What To Expect From A Blues Guitar Lesson

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By: Mike Hammil

A lot of the old time players will tell you that there is no such thing as a blues guitar lesson and that you have to learn it all on your own from the pits of your soul. That is a little extreme and although playing blues guitar is a lot about feel there are some techniques you can learn at a blues guitar lesson that will make you a better player and help you to get your message out to people when you try and play. Trying to play blues guitar without some sort of blues guitar lesson is like trying to paint a picture without knowing any technique. You may wind up with something on the canvas but it sure isn't going to look like the picture you had in your mind. That is what blues guitar is all about, getting the pictures and sounds from inside your head out in music form and with a blues guitar lesson or two you can learn to do that pretty quickly. One of the first things you would learn in a blues guitar lesson is what is commonly called the blues box on the fret board. The fret board is where your fingers go on the guitar to make the notes and the blues box is a set of notes that can be played together over various chord progressions to make a solo and to have it match what chords are being played. The concept behind a blues box is very simple but learning to use it and developing the ear necessary to change and alter the box to fit the song is something that takes years of practice. Once you get it right you can start to really get your point out there and when you feel that music flowing through you and you want to get it out you have a much better chance of getting the notes in your head out through your fingers once you learn how to play what you want. Just Sliding Around Another level of the blues guitar lesson may teach you how to use the slide on a standard guitar. A slide is a tube of metal or glass that you put on your finger and slide it on the fret board to make a whole different kind of sound. Some blues players use a slide and some do not but every blues player has probably tried to use a slide at one point or another in their lives. It is a natural thing for a blues player to pick up a slide, or use the neck of a glass bottle, and just start making all kinds of interesting sounds. It takes a long time to learn how to use it so be ready to practice. That is pretty much what you can expect from any blues guitar lesson you may take. There will not be a lot of technique taught because blues technique is something you develop yourself over time. If you can pour your whole soul into a song and your whole being into playing the guitar then you would love playing blues guitar.