Hey guys! Gaby Soule here from GuitarControl.com, today we’re going to talk about easy blues guitar.
When it comes to playing the blues it is not necessary to complicate things with tons of information or technique to start playing some cool riffs and solos.
It’s all a matter of putting some chords and scales together, and you’ll be ready to start the journey. That’s not all, of course, but it is a fair starting point.
In blues guitar the rhythmic part is very important, so it’s good to start jamming over some backing tracks, or a metronome, or with another musician if it is possible, so you’ll be able to develop your sense of the beat, and everything related to timing.
When you practice your scales, even if you are just noodling, at the beginning it’s good to do it always with some kind of accompaniment in the background, so everything you do will have, or at least it will intend to have, some kind of rhythmic and not only technical sense.
Check out this video lesson on an EASY BLUES PENTATONIC LICK
The pentatonic scale is of course one of the fundamentals of the blues. Try to work on it looking for different ways of creating melodies, by combining notes in a random mode. Allow yourself to run risks when improvising, skipping some of the notes of the scale, repeating others, and don’t limit yourself to play with your fingers, or with your eyes, but try to decide with your ears what works and what doesn’t. (Sample 1)
And keep in mind that learning easy riffs may be exciting at first but then somehow they can become boring if we keep on playing them the same way over and over. So try to incorporate little phrases with the pentatonic scale in between the spaces inside the riff. By doing that you will keep it always challenging for your playing, it will still get your attention no matter how many times you play it, and you will be surprised by the infinite combinations you’ll find in a scale that looks so simple at first sight.
Keep on playing! See you soon!
Gaby
P.S If you like blues guitar, I recommend you to check our: