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Lyle Ronglien >> Blues Guitar for Beginners >>


Blues Guitar For Beginners

Lesson 7



Lyle:
The scale used the most in Blues is the Minor Blues scale:



Lyle: You'll be working in the key of G against this 12 bar 1 - 4 - 5 progression:

chord chart




Lyle: Bending notes for the Blues Beginner can be tricky. Here are the cool notes you can bend inside the G minor blues scale:






Lyle: To help you practice bending notes, first play a "target tone", then bend to it:





Lyle: You don't use the tip of your finger to bend a note, you use more of the flat part of it.

Lyle: Blues solo riffs use lots of bends and vibrato.

JohnG: I have a hard time with vibrato

Lyle: Wiggle that string slow and fast to create a smooth vibrato.

JohnG: Is vibrato developed with a finger motion or a hand/wrist motion?

Lyle: Either way.

Lyle: The solo in the lesson sample was is made from 6 little blues riffs made from the Gm Blues scale.

Lyle: You can play your guitar with a clean sound or overdrive sound.

Lyle: Watch the video clips to see my hand make the vibratos.

Lyle: Here's riff 1:





JohnG: I notice that you create bends in that example by both "pulling" and "pushing" the string.

Lyle: Notice there are two different bends in riff 1, a whole step (2 frets) and a 1/4 step bend (slight).

Lyle: Some strings you can both push and pull the string when bending. The 1st and 2nd strings can only be pushed up towards you.

Lyle: Here's a few variations of riff 1:





JohnG: This may be a dumb question, but apart from the strings where it can only go one way, how do you know which way is the best way to bend?

Lyle: Which ever way works for you.

slinger: Hard to make a full bend on an acoustic. ouch!

Lyle: Now try playing riff 1 against the jam track. Keep playing it over and over through the whole jam track. Try using the alternates too. Here's a video example:



Lyle: Let's move on to the other riffs from the lesson sample solo. Here's your next riff:





Lyle: The third note that bends up a 1/2 step is bending to the flatted 5th, also known as the blues note within the scale.

Lyle: The next riff "walks" down and past the blues note.





Lyle: Real simple riffs, but they sound good when you add the bends and vibratos.

Lyle: Next is a variation of the last riff:





Lyle: The next riff skips the 2nd string and jumps right to the flatted 5th (3rd string, 6th fret):





Lyle: My favorite part of that riff is the slight bend (3rd string, 3rd fret).

JohnG: Yep - that quartertone bend really gives it an unmistakable blues flavor.

radica: I keep forgetting that you Can skip strings. I get so robotic in the scale.

Lyle: The last riff uses the whole scale:






Lyle: Now you're ready to put all 6 of these riffs together to make a solo just like in the lesson sample. Here you go:





Lyle: Your goal is to be able to play the whole solo with the jam track.

Lyle: First loop the TAB player and play along to the TAB. Once you have memorized it, try playing along to the looping jam track.

radica: It is a fun riff to play over the track Thanks!

Lyle: Thanks everyone for coming to the class tonight. I hope you're jamming hard on these riffs! See you at the next lesson!




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