Here’s how to blues guitar solo in one video…
Call it the 30,000 foot view 🙂
Obviously, there can be much more to it, but the point is that, fundamentally, it’s really simple.
As with most things, the devil is in the details, and where the real fun comes in is learning the cool licks and sounds and getting to the point where they become part of your own voice.
9 replies to "How To Blues Guitar Solo"
I think this is a great video that cuts to the core of how to improvise over “a blues.” I love jazz so the mixolydian sounded great to me over the chord progression you played and throwing in maj/min 7 and 9ths sound great to me…remember “sounding weird” to someone is essentially learned behavior. As my friend Stanley Jordan has told me several times even sequences of notes that at first sound dissonant, will start to lose that quality and sound ok if you listen enough to them.
Anyway I think the MOST helpful part of the video was the part not on how to solo correctly per se but the parts where you showed how to solo WRONG or awkwardly. I really wish you’d do another vid playing different identical licks coming in at what you consider to be the wrong timing. Then show a few places where you could come in. I think a follow-on video like this would be incredibly helpful.
Thank you for this fine video with all the salient details.
Hey Griff:
I’ve been working on boxes four and five lately and I noticed one sentence in your main “Blues Guitar Unleashed” course that really stands out. In Lesson 27 “Finishing Up the Neck”:
“For each box, once you have it memorized, play it in straight eighth notes, swing eighth notes, and triplets.”
That phrase “swing eighth notes” really stands out, because suddenly what sounded like a rote scale starts to sound a whole lot more like a solo! That can’ t be emphasized enough. With a swing feel, the scale sounds so much cooler, more fun to play, and more developable into grooves and solo phrases.
Thanks again for all your courses! I’ve bought a few.
Cheers!
Key to playing good solos is putting your guitar down and listening to blues singers. Phrasing comes from telling a story. After that, do what Grif has been preaching : get the most out of playing around the root over the 1 and 4 chords and the root of the 5 chord when the 5 comes up. In E, work the E note over the 1 and 4 and the B note over the 5. Then add other notes like a singer might. Landing on target notes was huge for me and transformed my playing. Then mix in maj /min pent licks. These are the key components I’ve learned from BGU the last few years and they really work. Thanks Grif.
Great video!! Been following you for years and have bought several courses. Always great information. Thanks Griff!
Very thoughtful video. Thank you.
Excellent video, Griff. Sometimes I let my solos get way too complicated and everything goes to hell. Thank you, I don’t need to play more stuff, just play the stuff I know better.
Griff, I’ve been a fan for years, following you and buying your packages. This one was great. Thank you! Mauro
Sssswtttt.~ I’m gonna try this again when I come down by few thousand feet!
Delicious video!
Great explanation! Thanks