Should I get Acoustic BU?

MichaelCarlstrom

Blues Newbie
Hi I hope this question isn’t too stupid. I play electric and just got into acoustic. I have beginning blues guitar and Blues guitar unleashed. Is there any benefits to also getting Acoustic guitar unleashed? Or will what I’m learning in the other two be just fine on acoustic?
 

chemeagle

Blues Newbie
Are you new to guitar? If yes then no stick with the one course. If you want to learn acoustic then learn to play chords and songs. If not a beginner then buy away and focus on what grabs your fancy. . Squirrel!
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Beginning Blues will work fine on your acoustic, especially the later lessons on strumming.

Blues Guitar Unleashed will still be fine on acoustic for the first half on rhythm. For the lead lessons you'll probably want your electric. Those bends will be a bear on acoustic.

If you want to get more out of you acoustic you'll want Acoustic Blues Unleashed. The theory, scale and chord sections will cover the same material, but the solos are geared more to what Griff calls the "playing on the porch" style, i.e. playing by yourself.

And it has the most extensive section on timing and counting of any of Griff's courses.:sneaky:
 

MichaelCarlstrom

Blues Newbie
Thank you guys for your help. I’m technically not new but am treating myself like I’am. I started playing when I was 12 with lessons. I my early 20’s I got my left hand crushed in a machine. Had to be rebuilt and it was too weak and painful to play. I put the guitar away for years only trying occasionally. About a year and a half ago I decided I needed to give it another try. So I pulled out my guitars and started again. I had forgotten so much or have had to learn a new way of doing something to accommodate my hand. I found Griffs courses late one night last year and he’s been a constant help getting me back to what I loved. A lot has come back but I forgot a lot too. I’m chugging along still on beginning blues, though I bought BGU first. I recently bought an acoustic. Looks like I’ll be getting AGU too.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
You may want to also consider Strumming & Rhythm Mastery if you find you really like strumming chords on that acoustic at the end of BBG. It's pretty much a seamless transition from one to the other.

Adding that to the other 3, I would consider them the Big 4 and from there you could go in almost any direction you choose.
 

Jalapeno

Student Of The Blues
My $0.02

If you want to learn Delta Style blues ABGU is a very, very, good foundation and will give you some repertoire to boot. Delta as opposed to the Chicago/Memphis style of BGU.

It took me about 2 full years to complete ABGU and I found it to be the most difficult, but the most rewarding, of all Griff's courses. By contrast it only took me a bit less than a year to complete BGU and about 18 months to complete Gibson's Learn and Master Guitar program.

I still keep many ABGU songs in my repertoire, Old Mississippi Blues, Mean Ol' Woman Blues, The Saint Louis Blues, So Low You Can't Hear It, and a few others I can't think of the names of, at the moment.

Once I finished ABGU I started taking video courses from Toby Walker and Stephan Grossman. Thank god I got a good foundation in acoustic blues from Griff before I started their lessons. Solo acoustic blues is actually very difficult and even with Griff's course I struggle with the more advanced teachers.

Eric
 

Cornfield

Blues Newbie
I just got the Beginning Blues Guitar Course and I'm wondering if I should have gotten the Acoustic one instead. All of my guitars are acoustic. I usually play in folk music song circles and I'm just trying to improve my technique for porch style blues.
 

jmin

Student Of The Blues
I just got the Beginning Blues Guitar Course and I'm wondering if I should have gotten the Acoustic one instead. All of my guitars are acoustic. I usually play in folk music song circles and I'm just trying to improve my technique for porch style blues.
...not instead, ...next! I had to chime in since I’ve spent a crazy amount of hours on lesson 29 in ABGU this week.
This is my 3rd year on ABGU. I really wanted to learn how to play an acoustic - it really is different than an electric. This course has been very good - challenging, but good! Jump on it when Griff has another sale!
 

Elwood

Blues
yes to abgu for my .02c. Sounds like you are trying to reconnect with yourself and playing. I am probably a little different, to me it always comes down to one thought, one tune, if I can carry that I try to make it work with other sounds (players?). ABGU gives you that feel more directly IMO. I got the AAP recently and love it. I have had bgu and abgu for years though. Really need to finish something....
Bon Chance!!
 

Cornfield

Blues Newbie
I had written Griff and he told me that I could return the BBG materials. Many of the things he talks about are old hat, ingrained items. I know the open chords and can sometimes reasonably play a barre chord. I know how to reead music so I know a quarter note from a 1/8 rest etc. The circle of fifths is tattooed on my gray matter.
I am learning some bits from the BBG stuff though. I've been strumming away like a cowboy, I've never happily used a pick and never done much finger picking. I've decided to keep BBG and I'll pick up ABGU later. I can always pass these materials on to someone else if I tire of them.
 

Cornfield

Blues Newbie
There was a deal advertised on Facebook yesterday to get the ABGU course for $70 off and get the Acoustic Delta Blues Slide included for free. Needless to say, I jumped in and bught that package. Now I own three courses. In my musical journey, I have found it incredibly easy to buy instruments, books, CD's and DVD's. The problem is sticking my nose in and actually learning something.
 

JffKnt

Blues Newbie
The best course to get is the one you'll stick with and learn. Don't get distracted by the next shiny object you think will teach you what you need to know in 10 minutes. It doesn't really work that way.

BGU and ABGU are both excellent. And while the courses each cover some of the same material (the 5 boxes are the 5 boxes whether you play an electric or an acoustic), the style of playing is different. With ABGU you begin to use the "thump bass" style to accompany yourself, so to speak, and that is one of the main stylistic differences you'll find when you move from BGU to ABGU.
 

Stephanie-NoelDodt

Blues Newbie
Thank you guys for your help. I’m technically not new but am treating myself like I’am. I started playing when I was 12 with lessons. I my early 20’s I got my left hand crushed in a machine. Had to be rebuilt and it was too weak and painful to play. I put the guitar away for years only trying occasionally. About a year and a half ago I decided I needed to give it another try. So I pulled out my guitars and started again. I had forgotten so much or have had to learn a new way of doing something to accommodate my hand. I found Griffs courses late one night last year and he’s been a constant help getting me back to what I loved. A lot has come back but I forgot a lot too. I’m chugging along still on beginning blues, though I bought BGU first. I recently bought an acoustic. Looks like I’ll be getting AGU too.

You have my respect! That is a very difficult undertaking, but it is not only getting you back to something you love it is literally occupational therapy for your hand. Keep at it and don't let life give you "No" for an answer.
 

PeterSchroeder

Munich, Germany
Having done and enjoyed BBG, I am wondering whether this finger style and thumb bass thingy will be taught in ABGU ? Or how and where can I learn this ? I‘m doing BGU at the moment, started two months ago, and really love it, but I am also intrigued by acoustic style. In fact, my very first acoustic guitar is on its way to me and supposed to arrive Monday....
 

PeterSchroeder

Munich, Germany
I highly recommend ABGU, but also must say if you're in for the long haul the All access pass is the way forward !
I have a one year subscription to AAP running since exactly 60 days - redeemed my first golden ticket today for BGU. The choice of courses is huge and I don‘t want to get lost. BGU will be the main course to work on, but since I am about to get my first acoustic I was looking for advice to learn stuff I missed on the electric. Will have a closer look at AGBU !
 

dvs

Green Mountain Blues
Having done and enjoyed BBG, I am wondering whether this finger style and thumb bass thingy will be taught in ABGU ? Or how and where can I learn this ? I‘m doing BGU at the moment, started two months ago, and really love it, but I am also intrigued by acoustic style. In fact, my very first acoustic guitar is on its way to me and supposed to arrive Monday....
The BGU Forum Default answer to any question that begins "Should I get..." is "Yes, of course you should!" and that holds in this case, as well. I would say that the focus of ABGU is not so much on finger-picking, or flat-picking, or any particular style of picking for that matter. It certainly does cover finger-picking, flat-picking and hybrid picking very well - also counting, chord shapes, blues scales, etc. A key distinction between BGU and ABGU is that ABGU has a greater focus on creating a "complete" sound as a single guitarist, whereas BGU focuses a bit more on how you might play rhythm accompaniment, fills, and solos as part of an ensemble. In that way, there is not as much overlap as one might expect and the two courses complement each other very well. So you should get it!
 

Stephanie-NoelDodt

Blues Newbie
Hi, Peter! "Steph" here. ( The system here picked my full legal name off of my credit card. I have to change my screen name. My Momma didn't even call me that....even if she was mad at me!)

Griff does cover the"thump bass" done on the 6th and 5th strings starting in Lesson 15 of ABGU. This is why he has us study the "Little Chords" earlier in Lesson 10. They are all I, IV and V 7th chords that are solely on the first 4 strings. At this point you can using your thumb to create the bass part or a pick and use fingers for the other notes. The first full length blues piece in Lesson 10, which Griff has you prepping for in the previous few lessons, he plays in "hybrid picking" on the DVD: holding a pick between his thumb and index finger, and using other fingers for notes on the first 3 strings. Some of his other pieces of music are all out fingerstyle, using the thump bass with his thumb. He stresses, in Lesson 2, trying to not get addicted to one method of playing and stresses trying to remain fluid.

I am currently sticking devotedly to Griff's ABGU. I love it and am literally rolling around in it with the same abandon that a farm dog rolls around in manure. I am sticking to it like glue. I started that course, and All Access Pass, on August 1, 2020 after starting BBG and some of his more elementary books as review. I am working on "Down To The Station" in Lesson 14 and truly enjoying it. I have come so far in the past year! I started studying his material in the 3rd week of March 2020 when Covid 19 shut the world down. (I think his courses and AAP saved my sanity with what has been going on.)

There is a book that is highly regarded, written by Joseph Alexander, titled "Fingerstyle Blues Guitar". I have it and it is available at Amazon.com.
He devotes the first 11 pages of it to creating "thumb independence" from the other fingers. He gives exercises to ingrain appropriate finger choice.
Personally, I would stick with Griff for the lion's share of your study, and just examine the first 11 pages in that book. It might be good to finish Griffs course and go to Alexander's book for material more focused on fingerstyle playing. I also can see myself studying BGU, although I will probably be playing solo mostly. I'm sure some of the material will be relevant.
 
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