If you’re like most of my students, you have more than just 1 thing you’re working on…
Sure, you probably started with Blues Guitar Unleashed, or maybe 5 Easy Blues Solos… but over time as you gain some skills and knowledge it’s normal to want to branch off on little specialized tangents.
Well one of the funnest things, for me, is in putting little bits and pieces together from various lessons and actually being able to point out the sources – so that’s what today’s video is all about.
And of course if you’d like any of the courses I used in this video and you don’t already have them check out the Course Catalog to find them.
But now I’d also like to hear from you… got a particular lesson from one course that goes really well with a particular lesson from another course? Share with your fellow BGU’ers in the comments below.
41 replies to "A Little Blues Stew…"
How can we relate your lesson to song that we can have an idea to practice to? hard for me to rely on, tank you Griff good job you’re doin
Neat little lesson, but when I went to your course catalog, there is no 20 blues turnarounds available. Called the help desk and they couldn’t find it either. Just letting you know.
Thanks
I like your lessons so much because I can order the books and DVDS.
Everyone learns differently. I need the written material in your books. If I only have a DVD or download to watch-it won’t work for me.
Guess I’m from the old school.
I have a number of your courses. Then you send us these great emails so we can learn different ways to learn what you teach us.
Griff, you are the best!
Bitch’in
great lesson Griff, I know I have ran across all those before. thanks
The only thing I’ve tried to transpose so far has been Solo 2 of 5 Easy Blues Solos to another longer jam track with a different tempo. It took a little time (not much really) to get that timing right, but it sounded great. I love that solo more than any I’ve learned. It just speaks loudly to me. Having most of your courses makes it a challenge to figure out which to focus on in the allotted time I have, but it never leaves me empty, no matter which I choose. It’s been said many times, but you really are a Great Teacher. 64 was a good year for me–65 even better. I’m looking forward to 66 with you. Stay well, Peace.
How about a PDF of this entire example that we could print out?
Just a btw… How about you teach us how to fish? Like show us how to transpose a solo or song. Take for example 2nd solo in “Comfortably Numb” some great bluesy phrasing going on in that. I can get the notes, but counting it out is hard to work out.
Great teaching Teach!
You’ve really taken to heart our (your loyal students) calls for some practical guidance on how to use / get the best out of the masses of stuff in your courses and – after a couple of quite successful if a bit technical starts – here’s this really great lesson. Sure, all the stuff about the 4 qualities and how to really learn/own licks and maj/min variations and so on are all essential to constructing truly great tunes (and many thanks for all the hard work you’ve put into those, too) but this is the missing link – showing just how easy it can be to put together something that works well enough for the 99%+ of times that are real life for most of us – fooling around on our own, playing for friends and family, playing with a friend or 2, sitting in on a jam waiting to play that killer solo you’ve been practicing for ever…
I get that you make it look a lot easier than I/we will find it, but I know that will surely if slowly improve with practice.
Best Xmas present for 2016!
After griff sent out that chart to track your progress I put together a practice schedule using all of Griffs courses ….start with music theory …rythum n strumming …technique n scales…blues unleashed… 52 rythums I rotate through the lessons and I have found that really works for me now I just have add a solo course witch I will after iWork with this for a while . Thanks griff for putting out that path to follow your lessons and what works together to meet our goals .This was a great lesson ….putting it all together .now I have real understanding of good practice …I do at least one lesson from every course every day …I hear and feel the improvement and I understand better because i use music theory as a review only been doing this for 5days and I feel a big difference in my playing was trying to do what gruff just showed use in this video . Thanks griff you make it look so easy , now I have an order to use all your courses and they all fit together …now that’s cool ! Thay all work TOGETHER 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎸😎. The light has come on …and it’s great …….ill be back for one of your solo courses for sure
This is a prime example of why you are the best on-line teacher anyone could hope to find (indeed better than the face-to-face teacher I tried and dropped). You explain it well, you structure it well, you deliver at a good pace and with such enthusiasm and obvious ability. That doesn’t mean I always follow it immediately or can do it, but I do know that by watching and listening I WILL get it and improve. I started as a complete beginner when I retired at 60 having no music skills at all (apart from loving to listen to a range of music). I can now make something that can be listened to and I love playing every day, and always look forward to you gracing my inbox with something that is ALWAYS relevant.
I am still not good and have a long way to go – but you have brought me a long way already and given me confidence to keep going and learning. What a gift you have provided! Thanks for everything you do.
Nice and simple and cool/groovy at the same time. I like it Griff. Thx
Great lesson!! this is where I have had a problem linking everything together
Nice way to bring it all together. Thanks Griff. You’re the real deal.
Hey Griff,
What a cool lesson and I can see how to mix & match all the BGU courses I am doing …BGU v2 & 5 Easy Solos and 52 Rhythm & Fills. Like you have said I tend to drift to some other video lessons like How to Jam which enables me to include some of this lesson. I am now finding it very much easier to adapt quicker to these types of Mix & Match which is great. Just shows that I have most of the BGU course now and getting through them bit by bit and improving all the time. Great Courses and these video lessons highlight your courses.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2016 to you and your family.
Cheers
Michael- Sydney – Australia
I am amazed .One can become almost a complete blue player with the content of this book. However, you are talking about spending a great deal of time playing different parts. Sometimes I wonder whether or not I need to spend more time going over and over the lessons. I personally need to focus on it much more. Lots of work to do before becoming good. Thanks much.
Great lesson. Nice to see how it all comes together. Just use imagination.
Hi Griff, thanks for all you do .and so good at it as well . You and your family have a wonderful Christmas. Peace.
Griff, I think your lessons (and particularly this one) are excellent. Hope you and your family have a great Christmas.
You have done a few of these put together lessons and I have to say I find them very useful and helpful. Over the past few years, I have learnt lots of little things and sometimes I feel I get paralysis when it comes to putting things together. So keep them coming, thank you.
Thank you Griff for addressing one of my blind spots. I tend to be a paint by numbers type of guy so having you connect some of the dots for me by building a thoughtful composition is very helpful.
I’ll take a few more of these if you’re up for creating a few more variations….
What would also be helpful, and i know you’ve done this before, would be to lay one of your solos on top of this. That way we’re doing the full composition.
Thanks for the great lesson…
So now you’ve shown us how we can make an endless number of solos by breaking down the 12 bar structures of your courses. Given that I’ve got so many of them I am really going to have to find so much more time for guitar from somewhere. Only one thing for it. Retire!
Great vid clip Griff.
Hey Tater,
Kinda like Bob M.’s “Clapton Torn Down” idea aye ?
A.B.
I am waiting for the next sale to get “Blues Gig in a Box” our exchange rate here in Australia is making it more difficult to afford these things.
btw This is a comment on exchange rates and not value for money beacuase so far I have found all of Griff’s courses very good value for money.
Thanks again griff always the awesome lessons I’m trying to keep up
The analogy you’ve used in previous blogs is puzzle pieces…this is a great example of that concept. It’s very encouraging to see the lessons I’m working on in action,to see that any of these lick and rhythms can be altered just a little to fit together and create something new,or, as you put it, a pretty happening 12-bar blues, which is the whole point of all this in the first place! Thanks, Griff, for all of it.
Great lesson and love to see more like this as it triggers more creativity from what we’ve learned. Would also like to see you apply this 12 bar to a different style of blues so we can see your process.
Cheers!
Thanks for the cool ideas Griff. I look forward to the day when I can take everything I learned from you and comfortably put it all to use. (Well, maybe not EVERYTHING in one song!) Thanks again!
That was awesome! Thanks for providing some really creative ideas Griff. Looking forward to really diving into your BGU course after the first of the year.
Would love to see a similar demo working out of the ABGU course. I’ve finished it and the best I can seem to do is steal a few licks here and there and insert them into some of the tunes from that course.
Cheers Griff
I’ve worked on both courses and both have improved my playing and understanding
I have now worked on all 3 courses and it as taken my playing and understanding to a new level
You are right Griff I have also studied other material as in I’ve been learning some Peter Green I wanted to improve my vibrato on bends at the moment I’m working on Blues gig in a box 2 which like this video puts it altogether but with a band behind you
Wishing all BGU members a happy new year 😎🎶
Ps I like the D7 baby chord 😉
Great stuff Griff. I was at a jam this week and found myself doing a fill then a Stormy Slide and I thought to myself, “hey I know where that came from”!
I have a much easier time putting them together in real time (while playing) than I do sitting down and figuring out which things, that I’ve learned from you will work, and where.
One of your courses walks us through picking pieces from different solos and it sounded great… until I tried to pick pieces from courses on my own, and I could never figure out why mys “bits and pieces” didn’t sound as good as yours did.
Perfect training for song creation in a blues format, using what we may have already
learned very useful. Your the best griff.
I like this one quite a bit. And that turn around is pretty much from Bob Murnahan’s Tore Down first lesson, if I’m not mistaken. This is really good stuff. Thanks!
Perfect; I am a blues beginner; just completed lesson 4 BGU and this gives me some great application. Thanks
This is a okay lesson thanks for the input on a variation . I like the stormy thang I have already explored that feel a bit . going to try that feel again but use all the moves just to hear what it sounds like . Using the same note as the first cord is important but to finish with the same is also important no?. maybe a diffrent octive yes?
Interesting concept to pull ideas from various sources to create something new. Got the wheels turning for me with this one. Application of the concepts is the key to owning them. Great Job. By the way never new you had a 20 lead turnaround course, Is it new?
This is it! What you’ve covered in this video is what I am struggling with. And that is, putting all the bits and pieces I’ve learned into something that sounds good. Yes, this has been an eyeopener. Thanks for the great lesson!
Great lesson and an eyeopener to many possibilities