Rock Guitar
Play Guitar Faster Today
with these proven speed building exercises and techniques
I’m not gonna lie to you…lots of people have said I ramble too much at the start of this lesson. It’s true! It was my first ever video and I was a little nervous! You can skip ahead if you like and get to the meat of the lesson. Either way check it out because these speed building and metronome practice techniques will massively increase your guitar playing speed if you use them. Have fun!
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Play Guitar Faster – Speeding Up Your Guitar Playing – Conquer fast guitar licks, speed up your guitar playing, improve your finger independence, fretboard hand strength, stretching and soloing ideas!
2:45 – 5 super important principles you need to know about increasing the speed of your guitar playing and how to practice building your speed. Starting slow, using a metronome, working on problem areas, making up your own guitar exercises and licks and more. Doing all of this will hep you to play guitar faster.
7:20 – 3 step action plan for building your speed and learning to play any lick or exercise faster. Use this in your practice routine and you’ll see great progress! You’ll probably see an increase in your playing speed in just a couple of minutes. Find your cruising speed – this is the speed at which you can comfortably loop the lick or exercise around. Then bump up the metronome speed and practice playing the lick once at this speed. Then play it twice, and when you’re ready play it 3 times. When you’ve got it try looping it round and round at the new speed. A good target speed for sextuplet licks is 120 bpm (beats per minute) on your metronome.
8:19 The minor pentatonic scale shape and Lick 1. This is in the style of Randy Rhoads, but it’s a very commonly played lick. It’s straightforward and easy to slip into your playing. Here you’ll see a demonstration of how to use the metronome to effectively increase your playing speed.
14:58 How to make sure your playing is totally in time. This is a super important guitar tip so check it out!
15:25 Lick 2 is a blues rock lick in the style of Slash, Zakk Wylde and many other great guitarists. How to use the metronome and 3 step action plan to increase the speed of this lick.
18:10 – Lick 3 is a great left hand hammer on and pull off exercise in the style of guitar players like Steve Vai, Joe Satriani, Randy Rhoads and most other modern rock guitar legends. The A minor lick is in 16th notes and will help you improve your finger independence, fretting hand stretching ability, and little finger strength and accuracy. Then see how to break it up into chunks, work on each section with the metronome to build your speed, before putting it back together to get a great guitar workout. A great target speed for 16th note type licksis 160 bpm on your metronome. Give it a shot!
25:20 – Lick 4 is a great speed guitar lick using the A blues scale. It’s an awesome left hand hammer on and pull off exercise which will work great in a guitar solo. Break it up into chunks and perfect each part of the lick before adding them together for a left hand blues scale shredfest!
28:20 – How to integrate licks and exercises into your playing so you can use what you learn from your practice time.
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Amp Settings
For Awesome Blues Tone!
Not sure how to set up your amp to play Blues? No problem.
In this lesson I will show you how to set up your amp to get a great Blues guitar sound. I’ll also point out the number one mistake that most guitar players make when they start setting up their amps to play Blues.
Here you will get.
- Amp EQ settings guide.
- Presence, Reverb and Gain Amp Settings
- Pick up tips and Volume Knob ‘trick’ for chords and solos
If you were struggling with how to get a good blues sound, with this lesson you will solve your problems and get an awesome Blues Guitar sound!
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Secrets of a GreatBlues Guitar Sound
How can you get a great blues guitar sound and how should you set your amp up? In this step by step lesson I’ll show you a simple method for setting up your guitar amp so that you can get a great blues guitar tone out of your speaker every time!
Blues Amp Settings – Setting Your Amp fror Great Blues Guitar Sound
In this guitar lesson I’ll show you how to set your amp for a great blues guitar sound every time. Here’s a breakdown of what you’ll learn in this lesson.
0:00 In this lesson you’ll find out how to set up your amp plus how to avoid the no.1 mistake many guitar players make when setting up there guitar amp for a great blues sound. I made it! Now you can avoid it…
0:53 Amp EQ Settings Guide
See the front panel of my tube amp to see how I set it up. I set the bass and treble controls to about 6-7 and the mid to about 3-4. Try sweeping through the mid control though to find the ‘sweet spot’. The mid control is very influential on your sound.
1:32 Presence, Reverb and Gain Amp Settings
Presence controls the overall brightness and I normally set it to about 2-3. A touch of reverb is often nice but don’t use too much! Also with gain or distortion – be aware of using too much! We want a nice crunchy, singing tone that isn’t too ‘fuzzy’ sounding.
2:03 Pickup Tips
Try the different pickups on your guitar. I normally use the neck pickup on my strat for a warmer sound. The bridge pickup is a little too bright for my tastes – but it’s a personal thing so make up your own mind here.
2:39 Volume Knob ‘Trick’ for Chords and Solos
Here’s a simple way to use the same amp settings for solos and chords without being too loud. Simple…but free!
3:26 Many guitarists use way too much distortion and reverb when they play blues. I definitely used to! It takes away the definition of the notes and ‘muddies’ your playing. Try turning the reverb and gain controls down as low as you can stand them and see how you like it.
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Guitar Power Chord Shapes
as used by all the rock & metal masters!
Check out these essential guitar power chord shapes and techniques for killer riffs and chord progressions!.
And discover how this one power chord shape can be used to play any power chord you might need…simply by moving around the guitar neck (don’t worry, I’ll show you how to do it!)
Watch to learn:
- The ‘A root’ power chord shape you really need to know
- Secrets for great palm muting and chord damping technique to get these power chords sounding massive without annoying string noise
- Where to move this power chord shape to on the fretboard to play any power chord you want
So dive in and start getting killer power chord sounds right away…
Learn the Essential Rock and Metal Guitar Power Chords used by bands like Metallica, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Guns’n’Roses and more!
Get my awesome free POWER CHORD GUIDE With TAB and chord boxes for this and other lessons showing you all the essential guitar power chords!
Power chords are essential knowledge if you want to play rock and metal rhythm guitar, songs and riffs. In this guitar lesson I’ll show you more ‘must know’ guitar power chords used by all rock and metal guitarists and classic bands such as AC/DC, Guns’n’ Roses, Metallica and more. Plus you’ll learn how you can use this single chord shape to play ANY power chord!
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:42 In the previous power chord lessons we looked at the open string guitar power chords and the chord shapes with an E string root. Now it’s time for the shape with the root on the A string.
Let’s learn the basic power chord shape. We’ll start by learning how to play a B5 power chord at the 2nd fret. Then in a minute we’ll start moving it around the neck to get other power chords. Notice the two different options for fingering this chord shape. This is one of the most often used guitar power chords!
I’m mainly playing this shape on the A,D and G strings but as with the E root shapes you can leave off the little finger note if you want (the G string in this chord shape).
2:02 Playing Any Power Chord With This Shape
By moving the power chord shape up the neck it can be used to play any power chord you might need. This is all to do with the root note, which is the note you play with your 1st finger on the A string. Whatever this note becomes as you move the chord shape around determines which power chord you are playing. The chords you get are: 2nd fret-B5, 3rd fret-C5, 5th fret – D5, 7th fret – E5, 8th fret – F5, 10th fret – G5, 12th fret – A5. Make sure you learn this – very important!
1:52 The Moveable Power Chord Shape
By moving the power chord shape up the neck it can be used to play any power chord you might need. This is all to do with the root note, which is the note you play with your 1st finger on the low E string. Whatever this note becomes as you move the chord shape around determines which power chord you are playing. The chords you get are: 1st fret-F5, 3rd fret-G5, 5th fret – A5, 7th fret – B5, 8th fret – C5, 10th fret – D5, 12th fret – E5. Make sure you learn this – very important!
3:42 Sharps and Flats for Power Chords
Make sure you can also play power chords with a sharp(#) or flat (b) root note. These are all played at the frets in between the ones we played the shape at earlier. See the lesson for details and demonstration.
4:57 Power Chord Playing Tips
Remember you only want to play the strings in the chord shape -try to deaden off all other strings by lying your left hand fingers slightly flat across the neck. I mainly do this with my 1st finger. Also experiment with using ‘palm muting’ to give the chords a more chunky, tighter sound. Lightly rest the flesh of your picking hand on the strings to ‘palm mute’.When you want to, release the palm muting slightly to let the power chord ring out a little more.
5:24 How To Use These Power Chord Shapes
It is essential that we practice USING new material in our playing – otherwise we just forget it! Try taking the 3 sets of power chord shapes we’ve covered in these lessons and experimenting with combining them. See if you can make up some killer power chord riffs and chord sequences of your own.
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Master More Essential Power Chord Shapes
as used by all the great rock & metal bands!
If you want to play rock and metal rhythm guitar, then you must know Power Chord shapes. These are chord shapes used by all rock and metal guitarists and classic bands such as Metallica, Guns n’ Roses, AC/DC and much more. Here I’ll show you these chords and how to use them
In this lesson we are going to see:
- Basic Power Chord shape. We’ll see how to play an F5 Power Chord at the first fret and moving it around the neck to get other chords.
- Control string noise. you have to be careful with your fingers so you can get the desired sound, mostly when you are using distortion or overdrive pedals.
- Sharps and Flats
With these chords, you can play almost any metal and rock song. Don’t forget to download my awesome free POWER CHORDS GUIDE With TAB and chord boxes for this and the other Power Chord Lessons!
Power Chord Shapes – Learn the Essential Rock and Metal Power Chords used by bands like Metallica, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Guns’n’Roses and more!
Get my awesome free POWER CHORD GUIDE With TAB and chord boxes for this and the other Power Chord Lessons!
More Essential Guitar Power Chord Shapes
Power chords are essential knowledge if you want to play rock and metal rhythm guitar, songs and riffs. In this guitar lesson I’ll show you ‘must know’ chord shapes used by all rock and metal guitarists and classic bands such as AC/DC, Guns’n’ Roses, Metallica and more. Plus you’ll learn how you can use these to play ANY power chord!
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:38 Basic Power Chords Shape
We’ll start by learning how to play an F5 power chord at the 1st fret. Then in a minute we’ll start moving it around the neck to get other chords using the same shape. Notice the two different options for fingering this chord shape.
1:28 Controlling String Noise
Watch your 1st finger position when you play this shape – it should be slightly flat so it mutes off any unwanted strings. This little tip is essential for getting clear and punchy power chords without unwanted string noise!
1:52 The Moveable Power Chord Shape
By moving the shape up the neck it can be used to play any chord you might need. This is all to do with the root note, which is the note you play with your 1st finger on the low E string. Whatever this note becomes as you move the chord shape around determines which chord you are playing. The chords you get are: 1st fret-F5, 3rd fret-G5, 5th fret – A5, 7th fret – B5, 8th fret – C5, 10th fret – D5, 12th fret – E5. Make sure you learn this – very important!
3:05 Alternative Fingering
You can also play the power chord shape without the D string note to get a 2 string power chord shape. These can be used interchangeably with the 3 string version and are basically the same thing. They can also be moved around the neck to get different power chords.
4:20 Sharps and Flats
Make sure you can also play power chords with a sharp(#) or flat (b) root note. These are all played at the frets in between the ones we played the shape at earlier. See the lesson for details and demonstration.
5:15 Chord Connecting Exercise
This simple exercise uses the shape played as A5, C5, F5 and G5.
I’m using the 3 string shape here although you could use the 2 string form if you prefered. Notice how I’m using ‘palm muting’ to gives the chords a more chunky, tighter sound. Lightly rest the flesh of your picking hand on the strings to ‘palm mute’. On the final A5 chord I release the palm muting slightly to let the chord ring out a little more.
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Master the Essential Power Chords
as used by all the great rock & metal bands!
Power chords are essential knowledge for any aspiring rock or metal guitarist wanting to play killer rock songs and riffs.
In this guitar lesson you’ll learn’must know’ open string power chords used by the legends of rock and metal music: bands like AC/DC, Guns’n’Roses, Ozzy Osborne, Black Sabbath and others.
Discover:
- Four crucial power chord shapes used by your favourite rock and metal guitar players (they’re easy to play but sound awesome…)
- How to set your amp for a killer crunch sound and avoid some of the common amp setting mistakes most guitar players make
- How power chords are different from regular open chords you know and when to use them
So grab your guitar,dive in to this power chord lesson and soon you’ll be cranking out massive sounding riffs like the legends…
Power Chords – Learn the Essential Rock and Metal Guitar Power Chord Shapes used by bands like Metallica, ACDC, Black Sabbath, Guns’n’Roses and more!
Get my awesome free POWER CHORD GUIDE With TAB and chord boxes for this and the other Power Chord Lessons
Power Chords – Essential Guitar Power Chords
Power chords are essential knowledge if you want to play rock and metal rhythm guitar, songs and riffs. In this guitar lesson I’ll show you 4 must know power chord shapes used by all rock and metal guitarists and classic bands such as AC/DC, Guns’n’ Roses, Metallica and more. You’ll also learn HOW TO SET YOUR AMP and guitar to get that classic rock sound power chord sound!
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:12 Hear a basic demo of the power chord shapes this video teaches you and what they sound like.
0:48 What is a power chord? Normally when guitarists talk about power chords they mean ‘5’ chords, for example E5, G5, C5 etc. Where they are different from most other chords is that they only contain 2 notes whereas most other chords are made up of 3 or more notes. Strangely by taking a note out we get a bigger, more powerful sound. Even though some of these shapes use 3 or more strings on the guitar they are still constructed of just 2 notes.
1:14 E5 Power Chord Shape. Play the open E string and the A and D strings at the 2nd fret to play this chord. Either use your 1st finger to barre both strings or use your 1st and 2nd fingers to play it. Either way let your fingers lie slightly ‘flat’ to mute other strings we don’t want to hear.
2:15 A5 Power Chord Shape. If you move the E5 power chord shape across onto the next 3 strings it become an A5 chord. Use the same fingering options we had for the E5 shape. Watch that muting like before!
2:49 D5 Power Chord Shape. For this power chord play the open D string, the G string ate the 2nd fret and the B string at the 3rd fret. Use the various fingering options in the video depending on what works best for you.
4:10 G5 Power Chord Shape. This G5 chord is a favourite of all the classic rock bands – it sounds huge! Play the E string at the 3rd fret, the open D and open G strings, and the B and top E strings at the 3rd fret. Mute the A string with the flat of your 2nd finger (which is playing the low E string note).
5:16 Setting Up Your Amp for a Great Power Chord Sound. These are just some guidelines for amp settings – feel free to experiment to get your own sounds. Don’t over-do the distortion – use as much as you need but not too much! The reason is that the chords will start to sound mushy and unclear with too much distortion. I set my bass and treble controls to about 2 o’clock and mid to about 9 o’clock and usually use the bridge pickup on my guitar.
6:39 Power Chord Connecting Exercise. Here’s a simple chord sequence you can use to practice these power chord shapes. Also use songs by your favourite rock and metal bands. The exercise here goes from E5 to D5, then from G5 to A5. See the TAB in my FREE POWER CHORD GUIDE!
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3 Simple Blues Solo Tips For Awesome Blues Solos
Are you frustrated every time you try and play a blues solo? Tired of playing the same old blues guitar licks, riffs and chords? Are your blues solos just missing the mark? These 3 simple blues solo tips and practice techniques can make a big difference to your blues solos…today! Learn to use these in your playing right now and hear the difference in your blues solos straight away!
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Playing a Blues Solo – 3 Blues Solo Tips for Better Blues Solos!
Want to play a better blues solo? If you want to play more awesome blues guitar solos then the 3 blues solo tips in this lesson will help…and fast!
You’ll learn 3 simple soloing concepts you can apply to your solos which are guaranteed to help you play better solos.
Sound like BS? Try it and see – you might be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:12 Blues Guitar Solo – Demonstration showing some of the blues solo tips and concepts you’ll learn in this lesson
1:05 The 3 soloing concepts you’re about to learn aren’t all you need to play an awesome blues solo – there’s more to it than that. But they’re easy to understand and apply to hear a difference in your soloing quickly. They’re also devices we hear all the blues guitar legends use in their playing.
2:10 Learning to Use Space In Your Solo is one of the most effective things you can do for better blues solos. Think of how we tell a story: we leave gaps and pauses to allow the listener to absorb what we’re telling them. It’s the same with playing a guitar solo. Leaving space is one of the most powerful blues solo tips I can give you…it makes a HUGE difference!
2:59 Hear me demonstrate use of space in a blues solo. Notice how it creates a sense of structure and allows the phrases to ‘breathe’.
4:11 How can you practice using space in your solo? Easy – find a cool backing track and force yourself to play a phrase, leave a gap, play a phrase, leave a gap and so on. This might be a bit unnatural if you’re not used to leaving space in your playing – but it will teach you to use space effectively in your playing.
4:40 Long Notes .V. Short Notes. Mixing up short notes with long notes in your playing builds some natural contrast and shape into your solo. This keeps the listener engaged and listening out for what is going to happen next.
5:15 Hear me demonstrate how to practice mixing up long and short notes in your blues solos and improvisations.
5:50 The best way to learn to do this naturally is simply to put on a blues backing track and force yourself to use lots of long and short notes. If this feels a bit strange at first keep doing it – after a couple of times round the blues it will feel easier and you’ll hear a difference in the sorts of things you are playing in your blues solos.
6:33 Using String Bending – Maximise the Power of String Bending! String bending is one of the most important elements of a great sounding blues guitar solo. Listen to just how much bending the great players use in their blues solo – make sure you are using them in your playing – lots!
7:25 Listen to me demonstrate how you can use bending in your blues solos. Notice how it creates tension and just sounds authentic and bluesy.
8:38 Practice using each one of these blues solo tips in isolation like you saw me do. This will get you used to using them in your playing. Then – forget about them and just jam! You’ll likely notice that the time spent experimenting with them will have had a positive effect on your blues soloing. By experimenting with these you’ll find these simple blues solo tips will have a massive impact on all areas of you blues guitar soloing. Be patient, experiment and have fun! Good luck!
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Cool, Easy, Blues Guitar Chords
Spice up your blues chord chops today!
Playing blues may seems easy, but if you want to make it sound cool, like the old Blues Masters while playing rhythm blues guitar, you better learn some simple 7th and 9th chord shapes. In this lesson I’ll show you some of these chords and some tricks to put a bit of color into your 12 bars blues rhythm guitar playing. It isn’t hard to do, so let’s see what you are gonna learn today.
- A7, D7, and E7 chord shape. These are powerful but simple blues guitar chords which often sound better than open chords or barre chords
- D9 and E9. These are chord substitutes for D7 and E7.They are totally interchangeable, so you can experiment with swapping between them.
- These chord shapes are moveable, I’ll let you know how to do that.
With these chord shapes, you will find your blues playing way cooler and more colorful, and you will sound like the blues legends!
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Blues Guitar Chords Lesson – Using 9th Chords
Sick of boring open guitar chords, shuffle licks and barre chords when you’re playing blues rhythm guitar? Let me show you some easy blues guitar chords and tricks which can transform your blues rhythm guitar and get you sounding super cool every time you play a blues.
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:49 This lesson uses a 12 bar blues in the key of A as an example. Here you’ll see this demonstrated using basic dominant 7th chords – A7,D7 and E7. I also break up the 12 bar blues chord sequence so you can learn the correct form.
1:55 How to play the A7, D7 and E7 chord shapes I used in the demonstration. These are powerful but simple blues guitar chords which often sound better than open chords or barre chords. Complete with description and fingering guidelines.
3:30 Why it’s good to have a few other blues guitar chords to use as well as the basic 7th chords.
3:55 How to play the A7 chord riff I use for extra colour and interest. You need to barre the D,G and B string with your 1st finger at 5th fret and hammer on your 2nd finger at 6th fret on the G string.
5:50 D9 and E9 are chord substitutes for D7 and E7.They are totally interchangeable so experiment with swapping between them.
6:48 How to play the D9 and E9 chord shapes on guitar. Fingerings and playing tips included.
8:15 These chord shapes are moveable. Use the root notes on the E and A strings to figure out where to move them to to get G9, B9 etc.
9:14 Here I put the A7 riff, D9 and E9 together into a complete 12 bar blues to show you what it sounds like. Find a 12 bar blues backing track in A and try it out.
10:15 Summary of chord substitutions and how to combine these various chords.
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Jimi Hendrix Blues Licks
Easy Blues Licks from Jimi Hendrix
I’m sure you will agree with me that Jimi Hendrix is one of the best guitar players of all times. Well, today I’ll show you 3 easy blues licks taken from his playing. Learn 3 supercool minor pentatonic Jimi Hendrix blues licks and the scale shape they use.
So, let’s get into it and see what are you going to learn today
- How to play G minor pentatonic scale as used in these licks. Complete with description and fingering guidelines.
- Jimi Hendrix Blues Lick 1. we will use here a G string bend and a quick string slide at the end to make it sound more fluid. Notice how I ‘choke’ off a bend before letting it down.
- Jimi Hendrix Blues Lick 2. This Hendrix lick is using Gminor pentatonic and makes use of some blues guitar touches like semitone bends and blues curls
- Jimi Hendrix Blues Lick 3. In this lick we use a repeating string bend and some cool blues and minor pentatonic moves.
With this licks and tricks you can experiment and create some other licks, which will help you take your blues guitar playing to the next level!
Get my awesome BLUES GUITAR BUNDLE with full TAB and notation for all 3 Jimi Hendrix blues licks plus my other most popular blues lessons!
Jimi Hendrix Blues Licks Lesson
Learn 3 supercool minor pentatonic Jimi Hendrix blues licks. Learn the scale shape they use, learn how to play them and pick up loads of performance and playing tips to help you take your blues guitar playing to the next level.
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:14 Introduction. Hear me jam using some of these Jimi Hendrix blues licks over a blues backing track in the key of G.
1:30 These licks are based on some of the ideas Hendrix plays in his version of ‘Once I Had A Woman’. I’ve moved them into the key of G to make them a bit easier to learn.
1:40How to play G minor pentatonic scale as used in these licks. I’m going to explain and demonstrate the scale shape to help you get to grips with this crucially important rock and blues guitar scale. Complete with description and fingering guidelines.
3:00 Jimi Hendrix Blues Licks – Lick 1 – An essential but easy minor pentatonic blues lick which you can easily slot into your playing. Remember when bending strings to back up your bending finger with other fingers when possible. Also watch how to ‘choke’ off a bend before you let it down.
6:03 Jimi Hendrix Blues Licks – Lick 2 – This Hendrix lick is using Gminor pentatonic and makes use of some blues guitar touches like semitone bends and blues curls. Nothing too complicated here. This is a great turnaround lick which will work great at the end of a chorus of blues solo.
9:16 Jimi Hendrix Blues Licks- Lick 3 – This lick starts with a repeating string bend. I use vibrato on these bends to give it a more bluesy sound. There are some cool little blues guitar and minor pentatonic moves hiding in this lick Take the lick and start experimenting with it so you get good at using the bits of it it in your blues playing.
12:42 How to approach learning these blues licks and how to practice them so you can start making up your own licks.
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Blues Riffs
to Supercharge Your Blues Rhythm Guitar!
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Blues Riffs Rhythm Guitar Lesson
Apart from chords what can you do when you’re playing blues rhythm guitar? Want more tricks in your blues rhythm guitar trick bag? Let me show you 2 easy blues riffs which can spice up your blues rhythm guitar and get you sounding super cool every time you play a blues.
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:14 Hear me play one of the blues riffs over a 12 bar blues in the key of G.
1:07 How to play the first blues riff over a G7 chord. Complete with description and fingering guidelines. Remember that the first note in the riff (low E string note) is the root note – this means you can move the blues riff around to make it work on other chords too. Simply start on the root of the chord you want to play on and play the riff – easy!
2:36 Here’s how you can move the riff to make it work on C7 and D7, the two other chords in a 12 bar blues in the key of G. Basically all you have to do is move it across onto the A string – simple. Play it at the 3rd fret for C7 and at the 5th fret for D7.
3:49 Here I show you a 12 bar blues in G and how to apply each of these different riffs to the progression. This follows a pretty standard version of a 12 bar blues chord sequence although there are variations which you might see.
5:56 Hear the blues riffs played over a 12 bar blues backing track in the key of G.
7:01 These riffs are a useful alternative to playing chords when you’re playing rhythm guitar. If you were playing with another guitar player or a piano player who was playing chord shapes, then playing chords might muddy up the sound too much. The leaner and lighter sound of these riffs will support the chord progression without cluttering it up .
7:40 Here is the second riff. This is similar to the first one but is a little more interesting sounding, using pull offs and blues curls. Sometimes it may be better than the more basic first riff. Like the first riff it is completely moveable – here I’ll show you how to play it over G7, C7 and D7, the 3 chords making up a 12 bar blues in G.
10:37 These 2 riffs shapes are moveable. Use the root notes on the E and A strings to figure out where to move them to use them over E7, A7, B7 etc. You’ll find they’ll work on any Dominant 7 chord if you play them ath the right place on the guitar neck. Try creating some variations of your own and experiment with making them work in other music styles too such as rock and funk.
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Acoustic Blues Guitar Solo
Eric Clapton & Stevie Ray Vaughan Style
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Acoustic Blues Guitar Solo – Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan Style
Learn a cool acoustic blues guitar solo in the style of blues guitar legends Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan . Packed full of great blues licks and techniques guaranteed to boost your blues soloing power in both an acoustic blues or electric blues guitar setting!
Here’s a breakdown of what you learn in this video:
0:15 Acoustic Blues Guitar Solo – Demonstration
Here’s the blues solo over a 12 bar blues in the key of E. You’ll probably recognise some of Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray’s favourite acoustic blues licks in there!
1:18 Open Position Blues Soloing Scales
Learn the two E minor pentatonic scale shapes we’re using in this blues solo. The first pattern is played around the open and 3rd fret area and the second pattern extends up to the 5th fret area of the fingerboard. This solo uses lots of open string blues ideas coming from these patterns.
3:07 Acoustic Blues Lick 1 -This classic blues lick is using a fragment of an E7 chord -which makes perfect sense as we’re playing over an E7 chord here. You can hear Clapton play something similar to this on his ‘Before You Accuse Me’ solo on his ‘Unplugged’ album.
The lick uses this repeating idea several times before moving into a lick using the open string E minor pentatonic scale with some notes from an open E chord added in.
6:31 Acoustic Blues Lick 2. A cool little blues idea again in the style of Eric Clapton. This one uses an E blues scale pattern up around the 5th fret with a couple of added notes(see video for shape). Notice how this scale also ‘outlines’ the A7 chord we are playing over – this is why it sounds so good over the A7 chord.Also note the bluesy slides and blues urls used in this lick!
9:50 Acoustic Blues Lick 3. Check out this cool Stevie Ray Vaughan lick using the second scale shape we looked at earlier and a B7 chord shape too. As in lick 1 we’re using a repeating idea played in triplets with slides – a very authentic blues sounding trick! Notice the addition of trill using the 1st fret G string (from the open E chord shape)and the bass run leading into the B7 chord shape. Picking out the notes in the B7 chord shape is a simple but effective approach which punctuates this point in the solo nicely.
13:35 Acoustic Blues Lick 4. This open string lick is typical of both Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan’s playing. It’s using several of the devices we’ve seen elsewhere in this guitar solo. The little sliding lick here around the 3rd and 5th fret is well worth investigating!
15:13 Acoustic Blues Lick 5. Here’s a cool little blues turnaround lick in E which wraps the solo up nicely. This is a ‘classic’ turnaround idea you’ll hear lots of blues artists play. It’s making use of open strings and a descending phrase along the G string to lead us to the end.
16:24 Here are licks 3,4 and 5 joined up slowly.
16:46 Complete Solo Demonstration
Now that we’ve broken the solo up into individual blues licks, let’s put it together and listen to the whole thing one more time.
17:18 Now What? Tips For Using These Licks!
Take your favourite licks, change them, extend them, create your own variations and make sure you use them! This is a crucial part in absorbing new vocabulary into your soloing and improvising. Don’t be afraid to experiment, experiment, experiment! This is the only way we become better blues soloists. Remember to simpify the licks, slow them down – do whatever you need to in order to make them playable and useful for YOU!
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