Blues Solo Construction Kit - Shuffle Feel

Thatman

Thatman

Playin' for the fun of it.
Great example Mike very impressive, your version No. 2 is a really good. I've been working with the licks on their own trying to learn them but they sound like a cracking solo when the licks are married up.

It's not just remembering how to play the licks it will be a case of remembering their "Position" to. (y)
 
Scotty R

Scotty R

Blues Newbie
MikeS said:
Well, Tom, I'm anything BUT a salesman. Of course an enthusiastic customer is always the best salesman.
When I'm looking for something to "take me to the next level" Griff always manages to hit the mark.

When I was just starting with the first few BGU solos, I'd memorize them, but they weren't getting me to the place where I would play in public. He came out with SWS and viola! I started seeing things that I could put together on the fly.

When I started memorizing solos from 5EBA, 5MEBS, BGIAB... They were amazing... in one or two songs each, but I couldn't translate that to something that I could use beyond that.
Now he has the BSCK and (at lest so far) it's looking like EXACTLY what I need.

Why is BSCK any different? Why does it make it easier to use what I've learned? I think it has to do with the fact that Griff is forcing me to learn the LICKS.
In all the other solo oriented courses, I learned the solos, one or two bars at a time, then I'd add another one or two to the previous until it was done. That worked great for me learning an entire solo, but the bits and pieces that I was learning weren't "complete" licks so I never saw a way to put them in any other context.
Click to expand...

Hey Mike,
I really appreciate you walking us through your learning journey. Especially where you commented on the gains and limitations of the courses and your approach.
I have followed a similar path with many of those same courses but have struggled to develop some strong solos that can be played at a jam or over a jam track.
I've recently bought the course(s) and am sincerely hoping this lick based approach will give me the breakthrough that you and others have described. Again thank you for that...
 
luckylarry

luckylarry

Student Of The Blues
Thanks for sharing Mike. Our journeys are some what similar. I have decided to open SWS and start there before moving on. I have enough knowledge and practice from the courses that I have worked on (BBG is the only one I actually finished). I am hoping SWS will do for me what it has done for you. I know that once I got to the extended scales dorrs flew open so I am getting there. Love the journey.
 
MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Greedy aren't you?
I got started on another, but got sidetracked with 8 gig this month. So far I only have ONE next month so maybe I'll have more time on my hands.
 
R

Rick K

Rick K
I just bought the Blues Solo Const. Kit: Shuffle Feel and ran into a problem (for me anyway) that no one else seems to have talked about. I started to construct my first solo using the blueprint and right away discovered that the sample licks are in random keys, which means that I have to transpose them into the key of my solo. This isn't too difficult for keys that are close together, like G to A for example, but for keys that are farther apart it takes me a fair amount of time to transpose them to the key I need. Sometimes this also brings up the issue of whether a position change is also required. Am I seeing this correctly and is anyone else having difficulty with this? Griff doesn't mention this in his introduction and says that you can mix and match the licks "without having to change or modify the licks in any way".
 
Paleo

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
@Rick K

“Transposing” should be just a matter of moving a lick up or down the neck a fret or two.

Keep in mind that Position 3 licks are from the IV to the I, so the second chord is the key.

Position 5 licks are the IV-I-V turnaround, so the “middle” chord is the key.

You should be able to build solos using the keys of C, G and E, i.e. the “keys” of the Position 1 licks.
 
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MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Rick K said:
I just bought the Blues Solo Const. Kit: Shuffle Feel and ran into a problem (for me anyway) that no one else seems to have talked about. I started to construct my first solo using the blueprint and right away discovered that the sample licks are in random keys, which means that I have to transpose them into the key of my solo. This isn't too difficult for keys that are close together, like G to A for example, but for keys that are farther apart it takes me a fair amount of time to transpose them to the key I need. Sometimes this also brings up the issue of whether a position change is also required. Am I seeing this correctly and is anyone else having difficulty with this? Griff doesn't mention this in his introduction and says that you can mix and match the licks "without having to change or modify the licks in any way".
Click to expand...

No, you are seeing it correctly, but it's a GREAT skill to have. Actually you should work towards being able to learn it (memorized and "ingrained" well enough that you don't have to think about where to put your fingers) in one key but play it in any other key you like.
 
R

Rick K

Rick K
Paleo said:
@Rick K

“Transposing” should be just a matter of moving a lick up or down the neck a fret or two.

Keep in mind that Position 3 licks are from the IV to the I, so the second chord is the key.

Position 5 licks are the IV-I-V turnaround, so the “middle” chord is the key.

You should be able to build solos using the keys of C, G and E, i.e. the “keys” of the Position 1 licks.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help Paleo, although I've got to say I'm still puzzled about this, specifically about your instruction to change the key of the lick to the chord it's being played over. To me this is "playing the changes" which is a more advanced technique than simply using the minor pentatonic scale of the "key" of the song over the entire progression. I put key in quotes because as Griff and other teachers point out in the blues the "key" is a practical designation but not really correct according to diatonic theory. Anyway, I'm glad Griff included a couple example solos that I can study and figure out what he intended. It's not the "plug and play" I was expecting but probably good learning.
 
MikeS

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Rick K said:
Thanks for your help Paleo, although I've got to say I'm still puzzled about this, specifically about your instruction to change the key of the lick to the chord it's being played over. To me this is "playing the changes" which is a more advanced technique than simply using the minor pentatonic scale of the "key" of the song over the entire progression. I put key in quotes because as Griff and other teachers point out in the blues the "key" is a practical designation but not really correct according to diatonic theory. Anyway, I'm glad Griff included a couple example solos that I can study and figure out what he intended. It's not the "plug and play" I was expecting but probably good learning.
Click to expand...


I hadn't thought about "Follow the chord" BUT... If I remember correctly, some of them are not chords from the same key.
Eg lick one might be in A (I=A, IV=D, V=E) but another might be in C (I=C, IV=E, V=G) so you WOULD have to transpose the lick.
 
R

Rick K

Rick K
MikeS said:
I hadn't thought about "Follow the chord" BUT... If I remember correctly, some of them are not chords from the same key.
Eg lick one might be in A (I=A, IV=D, V=E) but another might be in C (I=C, IV=E, V=G) so you WOULD have to transpose the lick.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I studied Griff's two solo examples for this course and now see that it is necessary to transpose the licks into the key you want to use for your own solo. And this is not as difficult as I thought when I first tried it. I appreciate all the feedback.
 
Danno

Danno

Blues Newbie
Great stuff guys!

I've been working with these courses since the beginning of the year, spent the first three months on the Slow Blues kit and started on the Shuffle kit a couple of weeks ago. For me and how I learn these have been fantastic. I posted a kind of a long message in a thread in the General Music forum about how I use them so I won't repeat that here but basically they give me a framework that let's me work on four or five different things that have always been problems for me.

And just to add to the examples, here's a demo of a new guitar I did a couple of weeks ago that's really just twice through the first sample solo from the Shuffle Kit just to show the neck and bridge pickups. https://www.dropbox.com/s/go32jufmgdzddei/SB56 Sample.MOV?dl=0
 
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