In this weeks video podcast, I show you how to play some blues guitar licks using the minor pentatonic scale.  I also discuss this while I improvise over a backing track.  Practicing over a backing track like this is extremely important when learning blues guitar.

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To learn more about Slide Guitar and Blues Guitar please visit Learningguitarnow.com

Do you want to learn how to play like Eric Clapton, SRV, and Johnny Winter?  In this blues guitar lesson I will show you how to play the Minor Pentatonic Scale, the key ingredient used by these blues guitar legends.

So what is the pentatonic scale?

Simply put, the minor pentatonic scale is made up of 5 notes.

These 5 notes are derived directly from the major scale.  Scale degrees contained in the minor pentatonic scale are as follows.

1 b3 4 5 b7

These 5 notes sound great when you play them over any standard blues rock chord progression.  One of the best aspects of using this scale, is that every note usually sounds good when you use it.  When playing blues guitar it is usually good to also understand where the notes of the I IV V chord progression are in the scale.

For instance, if you play a blues in A, then the I IV V notes are A, D, and E.  Now you will want to find where these notes are at in the 5 positions of the minor pentatonic scale.  This will make your playing sound more melodic and it will also help your solos to flow more.

Anyone wanting to understand anything about the blues, must first start by learning the minor pentatonic scale.  It is simple the most used scale and by learning it, you will be able to understand where all those great blues guitar solos come from.

Here is the 1st pattern of the A minor pentatonic scale.

Here is a lick taken directly from that scale.  This lick has been used be countless blues guitarists including SRV, and Eric Clapton.

I am currently working on a Blues Guitar DVD all about the minor pentatonic scale.  Sign up for my video guitar lessons newsletter and I’ll notify you when the DVD comes out, and you’ll receive FREE shipping.  Also by signing up for the newsletter you will receive the 5 must-know minor pentatonic patterns.  Sign up now!

For more info on Blues guitar please visit Learningguitarnow.com

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If you want to dramatically improve your blues guitar playing, then one surefire way to do that, is to practice with a band.  You say you have no band?  Well, you’re in luck, because if you have some blues backing tracks to practice with, you can get a similar effect.

So why should you practice to these tracks?

By practicing to these backing tracks, you will develop better rhythmic and improvisational skills.  This is a must when playing blues guitar.  If you just practice by yourself, you will not be playing in time to a beat . This is why practicing to backing tracks is so important.  Simply put, you never want to sit around and play out of time.  It does you no good.  Even if you can play the fastest blues licks around, if you can’t play them to a beat, they are useless.  You need to practice to a beat, and practicing to backing tracks is the best way to do that, if you don’t have a band.

I’ve recently developed a slew of backing tracks that are fun to play with, and are in many different keys.  Playing in as many different keys is an important  thing to remember.  Different keys sound different, and the licks you know on the guitar also feel different, because of the position of the licks on the guitar neck.  You must learn many different keys!  If you’re at a jam session, there is a possibility that any key can come up.  If you  want to impress, you better know your licks in every key.  Start practicing to backing tracks, and you’ll master all the keys on the guitar.

Here is a sample blues track I created.

A Funky

I find myself practicing all the time with backing tracks, and my private students are required to improvise over them during lessons.  You will see your playing dramatically improve if you practice your scales and licks to backing tracks.  That’s the bottom line.  If you don’t do it then don’t expect your timing or improvisational skills to improve that much.  It really is that important.  So start today and watch your playing improve!

For more info about Slide Guitar, Blues Guitar, or Beginner Guitar, please visit Learning Guitar Now.

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Does your blues guitar playing suffer from a lack or soul or feeling? In today’s blues guitar lesson, I’m going to tell you how to develop a good blues guitar vibrato by practicing a few different techniques.

So why should you learn how to vibrato? Put simply, vibrato is a way to create your signature sound. Developing a good vibrato will allow you to play less notes with more feeling. Listen to some of the great blues guitar players, and you will notice that their finger vibrato is a key element of their sound. SRV, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Duane Allman, Buddy Guy, BB King and a number of other blues guitar players have trademark finger vibrato that gives them a unique sound.

So how do you develop your own vibrato style? You must practice vibrato everyday, in different ways, to learn this technique. This is how I practiced my vibrato when I was learning the guitar.

1. Vibrato with your index finger on the 5th fret on every string. Now do the same with your middle, ring, and pinky if you want to use it. A lot of blues guitar players never use their pinky, but for some things it may be good to use it for. Concentrate on feeling the note and vibrato it up and down moving your wrist in an even motion. Ideally, you want to practice on as many different frets as possible, because they are all going to feel different. The frets get smaller as you go up the neck, so how far your wrist moves will change.
2. Practice your finger vibrato to some blues music at different tempos. Your vibrato will change due to the tempo of a song. When you vibrato make sure your shaking motion is in time with the song. A slower song will need a a slower vibrato, as a fast song will need a faster vibrato. Practice different tempos everyday and your vibrato will see much improvement.

Vibrato is just as important as learning scales. You will separate yourself from everyone else by developing your own unique vibrato style. It will take time, so don’t get frustrated. It will get there. There is no magical potion to drink to develop your vibrato overnight. You will have to practice. OH NO!

In the next blues guitar lesson, I will take about bend vibrato, which is a whole other animal in itself. Until then keep practicing!

For more Information on learning blues guitar please visit www.learningguitarnow.com

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Do you want to spice up your blues guitar playing? in this blues guitar lesson, I will give you my top 5 blues guitar tips that will take your playing from novice to pro, if these techniques are applied.

By learning and applying just a few simple techniques, you can achieve the blues guitar prowess that you’ve been striving for.

When trying out these tips, make sure and practice them everyday to get the best results. If you can’t practice them everyday, at least practice them 4 days a week. In about a month you will see a drastic improvement in your playing.

My top 5 Blues Guitar Tips

1. Start using your fingers. Many cool blues guitar licks are played with your fingers. The classic Albert King, SRV licks found in “The Sky is Crying”, are just one example of how to incorporate this technique into your blues guitar playing.
2. Practice scales in the swing 8ths. This rhythm is commonly found in blues, and when practiced regularly, you will get a better feeling of the blues is supposed to sound. If you don’t know what swing 8th are listen to my Podcast on the Blues for April 28th, and you can hear examples of this rhythm.
3. Learn intervals. This could be the single most important thing to learn when playing blues guitar, or any guitar for that matter. Intervals are simply the distance from one note to another. By memorizing that these different distances sound like, you will start playing with sounds, instead of box patterns. In my DVD, Slide guitar Method 2 The Major Scale, I explain in detail how to learn intervals and incorporate them into your slide guitar playing.
4. Practice to Backing tracks. This is a good way to get better all the way around. By practicing with a band, even if it’s just a recorded track on a CD, this is far better than practicing alone. Get this in your head people. Rhythm is the most important thing when playing guitar! If you don’t have any rhythm, everything you play will sound BAD! If you practice to backing tracks everyday, you will ingrain rhythm into your playing. You will now play in time every time you pick up the guitar. How many times have you heard the guy who can play anything by himself, but give him a beat and he can’t stay with it. I promise you that you will get better by practicing with a backing track. That is why I include backing tracks with all of my Slide Guitar DVDs and Blues Guitar Lesson Downloads.
5. Memorize the 12 Bar Blues Progression. Sounds simple but everyday I have people come in for lessons that do not know the 12 bar blues progression. It really is a “must know” if you ever want to really get good. Learn this TODAY IF YOU WANT TO EVER GET BETTER AT PLAYING THE BLUES. IT IS THAT SIMPLE. IF YOU DON’T YOU WILL NEVER GET ANY BETTER!

Sorry to yell, but I gotta tell you how important this is. It really will benefit you more than anything else will if you’re serious about playing the blues.

Well that’s it people, there are my top 5 Blues guitar tips when learning how to play blues guitar. Learn them or else! Just kidding. Just visit the crossroads and you’ll be playing like Mr. Johnson in no time!

For more information about blues guitar, slide guitar, and beginner guitar please visit my website at www.LearningGuitarNow.com

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Let’s face it everybody wants to play guitar. With the popularity of Guitar Hero, even more youngsters are picking up and learning how to play the greatest instrument of all time. That’s right, I said the guitar is “The Greatest Instrument of All Time!” Don’t even try to disagree.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s talk about my favorite albums for learning how to play blues, rock and slide guitar. Of course there are many on my list but there can only be 5. I challenge all readers to submit their 5 favorite guitar albums and see where we disagree or agree.

Ok here we go. in no particular order these 5 are seen as equal to me, but at the end I’ll name my favorite guitar album of all time!

1. Pink Floyd “Dark Side of the Moon” You know it, you love it and if you haven’t heard this album, man you are missing out. Beginners can benefit from all the basic chords in such songs as “Brain Damage/Eclipse”, while the blues guys can learn a thing or two about melodic leads from “Time”. I listened to this CD over and over for about 2 years while in college, and it is just fantastic. Get it, learn it, enough said.
2. Jimi Hendrix “Are you Experienced” What can I say it’s Jimi. There are so many cool songs and styles on this debut album that if you don’t learn the whole album, you really don’t know how to play guitar. Yes it’s that good, and yes you will learn it. From the fuzzed out solos of “Foxey Lady”, to the clean R&B scrapings of “The Wind Cries Mary”, no one should be without this album. He really is the greatest guitarist ever. Don’t even try to deny it!
3. Steve Ray Vaughan “Texas Flood” The debut album from the King of the Texas Blues. Listening to this album is like listening to pure perfection of the blues guitar style. I don’t think anyone has been so influential of the blues genre in recent history. The title track does it all, a barrage of notes coming at you like a texas flood. This album feels the blues and the guitar playing is nothing less than legendary. “Pride and Joy” has been covered by more bar bands than I care to mention. All hail SRV. It’s also a fact that this album was recorded live, with only one overdub, in a couple of days. The only reason for the overdub is because SRV happened to break a string!
4. Allman Brothers “Live at the Fillmore East” You’ve already heard my affection for this album, but I’ll say it again, This is the best live album ever recorded period. Bill Graham, Tom Dowd, what else do you need to know. Standouts include, “Whipping Post” perhaps one of the greatest jams ever recorded! It blends jazz, blues, and rock like no other song before it. Their use of the Dorian scale recalls their love of John Coltrane and Miles Davis. This is a must have. Get it and revel in the masterful sounds that come out of your speakers, or ipod buds these days.
5. Led Zeppelin “Led Zeppelin II” No list could be complete without getting the Led out! Responsible for all rock music as we know it. The Gods of Rock release this monumental album in 1969. Every song on this CD is the stuff only legends are made of. From the crushing solos and power chords of “Heartbreaker”, to the Acoustic strummings of “Thank You”, there is something for all rock lovers. The riff to “Whole Lotta Love” Inspired a whole generation of rockers, while the funky bass, and bluesy guitar solos of “The Lemon Song” proved they were a band that knew how to groove. Buy this album if you truly want ot rock. Without it you are stuck in Kenny G. land!

So there you have it folks, my unofficial top five guitar albums of all time. Let me know you’re top 5. I love to see other people’s opinions. Oh yeah, if you wanna hear my number one, you’re gonna have to listen to the upcoming podcast. Subscribe here

For more info on guitar playing check out my website, and for slide guitar players check out the DVD.

Technorati Tags: Learning how to play guitar, learn blues, top 5 guitar albums

Do you want to take your blues guitar licks to the next level? Are you tired of playing nonstop scale type blues licks? If you said yes, then this blues guitar lesson is for you.

So how do you start playing vocal-like blues guitar, that makes your audience stand up and listen, and keep them wanting more?

It starts by learning vocal licks on the guitar. You may say this will not help me to impress anyone with simple melodies, but YOU are wrong. All those flying speed licks you are playing don’t mean a thing if you can’t communicate a melody to a listener. The fastest licks in the world won’t mean a thing unless it is setup properly and executed in a manner in which it sounds good in context of the song.

Listen to any great guitar player, and listen to their melodies. They all have excellent rhythm, phrasing, and melodies within their chaotic solos.

SRV, Steve Vai, Van Halen, Derek Trucks, Warren Haynes, Eric Clapton, Dimebag Darrell, Tom Morello, John Frusciante, and all your favorite guitar players play vocal-like guitar licks as solos, and guitar parts.

To start playing vocal-like guitar licks, listen to the greatest vocal melodies of all time. This would be the melodies of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Beethoven, Ben E. King, Chopin, Ray Charles, and there’s so many more. By learning the vocals by these and many other artists, you will learn to think in a different way. Singers naturally phrase different than guitar players, and their vocals make for some tasty guitar licks. Don’t miss out on these awesome guitar licks. They will set you apart from your average guitar players. And you don’t want to be average do you?

Make a commitment today to learn 1 vocal melody a week, and in the next year you will have 52 melodies that shaped the world of music at your fingertips! This is powerful stuff that WILL make you stand out from the pack.

For more info about playing guitar visit my website.  

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Who did Stevie Ray Vaughan pattern his playing after? Well there were many, but one in particular stands out,  Albert King. Albert King played a ferocious style that relied on three things.

1. Bending
2. Vibrato
3. Phrasing

He used these 3 techniques to play an entire solo in just one position. Here’s the “Albert King” position that every guitarist BETTER know when learning blues guitar.

The 10th fret on the B string is the Key you’re in. In this case it is A. This postition will allow you to play the most used blues licks in history. SRV used this type of blues lick in “The Sky is Crying”. These are must know licks when learning blues guitar. Play them with conviction and authority. Here’s a lick that can be heard being used by all of your favorite guitarists.

You’ll hear this in many blues tunes.  Study the phrasing, vibrato, and bending techniques of different guitarists who use this lick.  Keep learning new blues guitar licks, and pretty soon you’ll be the top dog in town.

Technorati Tags: learning blues guitar, blues guitar lesson,   blues guitar licks, albert king licks

Is slide guitar something you’ve trying to play? If so, then you’re probably trying to figure out how to play like Duane Allman. Duane Allman was one of the key innovators of electric slide guitar in Open E tuning. Let’s take a look at a common lick he used in songs such as ” Statesboro Blues”.

This is a similar lick to the intro of Statesboro Blues. A key element of this lick is to slide backwards to the 5 note of the lick, which is the 12th fret of the E string. Sliding from a note above, to the 12th fret, creates a uniques sound that is signature Duane Allman. Pick anynote around the 14th or 15th fret and slide backwards to the 12th fret. Practice this slide guitar lick until it becomes second nature. Learning slide guitar becomes much easier when specific techniques are practiced everyday.

In the next slide guitar lesson, I’ll talk about Duane’s use of repetitive licks to build excitement. Until next time.

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So you want to start learning slide guitar, and you’ve got your guitar tuned to Open E. You probably asking, “Now what?” Well that is a good question.

One of the first things you need to do is learn the Minor Pentatonic scale in this tuning. It looks like this in the key of Am.

See how it differs from the pentatonic scale in standard tuning? Now for slide, these patterns may be hard to play so consider this option.

This pattern is better for slide because of the symmetry of the patterns. Try some licks using both patterns and see which is easier. When learning slide guitar after coming from standard tuning, it’s ofter a matter of rethinking familiar patterns, to come up with better ways of playing these slide guitar licks.

See you next time, and happy slidin!

Technorati Tags: learning slide guitar, slide guitar licks, slide guitar lesson, slide guitar