Blues Guitar: Learn to Play

Course details

Blues rhythm guitar is an integral part of the blues. Essentially, it's what guitarists do between solos—which ends up being a substantial portion of any gig. It helps you find your groove with the rhythm section. In this course, follow Steve Trovato as he shows how to play blues rhythm guitar. Although the blues is a somewhat unstructured discipline that welcomes riffing and personal interpretation, the 50+ examples that Steve provides are presented in a structured, easy-to-follow manner, so it's easier for you to learn from them. Each example has a four-measure intro, or turnaround, which gives you four measures to figure out the tempo and the feel of the tune before you start playing.

Learning objectives
Tuning
The medium shuffle
Straight eighths
The blues/rock shuffle
Uptown/jump blues
Slow blues
Mambo blues
Practicing techniques such as slides, bending, vibrato, and the trill and the rake
Funky straight eighths
Blues rock

Concepts

1. Introduction

01 - Introduction
02 - Tuning

2. The Medium Shuffle

03 - Example 1 - Guitar Boogie Shuffle
04 - Example 2 - The Zipper
05 - Example 3 - Memphis Fat
06 - Example 4 - Dazzled
07 - Example 5 - The Big One
08 - Example 6 - Slippery
09 - Example 7 - The Big Bottom
10 - Example 8 - Icy Road
11 - Example 9 - The Odd Couple
12 - Example 10 - The Rumble
13 - Example 11 - Austin s Pride
14 - Example 12 - The Back Stack

3. Straight Eighths

15 - Example 1 - On the Lamb
16 - Example 2 - Lord Mr. Ford
17 - Example 3 - Short & Sweet
18 - Example 4 - The New Shoes Blues
19 - Example 5 - Too Tall Holmes
20 - Example 6 - Filthy McNasty
21 - Example 7 - Book On Outta Here
22 - Example 8 - Johnny Clear
23 - Example 9 - Sticky Figs
24 - Example 10 - Your Feet s Too Big
25 - Example 11 - Jazz Bow
26 - Example 12 - Pay the Man

4. The Blues Rock Shuffle

27 - Example 1 - Blues for Breakfast
28 - Example 2 - Revelator
29 - Example 3 - Mission Ten Eleven
30 - Example 4 - Clearly a Habit
31 - Example 5 - Slidin Around
32 - Example 6 - The Main Squeeze
33 - Example 7 - Green and Blues
34 - Example 8 - Due Props
35 - Example 9 - Zample Pample
36 - Example 10 - Rough Neck

5. Uptown Jump Blues

37 - Example 1 - Back Home Blues
38 - Example 2 - Kansas City Stomp
39 - Example 3 - The Turnpike
40 - Example 4 - Slithery
41 - Example 5 - Detroit Banger
42 - Example 6 - Floatin On Down to Cotton Town
43 - Example 7 - Swing Street
44 - Example 8 - Hoopie Do
45 - Example 9 - Big City Lights

6. Slow Blues

46 - Example 1 - When the Levy Breaks
47 - Example 2 - The Bump
48 - Example 3 - Yazoo, That s My Baby
49 - Example 4 - Closin Time
50 - Example 5 - The Stormy Monday Progression

7. Mambo Blues

51 - Example 1 - Chordy
52 - Example 2 - Double Cross
53 - Example 3 - Shreveport
54 - Example 4 - Big Fun
55 - Example 5 - Waggin
56 - Example 6 - Jazzeriffic

8. Techniques

57 - Slides, pull-offs, and hammer-ons
58 - Bending and vibrato
59 - The trill and the rake

9. Medium Shuffle

60 - Medium shuffle, solo 1
61 - Medium shuffle, solo 2
62 - Medium shuffle, solo 3
63 - Medium shuffle, complete performance

10. Funky Straight Eighths

64 - Funky straight eighths, solo 1
65 - Funky straight eighths, solo 2
66 - Funky straight eighths, solo 3
67 - Funky straight eighths, complete performance

11. Blues-Rock

68 - Blues-rock, solo 1
69 - Blues-rock, solo 2
70 - Blues-rock, solo 3
71 - Blues-rock, complete performance

12. Uptown Jump Blues

72 - Uptown jump blues, solo 1
73 - Uptown jump blues, solo 2
74 - Uptown jump blues, solo 3
75 - Uptown jump blues, complete performance

13. Slow Blues

76 - Slow blues, solo 1
77 - Slow blues, solo 2
78 - Slow blues, solo 3
79 - Slow blues, complete performance

14. Mambo Blues

80 - Mambo blues, solo 1
81 - Mambo blues, solo 2
82 - Mambo blues, solo 3
83 - Mambo blues, complete performance

Conclusion

84 - Goodbye