With the new year you’re bound to get the inevitable New Year’s Resolutions… and there ain’t nothing wrong with some new resolve, but they stick better when you know how to make them happen.<\/p>\n
On the Blues Guitar Unleashed<\/a> Member Forum there is a thread with everybody’s goal for 2015… and I suspect those goals are probably about the same for you (after all, we all play guitar right?)<\/p>\n So let’s cover 5 ways you can play better in 2015 utilizing materials you might already have… but we’ll call it the problem solving approach.<\/p>\n 1. Learn 3 songs to be able to lead at the local jam.<\/strong> In this case, last year’s resolution was to even get up at a jam this year which was achieved (always a good thing.)<\/p>\n In order to make that happen you’re basically going to have to pull together a lot of things. You should have many blues rhythms under your belt, and be able to comfortably play some solos (I’d start with the 5 Easy Blues Solos<\/a>) and you might want to spend some time really studying how songs are put together with something like Blues Gig In A Box<\/a>… but only if you’ve got the first 13 lessons of Blues Guitar Unleashed<\/a> down pretty well so you have those rhythms.<\/p>\n 2. Start using more major blues and mixing it with the minor blues.<\/strong> Assuming you’re already pretty comfortable at soloing and can play the solos in Blues Guitar Unleashed to at least some degree… this is actually a good time for a course called The Slow Blues Supplement<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are exercises in all 5 fretboard regions (we often call them boxes, but when you mix sounds you’ll see that doesn’t make a lot of sense.) By the time you’re done you’ll be able to comfortably move between the major and minor blues sounds better than about 95% of the blues players on the planet.<\/p>\n 3. Improving at slide guitar (this one’s mine, actually \ud83d\ude42<\/strong> But if you don’t play slide at all you might want to check out the Introduction To Slide<\/a> where I’ll show you the technique to play slide and go through a 24 bar solo in the “4 note solo” style. It’s perfect for getting started.<\/p>\n 4. Get out and play at an open blues jam.<\/strong> This one is my personal favorite simply because it’s just so darn much fun. There have been more than a few people who have told me over the years that they never had any desire to get up and play with a band but once they did it the first time they had the bug and were totally hooked on it.<\/p>\n Best way to make it happen? If you’re a beginner go through Beginning Blues Guitar<\/a> first, and realize that may be a lofty goal but it could be done this year towards the end.<\/p>\n But assuming you can already play a little you need some common blues rhythms<\/a> and you need to be able to play some solos<\/a> that aren’t too challenging so you can do them when you’re scared to death (it’s ok… it’s a good scared.) And if you’re sure it’s going to be a shuffle blues the 4 note solo<\/a> is perfect for that (and if you slow it down it sounds great over a slow blues.)<\/p>\n That scenario is really what Blues Guitar Unleashed<\/a> is all about. If you have it and haven’t gotten started – well what are you waiting for?<\/p>\n 5. To play better today than yesterday.<\/strong> Daily commitment is important, but it’s easy to lose your place and not realize that you’ve come a long way. When you hear yourself every day sometimes you don’t hear the improvement.<\/p>\n Recording yourself (also a big goal this year) is a HUGE help and while I don’t have any specific materials to help with that (it changes every week it seems) your forum brothers and sisters have a TON of info and help available. Record yourself today and listen back in a month… you’ll hear the improvement even if you don’t hear it today from yesterday.<\/p>\n A lot of people also do well with my Practice Generator & Tracking Tool<\/a> that can really help with putting together a schedule and tracking your progress (hence the name… I’m not real clever with stuff like that.) And even if that’s not your thing, I have some practicing tips<\/a> that you can use in this video<\/a>.<\/p>\n And finally, learn the difference between practice and play. 20 minutes of focused practice will do wonders on a daily basis even if you play for 2 hours. You don’t need to practice for 2 hours and most people can’t focus that long anyway (myself included.)<\/p>\n Oh… and don’t do it alone. For all the wonderful things you can study from out there, it still takes a guiding hand once in a while and there are SO many people available (including me) to help you on the forum. It’s available to all of premium members but still there are many of you out there who choose to go it alone.<\/p>\n