all!
In a previous lesson, we covered how to play the ultimate blues solo scale. If you need a refresher, you can check it out here.
In today's lesson, we're going to cover how to add a chromatic passing note between the IV and V notes in the scale. Sounds pretty technical, but once you hear it in action, you'll probably recognize it pretty quick. This particular note is the most common modification you'll find, and is super common in the blues - in fact, it is often referred to as the blues note. Check it out, and see how you can work it into your solos!
Below you'll find the tab again for this scale. If you've got questions or comments, I'd love to see them at the bottom of the page!
Chord substitution is when you swap one chord with another that is very similar to it. In practice, this is usually accomplished by adding a note or two, which helps give the chord just a little extra character that it would not have had otherwise.
In this lesson, we'll build on the dominant 7th shape that we learned earlier.
Here's a quick introduction to one way you can use I IV V, although there is a TON more to say on this topic. The guitar is tuned to 4ths, except for the G to B string, which is a major third. That means that every time you switch strings, staying on the same fret, you're moving up (or down) a fourth.
For example, on 6th string, 5th fret, you have an A. Move up one string to the 5th string, and you have the D. Now, move up two frets, and you find the E, and there's your I IV V in the key of A, the three most important chords in that key. This works in both major and minor keys.
Learning a bit about I IV V can really help you reduce how much you need to memorize your fretboard, because you'll already know the relationships of the notes nearby. Cool stuff!
In this lesson we'll learn the E7 chord, in a couple different shapes, and how to shift that chord into 12 new chords, by transposing the chord shape to other places on the fretboard. You can also call this chord E dominant 7th. The basic shape of the open E7 is 020100.
Learning how to mix your rhythms and riffs is a tremendously rewarding skill on the guitar, and the lesson above is just a tiny sample of what you'll learn in Rhythms & Riffs of Early Rock & Roll. If that style of playing appeals to you, I'd recommend checking out the course!
The riff in the video uses the first and second strings on the 5th fret, and on the 8th fret. It comes directly out of the A pentatonic minor scale.
Learning how to mix your rhythms and riffs is a tremendously rewarding skill on the guitar, and the lesson above is just a tiny sample of what you'll learn in Rhythms & Riffs of Early Rock & Roll. If that style of playing appeals to you, I'd recommend checking out the course!
In this lesson, we'll add some more licks to the rhythm & lick that we learned in part 1 of this mini-series on Chuck Berry licks. By combining what you learn in this lesson, you should have a pretty sweet progression with a few lick options to jam with! Also, if you haven't had a chance yet, checkout the other lesson in this series here.
Learning how to mix your rhythms and riffs is a tremendously rewarding skill on the guitar, and the lesson above is just a tiny sample of what you'll learn in Rhythms & Riffs of Early Rock & Roll. If that style of playing appeals to you, I'd recommend checking out the course!
In this lesson we're going to take a bit of a closer look at where exactly one of those earlier riffs that I taught you came from. You'll see it actually comes out of the E pentatonic minor scale, as well as the extension to that scale. These scales are both covered in detail in the Beginner Blues Riffs course.
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Beginner Blues Riffs Course
The pentatonic scale is the most important scale to learn first for improvising. Other scales are useful too, but the pentatonic scale has only five notes in it, is easy to learn, and will not conflict with any other notes, as long as you're playing in the right key. In this lesson we'll learn the 3-position pentatonic climb, which is amazing for soloing because you can access so much of the fretboard all in one fluid scale pattern.
The first thing to learn before you start improvising is your scale (which we learned in the first video). In this example, the A minor pentatonic scale is used, as well as the 3 position climb.
In this lesson, we'll discuss the chord progression we'll be using to solo over, because the progression provides the context for your solo. The progression is in C major, and goes like this: C - G - Am.
Then, with Ryley playing the rhythm, we'll begin to experiment using the scales from part 1 over top of that progression, in no particular order. The pentatonic scale that we're using will not lead you astray; some notes may sound better in certain places than others, but you will not have any that sound BAD. That makes it the perfect scale to begin improvising with.
In the first video, we saw how the scale is the basis for improvising... You have to know the scale before you can start improvising!
In the second video, you learned a chord progression, which provides the context for our solo.
In this video, we look at a very popular string stretch riff, and begin to apply it to those two scale patterns we're working with. This is the stage where the scale finally starts sounding like music!
Pay close attention on this lesson, because if you can master the concept of transposing scale patterns and riffs, you're well on your way to being able to solo in any key that you want.
This cool blues riff makes for a great turnaround or ending riff, and the use of the chromatic passing notes really has gives it that classic bluesy sound. Comments or questions are welcome down below!
Here's the tab for the E pentatonic minor open scale taught in the lesson.
Here's the tab for the E pentatonic minor scale in the lesson.
Understanding quarters and eighths is foundational to understanding rhythm, and of course rhythm is foundational to understanding strumming! That's why we're starting here. If you have any questions about the lesson, let me know in the comments below!
