Wanting to play cooler blues solos is a typical request from students…
But most go about it all wrong, thinking that more notes, more patterns, and more speed, are going to solve the problem.
The “fix” is always in the simple things, rhythm and placement.
In particular, the use of syncopation can make *all* the difference, so we’ll talk a little about it here.
16 replies to "Better Blues Solos With Syncopation"
Thank you so much, you are so right on with this video. Stayed up till 3am gittin er down, thanks again and keep up the good instruction
1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and
Thanksssssss, Griff Handlin This hellppsssss a lot. Coooll.
Now I have to gettttttttt thisdown Onnn. guitar.
Yes, I’m starting this line on beat one just to be contrary Lol
You are one GREAT teacher! Thank you.
I went to a lot of trouble to post my comments avoiding beat one, and using the upbeats, and holding the letters/words like in your video, but it didn’t work in the comment. In other words staggering the words. Oh well….
Teaching how to play with feeling is probably the most difficult thing to teach. Technically using the left side of the brain to teach the right side of the brain what to do. You have taken this challenging task and made it a bit easier to understand and apply. Thank you for this.
I like the idea of being able to play good sounding leads without having to play fast. All these techniques allow a guitarist to do that. Play half notes and quarter notes along with eight notes, mixed with starting on a beat besides the One *better yet, start on an upbeat*. Playing syncopated notes (playing on the upbeat). A lick or two with some *fast* notes sprinkled in would work as well, but every lick doesn’t have to be an exercise in how many notes per beat you can play.
Right now I’m trying to figure out when/where to start and stop playing licks and how much space to leave between licks.
I was going to say that maybe this is the theme for your next course. But maybe you’ve already made a course to do this: 5 Easy Blues Solos
The best course to get better at this type of thing is probably How To Improvise. It’s all about breaking licks apart in this way. Also Blues Speed Building Blocks if you want counting practice.
Hi Griff,
I was watching yesterday’s video last night just before shutting down for the night. I kept thinking I was dozing off and missing pieces. I’ll have another look at the revised addition, pretty sure it’ll make more sense!
Thanks for your videos. I look forward to them every day!
Thank you for this video lesson which (like many others) seems so obvious when you demonstrate practical concepts to show the way. Cheers.
Thanks Griff!
Love it Man, you’re a cool dude
Hey Griff, Wonderful Video. I too often forget about this and my playing seems somewhat stale. This makes everything sound new and fresh, thanks for the reminder!
Great video. The syncopated presentation reinforced the main point!
As a pretty new player you hit exactly the problem I wax having trying to play a solo. This should help a lot. Thanks
As usual love your nuance tips, this being one of them that is especially useful. Keep this kind of stuff coming. I really want to incorporate this with playing backtracks (got a new Spark 40 practice amp that is super in terms of its app applications to support what you are sharing). Many thanks.
Great video!! A powerful simple tool. Thanks for all of your tips
Great advice Griff especially regarding the first beat. And it’s not something you could call well known! Thanks a lot.
Con