If you’re currently not a blues guitar player, you might want to consider checking this style of music out. Playing blues guitar will really help you broaden your horizons as a musician. It Helps You Keep an Open Mind.
Playing the blues, or any genre you’re not familiar with, is great for you as a musician because it will allow you to be well-rounded. Learning different styles and techniques helps you keep an open mind and therefore grow as a player. If you’re never open to new ideas, how can you ever expect to expand your horizons? The trick is to take what you like about particular genres, and make it your own, meaning add your own style to it. Let’s say you love how blues guitarists play, but you don’t like the sound of some of the licks. Well, that doesn’t mean you should disregard the whole genre. Take your favorite parts from each style, and leave the rest. If you like how they play with feeling, try adding that to your playing.
Blues Has Its Own Techniques and Scales
The blues is famous for its feel, and for a good reason. The sound of the blues is usually enough to move people, and they feel it in their hearts. That’s why it’s such a great style to learn and practice. One central technique to help you play blues guitar better is learning how to bend with feeling. Listen to some blues tracks by famous guitarists and you’ll hear it in their playing. Aside from bending, blues also comes with several different scales, some that are modified versions of other more common scales, such as the basic major and minor scales. Learning these is great for you to build on your solos and fills.
Check out this VIDEO GUITAR LESSON ON BLUES LICKS
Blues Guitar Has Influenced Other Music Genres
Did you know that many other genres wouldn’t be around today if not for the blues? That’s right! A lot of your favorite musicians in rock and metal have taken the blues style and put a twist on it, so you can bet that even if you know nothing about blues guitar, some of your favorite guitarists have drawn from that style and incorporated it into their own, ranging from Jimi Hendrix to Iron Maiden. That all goes to show you the power and reach of the blues.
So if before reading this you never thought about playing blues guitar, we hope this helped you to change your mind. Now it’s your turn to go out and learn some blues!
If you are into blues guitar, I recommend you to check out this great course in DVD:
