{"id":6910,"date":"2016-06-19T22:42:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-20T05:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/?p=6910"},"modified":"2016-06-19T22:42:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T05:42:11","slug":"learning-a-blues-tune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/learning-a-blues-tune\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning A Blues Tune"},"content":{"rendered":"

First… notice that this article is “Learning A Blues Tune,” (singular, as in not tunes.)\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Why? Because (we) guitar players have a habit of\u00a0trying to learn a LOT of things at once.<\/em><\/p>\n

And the first step in learning to play the blues better, is to focus on 1 thing at a time.<\/em><\/p>\n

But I’m already digressing so let’s bring it in to focus a little:<\/em><\/p>\n

How To Learn How To Play Blues Songs…<\/h2>\n

Step 1: Pick 1 Song<\/h3>\n

It’s always better to focus on 1 song… not 10. Yes, it’s great to have a list of songs you want to learn, but let’s tackle them 1 at a time.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of common blues tunes that you might want to start with:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The Thrill Is Gone<\/li>\n
  2. I’m Tore Down<\/li>\n
  3. Stormy Monday<\/li>\n
  4. Sweet Home Chicago<\/li>\n
  5. Key To The Highway<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    and of course… there are a LOT more. If you need some ideas on where to start just mention that in the comments after this article and we can help with that \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

    Step 2: Listen…<\/h3>\n

    This is one of those times when the old way is just better. Back in the day (before the internet) we listened to a song or an album over and over again because there was no other access to music.<\/p>\n

    You couldn’t just go on YouTube and hear something new. There was no Spotify, or iTunes, or Pandora to give us mountains of new music all the time.<\/p>\n

    Now, don’t get me wrong, those services and that access is awesome… but you have to use them well.<\/p>\n

    You do that by choosing a song, and then listening to that song as much as you can stand. In many cases there will be several recordings of the same song – choose your favorites and listen to them over and over.<\/p>\n

    Turn them on in the car, when you workout, when you do the dishes… get to the point where you can hum right along with every last minute detail of the song.<\/p>\n

    And again, choose the recording you are going to try and emulate – that’s where you’ll want to start.<\/p>\n

    Step 3: The Groove<\/h3>\n

    To begin with, don’t worry about any fancy intros or leads or fancy licks – just get the groove and the chords.<\/p>\n

    This is where blues helps us because most songs are a 12 bar blues<\/a> and we can rely on that. Listen for the type of groove and the changes.<\/p>\n

    It might be something like The Tore Down<\/a> groove where it’s a common idea. The more riffs and grooves like that you learn, the easier you’ll simply recognize them in songs when you hear them.<\/p>\n

    Which brings up an interesting point – it’s way<\/strong> <\/em>easier to learn a dozen grooves (like you find in Blues Guitar Unleashed, for example) and apply those to songs than it is to learn a dozen songs and try to dissect those songs into their parts.<\/p>\n

    Step 4: Add The Parts<\/h3>\n

    Once you have the general groove of the song, it’s a lot easier to add an intro and any sort of ending that might appear on the original recording.<\/p>\n

    If you can’t currently play the intro as it is on the recording, you might have to adapt it. That process of adapting pieces to make them so you can play them will usually do more for your playing than actually being able to play the real intro itself!<\/p>\n

    Step 5: Calculate The Solo<\/h3>\n

    Before you try to learn the solo from the recording (if that’s your intention) try and use your brain first. What key is it in? Do you hear mostly standard type licks or do you hear something jazzy or do you hear mixtures of major and minor sounds?<\/p>\n

    Is it in time in general? Is there space between the licks? do you recognize any of the licks compared to licks you already know?<\/p>\n

    Make some educated guesses about how you think the solo would go. Whether or not you’re right doesn’t matter… it’s trying and gaining the experience that makes the difference.<\/p>\n

    Step 6: Play!<\/h3>\n

    Play along with the original recording or a jam track you found or whatever you have – if all you have is a metronome or a drum machine then use it.<\/p>\n

    Try playing the song as much as you possibly can. Play the parts you know, and add in variations or new things as you learn them. Remember that it’s a work in progress and it might take a few weeks to learn the song. Don’t worry because as your experience and repertoire grows you’ll get faster and faster at learning the songs.<\/p>\n

    Also remember that the more you study different licks and grooves and the pieces of the blues, the faster and easier you can recognize those pieces when you hear them in recordings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    First… notice that this article is “Learning A Blues Tune,” (singular, as in not tunes.)\u00a0 Why? Because (we) guitar players have a habit of\u00a0trying to learn a LOT of things at once. And the first step in learning to play the blues better, is to focus on 1 thing at a time. But I’m already […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6911,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6910\/revisions\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluesguitarunleashed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}