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Join me as I take a look into some practical tips and advice about mastering blues guitar. We’ll be analysing what the fundamentals of blues are as well as the importance of improvisation, and the benefits of rehearsing with guitar backing tracks.

Blues guitar is one of the most artistically expressive forms of guitar that exists today. Not many guitarists know this but the blues is the foundation for a variety of different genres that are extremely popular today, including rock, hard rock, metal, and even some hip hop music. There is a lot involved in completely masting blues guitar playing, and it takes a lot of time and dedication to be able to pull it off.

In order to be able to master blues guitar you have to be very familiar with the basic principle of blues music itself. Blues music is one of the only styles of music to actually have a scale named after it. Learning and dominating the blues scale is one of the first key steps to completely mastering blues guitar playing. The blues scale is used in more than blues music. There is a lot of rock music that uses this scale too. So whether you plan on being a blues guitarist or not, this scale is definitely very beneficial to learn and master.

So What Is The 12 Bar Blues?

The 12-bar blues progression is the main underpinning of the vast majority of blues tunes out there. In order to start playing blues, you will want to know what a 12-bar blues progression is.

The basic concept of the 12-bar blues is the I-IV-V progression, where I, IV and V represent the chords or notes that you will be using. To this, you will undoubtedly have two questions, “what is I-IV-V,” and how do I use it?”

Let me explain what I-IV-V is all about When you play a blues progression, you will only be required to use 3 chords. The main principle of I-IV-V let you know what are the chords to use, as follows: a slightly oversimplified approach, which happens to work for the keys of A,C,D,E and G, which is enough for right now, is to simply count out the letters of the alphabet starting with the key you’re playing in. The first, fourth and fifth letter you count represent the chords that you will be using in your blues progression.

For the key of A we count: A-b-c-D-E-f-g

Thus, for the key of A, we will be using A-D-E as our I-IV-V progression. Similarly if you count out starting with E, you will find that for the key of E we will use E-A-B as our I-IV-V.

Music theory students refer to the I as the “tonic”, the IV as the “subdominant”, and the V as the “dominant”. I will not use these terms in this lesson, but knowing that may help you understand what other people are talking about sometimes.

Chords and Progressions

Another key element to blues is to learn the chords and chord progressions that are commonly used in blues guitar. Learning these will help you to create your own blues progressions and melodies. It’s important to remember that not all blues music is played at fast speeds. Some blues music is played slowly and soulfully. It’s as if you can see inside of the guitarist’s soul as he tells a story with his music. Accuracy is the foundation of playing solid, soul-bearing blues music, and not just raw speed.

An integral part of playing and mastering blues guitar playing is learning how to improvise. After you master the scales and chords, it’s time to put them into practice. Improvising is where your creativeness and knowledge come together to create passionate blues music. There are a variety of different improvisation methods that you should practice along with learning your chords and scales.

One of the best ways to fully master blues music is to practice with guitar backing tracks. These backing tracks can improve the productivity of your practice time immensely. It’s like practicing with an entire blues band, which will help you develop your improvisation as you put to use your knowledge and solo over the backing tracks. These will produce good, solid structure and timing as you learn to play along with other musicians, and learn to play over key changes. Guitar backing tracks are the secret to success in mastering blues guitar.

Tags: Music by Zack R.
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When you have a big hand, and you check, call, or bet small, you are slow playing your hand. This tactic sometimes pays off big. Generally, this is a dangerous and foolish play that can cost you chips.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t times when this move can be the right play. The problems arise when you do this move at the wrong time. Let’s look at what can happen.

You’re at the beginning of a big tournament. So, the blinds are small and everyone has plenty of chips. You are dealt AA in early position. You decide to minimum raise, to hide the strength of your hand. Two players make the call. The flop comes A 10 6.

You now bet the minimum, hoping to keep someone interested. You get one call. The turn is a 9. You bet the minimum, again hoping he thinks you’re weak.

Now, you get what you think you’re looking for. He throws in a big fat raise. You call, and the river brings an innocent 2. Now, your thinking, how much can I bet and get a call. You bet that amount and hope he calls. To your surprise he goes all in.

You’re a little stunned, but obviously make the call. When he shows his 7 8, making the nut straight, you can’t believe your eyes. You flopped a set of aces and wound up losing to 7 8.

When you bet small pre flop, you let people in. When you bet small on the flop, you kept them around. When he pushes all in, you have to call, and you’re done.

Were you a victim of bad luck? Or was it bad play? I think you already know the answer.

All the bets you made were designed to keep players in the hand. By doing so you helped someone hit a long shot. When you call at the end you plan on seeing two pair, or a smaller set. But, when you think about it, these hands would be calling big bets too. You didn’t need to slow play against these hand that you’d beat.

When you lose a hand this way you should understand why it’s a bad play. You never make that many chips. Then once in a while, you bust yourself out of the tournament.

I think we all learn this lesson the hard way, by losing a few hands this way. I’m not saying never slow play, but most of the time it won’t make you more chips. In addition, sometimes you’ll get burned, bad.

Tags: Games by Robert Eagle
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When it comes to choosing the right guitar for you, the most important point to keep in mind is what kind of music are you looking at playing?

Rock or Blues Guitar Music

If you are looking at playing rock or blues music, the best guitar to go for is an Electric guitar. The key here is to start small and grow big. I have seen so many people go out and buy the most expensive equipment before they can play anything. You may have your heart set on getting big names like a new Gibson Les Paul or a Fender Stratocaster, but the prices are pretty steep.

When choosing your first electric guitar, the best thing to go for is a copy of an original i.e. Plywood. The sound between an original Solid Wood compare to Plywood is a lot better, however plywood is much cheaper. My suggestion is to go for small brands like Legend, Onyx or Orion for now. Once you have mastered the basics, then it is the time to upgrade.

Second hand guitars are another option to go for. There are some great deals going in the local papers. When looking for a guitar, make sure you plug it in and try it out. Grab the strap if need be and put the guitar around your neck. Get every possible bit of information you can before making a decision.

Tips: Keep in mind that when you go for an electric guitar, you will also need an amplifier. There are some great deals going whereby you can choose guitar, amplifier and lead in one package. One final tip is when choosing your guitar; REMEMBER to plug it into an amplifier similar to what you are buying. There is no use testing your guitar through the most expensive amplifier in the shop. It will not sound the same when you play through your own amplifier at home. Choosing the right amplifier is important; therefore it is covered in the next lesson.

Classical Acoustic Music.

The best guitar to go for if you are looking at playing Classic Acoustic music is either Spanish Classic Acoustic Guitar or Steel String Acoustic.

Spanish Classic Acoustic Guitars are extremely light and having nylon strings which are very soft on your fingers. They come in a range of different sizes even very small size for young kids. Spanish Classic Acoustic guitars are also a lot cheaper and easier to maintain than Steel String Acoustic Guitar.

Steel String Acoustic Guitars are a little more expensive compare to Spanish guitars. Again, with acoustic guitars, there is no need to go for big brands when you are first starting out. The most important thing is that you feel comfortable playing it. Also, make sure your fingers fit around the guitar neck and it is not too big for you to play. It depends on you as to whether you want to pickups or not. But remember to test it first before you buy.

There are many possibilities when comes to choosing a guitar. Whether you decide to choose an electric or an acoustic, the fundamentals are the same.

Ask yourself. What style of music are you looking at playing? Classical Acoustic music or Rock music? How keen are you when comes to playing the guitar? How serious are you? What is your budget? Are you looking at getting the best equipment from the beginning or looking at starting small and then upgrading gradually? It is a little difficult to tell at this stage, so your best bet is to keep expenses low and your music education high. Choose a guitar that fits you, suits you, and makes you look good!

Tags: Music by Eugene Walker
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