Blues guitar is a very popular style that many guitar beginners want to learn to play. The blues is fun, sounds great and gives plenty of opportunity to express your creativity. But just what do you need to learn to play blues guitar? In this post we’ll answer that question as we take a look at the different things you need to learn to become a blues guitar player.

In summary the blues guitar skills you need are:

1. Blues chords
2. Blues chord progressions
3. Blues scales
4. Blues guitar techniques
5. Blues riffs and licks
6. Turnarounds
7. Intros and endings
8. Blues rhythm styles
9. Blues songs

Now this might look like an impressive list, but don’t be put off. You don’t have to master everything in one go and you can enjoy exploring all these topics for a long time to come. To get started let’s take a brief look at these elements one by one…

1. Blues Chords

First thing on your blues guitar learning plan should be blues chords. With only a few chords you’ll be able to start playing real blues songs and they’ll provide you with a foundation you can use no matter how far you progress in your blues playing.

The blues uses chords called dominant chords, often known as 7th chords too. Dominant blues chords can be played in many ways including easy open chord positions if you’re a beginner. Later you may progress to play more exotic sounding chords such as dominant 9th, 13th and minor 7th chords.

2. Blues Chord Progressions

The blues chords you learn are put together in standard patterns – called progressions – that are the basis of blues songs. The most common progression used is the 12 bar blues and its variants. You can also learn to play blues in 8 and 16 bars as well as minor blues and maybe some jazzier progressions as you become more advanced. Good knowledge of blues chord progressions will help you easily understand and play many blues songs in different keys.

3. Blues Scales

The most commonly played scales in the blues are the pentatonic minor and pentatonic major scales as well as the blues scale, which is simply an extended pentatonic minor scale. Blues scales are used to play solos, but also come in handy to create short phrases to link chords and make the rhythm playing more interesting and fun.

4. Blues Guitar Techniques

Blues guitar uses some special techniques that are essential to creating a good blues sound with your scales. Hammer-ons and pull-offs, bends, slides and vibrato skills will ensure you deliver the blues effects of your favourite players.

You will practice these skills regularly to develop them and maintain them. Although the basic set of techniques is not very extensive they can be one of the hardest elements of blues guitar to really master. Pro players continue to work on these to hone and perfect them as they are essential to your blues sound.

5. Blues Riffs and Licks

Armed with your knowledge of the blues scales and playing techniques you can start to learn to play the licks and riffs of the blues masters, as well as make up some of your own. Licks and riffs are the building blocks of blues guitar solos and are also widely used to add spice to rhythm playing.

A good vocabulary of popular blues licks and riffs will give your sound a characteristic blues flavour familiar to blues fans everywhere. You should learn as many of these cliche licks as you can and incorporate in your playing. As you begin to understand how they are made you can have endless fun as you make up your own new and original licks and add them to the mix.

6. Turnarounds

At the end of 12 bar blues the turnaround sets up the return to the beginning of the cycle and launches another verse or solo. It’s important to understand how turnarounds work and to build yourself a library of turnaround licks to play.

7. Intros and Endings

Similar to turnaround licks there are many standard styles used to start or finish blues songs. It’s often hard to get a band started and to finish together elegantly and a good knowledge of blues intros and endings will help you fit in with other blues players in a band or jam situation. Mastery of clean intros and endings will set you apart from the crowd of wannabe players – remember first, and last, impressions count.

8. Blues Rhythm Styles

So what will your style be – Chicago, west coast, Texas, delta blues from Mississippi or Louisiana, or maybe uptown funky blues? Or maybe a little of everything?

The blues has a rich history of styles each with their own characteristic elements. You can study different regions, eras and players to learn to reproduce their styles or blend them together into your own unique “you blues” style. With so many styles there’s always something new to discover, which is part of the fun of learning to play blues guitar.

9. Blues Songs

Of course, the ultimate aim of all these blues skills is to play songs. There are numerous standards – the best known blues songs – that you should learn because they will give you a common language to share with other blues musicians. Then of course you will want to learn to play some of your own personal favourite songs and perhaps one day make up some of your own.

Blues songs are rather fluid and often appear in different forms, no two blues players play the same song in exactly the same way. So when you learn blues songs try to get yourself several different recordings and be aware of the different styles the song is played in. Then take the elements you like the most from each and play the song in your own way.

Phew, that makes for quite a lot of things to learn, let’s review what we’ve discussed.

1. Blues chords, the foundation of the blues rhythm sound
2. Blues chord progressions, put the chords together
3. Blues scales, used to create blues licks, riffs and solos
4. Blues guitar techniques, bends, hammers, slides for authentic blues phrasing
5. Blues riffs and licks, the vocabulary of blues soloing
6. Turnarounds, when it’s time to start all over and do it again
7. Intros and endings, get off to a good start and finish with style
8. Blues rhythm styles, for sound rhythm playing
9. Blues songs, put it all together and play the blues!!

Now you know what you need to go and learn if your dream is to play blues guitar. Of course, with so much to learn you can have fun exploring and discovering for a long time to come. But don’t worry if that all seems a bit daunting, you don’t need to master all of these topics in detail to get started.

Here’s a challenge for you if you want to learn. Get yourself a guitar and learn these easy beginner blues chords to get yourself started. Before you know it you’ll be hooked and working your way through this list all the way to number 9.

Here’s a blues guitar solo tip that will help you spice up your blues guitar solos with licks that use notes from the chromatic scale.

Beginner and intermediate blues guitar learners often fall into the trap of simply playing up and down the pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales are a great place to start, but your solos can soon feel stale if you are constantly walking up and down those same five notes.

Chromatic notes offer an easy way to start extending your five note vocabulary, breath some new life into your solos and get you moving around the fretboard in new ways.

Chromatic Notes to the Rescue
The chromatic scale is the scale you get when you walk one fret at a time along a guitar string for a distance of twelve frets. This scale contains all the notes available in western music, A through G plus all the flats and sharps in between. The distance of twelve frets, and twelve notes, corresponds to one octave.

You can use the notes of the chromatic scale to fill in your pentatonic scale boxes and give yourself a whole load of extra note options.

Put the Chromatic Scale Into Action
To put this scale into action start with the first pentatonic scale box. The one that starts with the root note on the sixth string. Normally you use the pentatonic notes separated by one or two frets on each string.

To use the chromatic notes simply view the pentatonic box as a set of notes four frets wide across all the strings. You can use any of the notes in that box, but note that the chromatic notes should be used only as stepping stones from one pentatonic note to another. Don’t rest on the in in between notes as they will mostly sound off key.

You can mix the chromatic notes into your licks by using them to walk fret by fret from one pentatonic note to another.

Don’t do this for every note change, moderation is the key, but mix in these one fret walking patterns into your phrases every now and then. Remember, don’t end your licks on the chromatic notes, simply pass through them to finish on a scale tone and things will sound fine.

Once you’re comfortable walking one fret at a time within the scale box you can extend this idea outside of the box. For example, start a phrase by walking up to the root note on the first string from three or four frets below.

Once you get the hang of it you’ll find this technique gives you nice dramatic effects you can use to emphasize parts of your solo. A great way to lead into a solo or a new chorus is with a long walk up the fretboard a half step at a time. Try it, it sounds great.

Good phrasing is key to developing blues guitar solos that sound good and are a hit with listeners. This post shares 5 tips I’ve found helpful to create good phrases. I hope you’ll find them useful too…

1. Keep it simple

It’s easy to spend hours… months… even years in a constant quest for fancy new tricks, scales, and licks full of notes, but what really makes the best blues phrases is simplicity.

Not that you can’t use anything special, or learn new things, but don’t ignore the basics. Learn how to choose the right note in the right context and your phrases will be effective without fancy tricks.

2. Use repetition and sequencing

If a thing’s worth saying, it’s worth saying twice. If you come up with a neat lick, repeat it. Repetition increases tension (up to a point) and helps sign post your solo for the audience.

You can sequence your lick for added effect. This simply means repeating it from a different starting note, e.g. an octave or two higher or lower.

3. Use dynamics and space

One easy way to add interest to your licks is to work the dynamics – how loud or soft you play. If you play everything at the same level then your solo will sound monotone. Just like when speaking, inject enthusiasm, fear, anger or other emotions into your licks by varying the intensity of your playing.

Remember too that nobody likes to listen to someone who talks non-stop. Leave some silent spaces in your solos.

4. Target chord tones

The best blues guitar solos capture the movementof the chords. Devise your licks to finish on the characteristic notes of each chord of the blues progression, the root, third and seventh notes are good candidates. Accentuate the chord changes by using these notes to lead into each change.

5. Use the melody

If you base your licks and solo on the melody you will often address most of the other points above. This doesn’t mean you have to simply copy the melody note for note, but weave phrases of your own with those of the melody and take melody phrases and alter them by playing with the other ideas suggested in this list.

Work on these five tips as part of your blues guitar solo practice and improve your solos. I suggest choosing one tip at a time and working on it until it becomes an integrated part of your playing. Then move on to the next and repeat the process.

Here’s a video that shows how to play a blues guitar solo with only 4 easy to play notes. Yes, less really is more sometimes. This lesson from Blues Guitar Unleashed demonstrates an entire solo played with only four notes. You might think that it must sound pretty uninspiring, but you couldn’t be further from the truth, it sounds fantastic.

The lesson is in two parts. The first video shows the solo played at normal speed so you can hear how it sounds. The second video explains how to play the solo step by step.

If you are struggling to learn to play blues guitar solos then this is a lesson for you. I spent ages learning scales and positions to create blues guitar solos. But somehow, despite learning more positions, more notes, my solos didn’t sound right, hey didn’t sound blues enough to me.

This lesson opened my eyes to the fact that it’s not about how many notes or scale boxes you can play. A great blues guitar solo can be created with only a few notes.

If this lesson helped you then you will find plenty more excellent instruction in Griff Hamlin’s Blues Guitar Unleashed course. It’s a complete blues guitar course for players with a little experience who want to learn to play blues guitar. Griff’s excellent instruction will take you from fumbling blues wannabe to rockin’ and confident blues master. You can learn more about the course, and get some more free blues instruction videos from Griff by visiting Blues Guitar Unleashed.