Essential Blues Guitar For The Beginner

1. Course Introduction: Hi, everyone. My name is Jeff Sinker. And welcome to my course, the essential blues guitar for the beginner. Whether you've just picked up your first string or you're looking to deepen your musical progress. This course is your ticket to unlocking the soulful sounds of the blues. From the smoky bars of the Mississippi Delta to the electrifying stages of Chicago, the Blues has captivated audiences for generations with its raw motions, storytelling, and expressive guitar playing. In this beginner friendly course, we'll take you on a journey through the fundamentals of blues guitar. You'll learn how to navigate the iconic 12 bar blues progression. How to play simple blues chords and how to play a shuffle groove and to master the Boogie feel. We will delve deeper into the blues using turnarounds, so you can create the styles of the legendary players like Robert Johnson, Bebe King, and Stevie Ray vorne. This course includes a selection of biking tracks. So you can practice all the new techniques that you have learned. Finally, we will learn how to play two great songs, one by Gary Moore and the other by Tracy Chapman. No prior experience is required a passion for music and a willingness to learn. So grab you guitar. Tune up those strings and get ready to feel the blues like never before. Let's dive in and start making music that speaks to the soul. 2. Basic Blues Chords: In this lesson, we will look at some basic cordships that are used in the blues chord progression. These are easy to play chords that you've probably learned before. I put them in groups of three, known as the one, four, five chords. This is a term that you'll hear throughout this course. Many of these chords are repeated in the various groups. Now all of these chords are what we call seventh chords or dominant seventh chords, and a full explanation of this term will appear later in the course. Now, the first group of 145 chords we will use are all in the key of A. And the first chord up is the e seventh chord. Now the way we're going to play that, we put our third finger on the B string on the second front, and we put our second finger on the second front of the D string. And we're going to be playing from the a string down, so we've got the A D two, open G, B B two. And then the open string. Already, we've got a very bluesy sunding chord. Next up is the four chord. Now, this is a D seven. Again, you've possibly played this before. Where we build that chord, we have our third finger on the second fret of the first finger on the first fret of the B string and then our second finger on the second fret of the G string. And we're going to be playing from the D string down. So that is the D seven, also known as the four chord. Final one in this group is the seven or the five chord. Way we're going to play that. We are putting our second finger on the second fret of the A string and our first finger on the first fret of the G string. It's like playing an chord but just lifting your third finger off the fret board. So we have that open D string. Now being an chord, we can play all of the strings. So that is the seven chord. So we have got an A seven, a D seven. And we have got an seven chord. They are representing what is known as the 145 in the key of A. Now, we are going to look at the 145 in the key of E. Now this is where some of the chords will reappear. And of course, being in the key of, the one chord is the seven. Okay. So seven being the one chord. And again, the four chord is the A seven, exactly what we've played before. Now, the new cord in this group is the B seven, and this could be a little bit challenging when you first play this. The cord that we're playing is then where we're going to build that up. We are going to put our second finger on the second fret of the A string. First finger on the first fret of the D string and our third finger on the second fret of the G string. Now this is where it might be a little bit different for you, and this is where a bit of a challenge comes in. We are now going to use our pink. Some of you probably never used the pinky before in a chord, but we are going to put our pinky on the second fret of the high string. Because we're playing a B seven chord. We can play from the a string down, which is the root, the B. And we can also include the opus string. So we're going to play all of the seven strings, excluding the low. So if we put them together, our one chord seven, O four chord is the A seven five chord is the B seven. Final group we're going to look at is all in the key of G. First chord up, the G seven, which is the one chord. Again, you've probably played this one. I believe this was the second chord I ever learned. The G seven. Where we're going to play that. We've got our third finger on the third fret of the low astring O second finger on the second fret of the A string, and our first finger stretching all the way down here to the first fret on the high astring and we are going to play all of the strings. That is our one chord. Next up, we are going to go to a C seventh chord. Now, this is very similar to playing a C chord. So if we think of a standard C chord, we are playing first finger on the third fret of the A string. Second finger, second fret on the D and our first finger playing the first fret of the B string. The only difference is now our Pinky is getting another little workout here. We are going to put our pinky on the third fret of the G string. And we are going to play down from the a string. We're going to play all of the strings together. That is a four chord. The five chord in this group, we've already played this before, and this is the D seven. So in the key of G, we have the G is the one chord, C seven as the four chord and our D seven as the five chord. So we have got three groups of 145 in the key of A, we have got a key of E and also the key of g. Other keys that we can use. Of course, there are many will require the use of a bar chord. So to keep things nice and simple for you, I've just looked at these three keys that are all using core groups that you've played before are similar to before, and all in between the first three friends. Now, what I want you to do to practice on these once you've got these cars down is to transition inside the groups between the three courts. So if we are in the key of the A seven, I want you to practice going from the A seven to the D seven. And also, from the A seven across to the seven and also to the D. So don't just play them through as an A seven D seven. E seven, I want you to mix them, match them up. So we just play d77d7. A seven. And when you do that, you will start to hear the sound of the blues between them three. So do that in each one of the groups. Right, what we're going to do now, we're going to move on and we are going to look at the 12 bar blues patterns. 3. Learn How To Play 12 Bar Blues: Now, in this lesson, we are going to be looking at the 12 bar blues progression. So what does that actually mean? Well, in the 12 bar blues, we have got a progression spread over 12 bars or 12 measures. Now, great way to see this is to split the 12 bars into groups of four. So we have three separate groups. And as you can see in the diagram, I shorten the different layers. Now, in the first 4 bars, you couldn't get any easier here. You are just going to be playing the one chord. Now, in the key of A, we have got the A seven. So we have got one, two free four. One, two free four. One, 234, 1234. That's your first line. The next line, we are going to play 2 bars of the D seven, which is the four chord and then back to the A seven on the one chord. So we will have one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, back to the A seven. One, two, four, one, two, four. Now, the final group. This is where it gets a little bit busy. We are going to play the five cord for 1 bar one four to four chord for 1 bar, the D seven. Back to the e seven for 1 bar. And then finally the 12th to the seven. Now, the great thing about the 12 bar blues is you do keep repeating. It is one of the most basic forms of playing the blues. This format that we're looking at here. And it is a format that is great to play along with your friends if you're just starting to play together and learning the guitar, and you want to get something that's really interactive that you can have fun with then the 12 bar blues can't be beat. Now, I've just done it going 1234. You can actually just play through the counts, so you could strum that. You could go one, two, one, two, one O. Now we're on to line two, four court d731b to the A seven. O two, three, one, two, the z one, seven 5d74. Back to the one, and final E seven, I repeat. I'm sure already you can hear the sound of the blues being played in that chord progression. The number of blue songs that are being recorded over the years are taking that simple progression there. And you would just keep on repeating it and repeating it round and round. It's always staying that format in this basic way. We have got the 4 bars, which are on the one chord. We then have 2 bars of the four chord, back to two more bars of the one chord. And then finally, which is also known as the turnaround phase of the blues. We have got the five chord for 1 bar. We have got the four chord for 1 bar, back to the one and then finishing up on that five chord with that grain turnaround field to bring it back to Now, you have got them three groups that we looked at previously, the one four and five chord. What I want you to do is to go through each one of them and practice going through that sequence using the 12 bar blues progressions. I have included in the sheets that are attached with this course, the full ture showing you exactly how to play through each one of them progressions. And once you've got comfortable with that standard progression, what we're going to do is to still use the 12 bar progression. But we are going to change the order slightly in the progression. What we're going to do on bar number two, we are going to go to the four chord. And then back to complete that line with the one chord. The rest of the progression is exactly the same. Now, this can be known as Chicago blues and the very famous g Sweet Chicago is a great example of using that. Now, what I'm going to do is I will play through that one progression so you can hear that change where we switch on bar number two, we substitute the one chord for the four chord and then complete the line. So it goes like this. Okay And then it will repeat using exactly the same progression. One chord, 1 bar, four chord, on bar two, back to the one chord for bars three and four, and then we continue through the whole progression. Again, what I'd like you to do is to go through each of the different groups and have some fun playing the Chicago blues. 4. Discover The Shuffle Feel: Now, in this lesson, we are going to look at what is known as the shuffle swing field. So, so far, we have been playing across the metron with a count doing one, two, three, four. Just been playing on the downbeats. Now, of course, we can introduce the eighth count, which would be one and two and three and four. We go one. The common. Typically, that would be heard if you have piano. They're just going da da da da da da, da, da. So we get that one and two and three and four. We get that kind of a feel. But there is another rhythm pattern that is extremely popular in the blues, and that is known as the swing, or it can be known as the shuffle feel. Now, it does take a little bit of explaining, but you will have heard this numerous times if you've listened to any blues recordings in the past. Now, I'm going to just take one note, and we're going to actually go through that whole concept of the shuffle field. Now, if we was playing on the downbeat, we're going to three, four will be a bat if we was playing it, including the eighth notes, we would get one and two and three and four. Now, what we are doing, we are taking the first beat, and we are holding it a little bit longer, and then playing the and two. So we get one and two, and three and four and one and two and three and four. Once you get into that, da, da, da, da, da, da, gets very easy to play. But it's getting that initial one and two, and three and four and one and two, and three and four. Now, you can see by the diagram, how is are actually represented on sheet music. If you look at any tture guitar profile, and you see that symbol, that is telling you you have that shovel the. Another way that you could look at it, but I've always found this a little bit too confusing when I explain it to my students is to see you've got this trip triplat but you're not playing the middle trip, T trip T trip T trip. You're missing at the trip. You're missing at the lap from the trip. Trip trip Tri trip. That's exactly what we are doing with that chiful feel. One and two, and three. So we're holding down down down down. The beat is the same. We still got that one, two, three, four but one and two and three and four, and one. Now, I'm just playing that on a single note. But if we then take it into our chords using our one, four, five chords, it starts to really give us that feel of the blues. We get this 1 2 3 4 and 1 2 3 4 and 1 2 3. We could do that as an straw. What we're doing if we're doing it as another stroke, I would say is you're holding the pick down a little bit longer than normal. That down down. Yeah. Yeah. The downbeats are always on the counter. I always on the one two, the fit four. But you're holding that pick down a little bit longer than you feel as you should be then. You get one and two and three, four. Two. So we're playing that along with the metro. The metro still going to even click. Click. Click. Click. That's still exactly the same. That upward movement. 34234. But I'm sure you can hear already from what we're playing there that we have a very, very strong blues feel 'cause that shuffle feel has been played so many different artists you can take. All of the kings, Clapton, Jeff Beg, they're all using that shuffle feel when they are playing the blues. It just feels so right, so laid back. So, we cannot have the regular downbeat. There is nothing wrong with that, but having that da da da da da. That field really brings out the essence of the blues. We combine the shuffle with the 12 bar, whether we do this the regular 12 bar or we take the Chicago blues field. Really gets you sounding like a blues man once you add that shuffle feel to it. Do take your time. Do work on that. Listen to the examples that I've got there when I was playing it and try and replicate da da da da da da da da. Then play through your various 12 bar progressions. I'm sure you will get the hang of it very, very quickly. 5. What Is Boogie?: Now, in this section, we are going to be taking the elements of the 145c progression. We are going to be taking the 12 bar blues. We're also going to be taking the shuffle feel, and we are going to combine them together. And we're also going to be looking at a new way of playing this whole package in what is known, what I love to call boogie. Now, we are going to play instead of playing a full chord, A 7d77. We are just going to be looking at the five chordship as it's known for each of the chords. Now, we're just going to be looking at the first group we're going to look at is going to be the A in the key of A. So we are going to play an A five chord, which is very very simple. You're just going to play the open a string, and you're going to play the second fret of the D string, and you're just going to hit them two strings. Straightforward on the downbeats are if we want to put in the shuffle field. That would be played over the first 4 bars in the progression of the 12 bar. Then we would move to a D five. Now, again, it could be any easier, D five. We're going to play the open D string, and then we're going to play the second of the G string. We play them both together, same as we did with the A seven. We get this Okay. Okay. The final one, the seven. We're just going to play the open string, and we're going to be also holding down the second fret of the A string. So we got the E. Do you have a quick shift across to the sorry, to the D set. You'd be conscious of that skip and that's worth practicing. So you're getting that one and two and three and four, D two and three and one and two and three and four and one and two, and three and four. That is probably the easiest format that you will be playing in that key of the A. If we was playing it in the key of the E, we are going to have to do what we would call a power cord chip. For the B chord only. So if we was doing it in the key of E, start off with a five two and three. If you was doing the Chicago, you would move down to the A five. Should we be already played. When it comes to the final sequence where we have the turn rock phase, we're going to be playing the five card to play the B five. Instead of, we are going to be holding down second fret on the string, which is the B. And we are going to our first finger, our little finger is going to be holding down the fourth fret on the D string. So we've just got about one Moving down to the A five in this, why couldn't be any easier, really? We're just going to move our first finger down to the second front and the D string. To the five, we just move our first finger back up to the A two. Now, for that final pattern, we go back to the B, which is for the five chord. Your first finger is already there. So all we've now got to do is just switch the strings and drop our third finger into the D four. Let me just quickly go through that one again. So we have got the five chord, one, two, and three, and four A. B. Back to the five. And we go back to one. That would give us the playing with the power chord through the key of E. If you want to do this in the key of, you will be taking the power chord shape from the third fret on the low string and then your first figure is going to be holding down the five fret on the a string. That will be your one chord shape. For the C, you're going to move down to fir fret the a string, five fret and the D string. For the D, the turn around on this one, you could go back here, but normally what we would do is we would go to the pthret on the a string and hold it down seven on the D. Moving down to your four d to the G seven. Back up to the D. Then you start your whole cycle again for the Ta bar blues. Now, the G seven, I showed you that so you can play along using what we have covered so far, but you will find playing what we're going to be looking at now, which is the Boogie feel a bit of a challenge when you first do it in the key of G. So we are going to be featuring first for the Boogie. We are going to be looking solely in the key of A. Now, what we are going to be doing is this. I'm sure you've heard that style before, if you are a keen fan of the blues. This gives us this boogie feel. What I am doing, I've got my A five chord. And we're going to play one and so we get one on the two, we are going to drop our third finger down to the on the D. So that is played over the two and On the three and we go and lift our fingers, so we back to the normal A five. And for the four, we drop our finger down. So nice slow for you. We're going in one and two and three and four and one and two and three and. That is how you would be playing the one. It's exactly the same thing when we go down to the decor, we're playing the p. But this time we go out putting our finger onto the G four. So we're playing open D G two, and then for the drop, which is it's occurring on the two and the four. It's occurring on the even counts of the bar two four practice moving back one and two and three four. When we do the E, some people are not to do the Boog on that, but for this, we are going to put this into it so we get it. And you can see the tap there showing that motion of the one and two and three and four. Making sure that when we are playing on the two, we are dripping down to that one and two and three and one and two Card. So do practice going round in that cycle of your 12 art blues. As I've said, this is the easiest form in the key of A because we are allowing the open string to help us because it's we don't have to play any of the fingers across that open string. Now, when we are playing it in the key of E, we have a little problem when we get to the five chord, which is that B five. Now, at this stage, what we are going to be doing is just taking the E, which is going to be dropping down onto a four. A. Back to the. Now on the B, you're just gonna play the B. Back to the A. So whenever we go and plate that five quarters the B, you are just going to do that straightforward shuffle on the five quarters. One and two and three and four and one by the boogie. Boog on the. Me. And that is how we would play the bogey feel through a 12 bar in the key of e, which as you can see, is the easiest one, and also how we would do that in the key of E. Have some fun getting used to playing that boy progression, try to different temples just to get that finger working a bit on that. 6. Expanding The Boogie Feel: Now, another variation of that straightforward boogie, will be going one and two, and will be holding it down. What we're going to do now, we are going to take that movement playing that boogie feel, but we are going to lift our finger on the end of the two and the end of the four. So we would get this. So we get one and two and three, and four and one and two and three, four one and two and three. So we are not wholly on the two and previously we did one and two and three and four, and we are going one and two and three and 123 and one and two. Of course, when you move, same thing. F cook. Fire. So there is another variation of the Boogie. Again, practice that getting used to lifting your finger up on the end. Now, we're going to look at the third variation of playing the Boogie. And this one is a little bit more fun. If you are a fan of the British band status quo, you will definitely recognize this progression or this movement of the changes. What we are going to be doing is this style boogie. Now, also, I'm sure you've noticed my little finger is appearing here. We might find this when you first try this a little bit restrictive because if you're not used to this stretch across these threats, you'll find this a little bit of a challenge. But that's always what makes us stronger when we have something to pves What am I doing, though? How am I fitting that into the bar? Let's take it nice and slower. I am playing one and two and three and four and one and two, and three and four. So I've got the standard one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four. But for the counts, I'm always going back to our standard A five d. So one and two, and three four and one and two and three, four and g one and two, three, four, one, two, three, four and two, three, four, ski five and we go back into our loop. We can play this across the chord, the key of E. But of course, when we hit the B, you're going to do the same thing again because that stretch is enormous to even get anywhere near getting that progression. So whenever you hit the five chord, you will just do your normal one and two, and three and four and one and two Like that. That is a real. It's one of my favorite ways of playing boogie. I like to kind of just increase the temple. Now, if you are a fan of status quo like me, you will instantly recognize that style of playing at the increased tempo, many, many songs written by Status Quo. So, work on that. Really try to get that one under your belt and part of your repertoire when you are playing the blues. 7. Playing Boogie in Various Keys: Now in this final sanction, I am going to be showing you how you can play the boogie feel in any key that you want using the 145 chord progression. This isn't really for the faint of heart when you first start to play this. But once you get into it and you get your fingers comfortable this, it does open up a different world for you when you're playing the 12 bar blues. Basic reason you can play in any key. So if you've got somebody, you got a singer can't sing in the keys that you've already learned it that enables you to do that if you're playing with a syxophonist enables you to play in the various keys that they are comfortable with. But it does involve a really big stretch on the fret board. Let me give you an example of what we're looking at here. That's what we're looking at there. Now. This is what we've got to go. Now, I've moved up the fret board to help here on this. What we have got on the fret board, we've got always an instant 145 progression available to us. If I'm going to be taking it in the key of A, we've got it down here, but I'm using this as an example. If we want, we could move it up. To decrease the space of the frets. But I'm going to keep it in a just so we can talk about the position on the fret board. We are going to play an A five pubic chip. So I've got my first finger on the E five, and I've got my third finger on the A seven. Now, what we've got to do, this is where the fun is, we have got to bring our little finger down on the ninth on the a string. We get this Now, I've gone back to that basic pattern here, just to give you a just to help you. Now, that would be the one chord shape playing that shape, the five, seven, and bringing down the nine. With that little finger. It is a bit of a stretch. I know this. It really does help when you first start playing this. My first gig ever as a young performer. And when I was first learning the guitar was as a rhythm guitarist for a status quo tribute band, and I had way I can get in the geek was to be able to play that stretch. So, it is a bit of a stretch, and it did take me some time, but it got me the gig I really haven't looked back ever since. So we've got to get that stretch. That would be the one cod. Now, once you've got that stretch down, that is going to be your worst one. We are going to move the card down across the A and the D string and still bringing our finger down on that knife. So if you can do it here, you can do it here. So that would be your the cod is directly beneath the one cod position. So one four directly beneath. If using the key of G sharp A flat, we move back one f the four chord, which is the C sharp directly beneath. So we've always got connection across this string to the four chord directly, so we can get this one chord The five chord is two frets higher on the same strings on the A and the D strings. So we've got this connection of one, four, five. Like that. Forms what you could say, like an L or a 90 degree. One, four, five. We're still going to play that distance where we've got a two fret separation between the fingers. So between first finger and your third finger, two frets between your third finger and your finger is two frets. So the four chord back to the one chord. So when we go to the five or which in this case is the seven and the nine, we are bringing our little finger down on the 11. Typically, when you go back to the five chord on that last turn around part, we don't do a boogie on that. We just do that one three. We get that does require a bit of a stretch. There is another way of doing this. This is what I learned when I was younger before the world of YouTube and books that very hard to get any books in them days on the blues when I first started out. But because we're playing a 145, I said go across to a D directly beneath, but you could also use the same two strings by going up in this case to the temp which is the D. But I would see it straight away like that. What I used to do. When I was playing it, wherever my little finger was playing, which in this case, is an I I forgot the two frets. The for cord was one fret higher than where your little finger is. So my little fingers are nine. I'm going up to the ten, so I'm taking that position there. And I'm back. I always had to remember when my word quarters get pack. But that's where your for cord would be. So once you'd spotted where your for cord were, it was very easy to get to your five cord, so you get that. So that's another way of seeing that, but I would say moving it down in that keeps it a nice little space, but it gives you a variation. There was times if I was doing it one way I was doing it that way when I was playing. I would then vary it up to to play it like that. Now, because we've got that relationship of this 145, it does mean that we can play in any key. We want no. As I said, if we move it down one fret we're in the key of a flat, we play I was flat. We moved down. We got the G, so we get the G to the four cord B O five cord two frets higher up here. Here's the example you can see. That would give that. Now, obviously, though, when we move down the fret board here, frets get wider, which means your stretch gets bigger. So if somebody says to you, the worst one you're ever going to be playing is in the key of f. So if you have to play in the key of F, that's where you really are stretching that finger a distance across. Moving down. Not too bad on them, but it gets back again. And then so the F really is the worst key that you have to play 12 bar blues and book in. Uh, if you can get away with keeping it in the C or D, a lot easier for you, 'cause it's a lot. So the Cs and the Ds and the Bs are your friend is not too bad, if somebody says they want to play it in the F. It can be very, very painful for you. But You will get there eventually. What I would say is treat this like you're working in a gymnasium. If you find the air was too much, move up and just do it in the seat, eight ten for just getting used to that stretch. And then what you're going to do, you're going to slow the work down, it's like walking in. You got a five pound weight when you're first starting in the gym. You're then go to go to the six pound weight, which is one for that bite or you go to the ten, whichever they progress up five, ten, 15. But you're going to treat each one that frets descending as an increase in weight until you're there lifting that 70 80 pound weight with your fingers, getting that stretch. Now, I just want to briefly as I'm talking about this, I just want to talk about the thumb behind. Now, my thumb is on kind of the radial of the threadboard right at the back. That allows me to give enough pressure onto that first finger to hold it down. And if you've been playing backboard, you've been doing that before. But you really do have to press down to get that feel of that finger moving in them shapes. So do make sure that that first your thumb, you've given ample pressure and support. On that when you're doing it, especially when you get to that beloved cord position down here. You've now opened the door to play the blues all over the fret one. 8. What Is A Turnaround?: Now, in this part of the lesson, we are going to look at a great way to end a 12 bar blues cycle using a function known as a turn around. Turnaround is the name formally given to the last 2 bars of a blues progression. A turnaround creates tension by going to the five chord. In the key of, that would mean the B chord in the key of A, that would mean the E. These 2 bars provide a nice transition back to the one of the cycle. Now, I'm going to show you how to play some easy turn around in the key of E and also in the key of A, so you can use these turnarounds and really create a fantastic bluesy feel to your playing. Let's have a look at the first one, which can be used over a 12 bar in the key of. So, what are we doing there? Well, we are going to start on the open string. Then we're going to play and I use my second finger for this. We're going to play five on the A. And we're going to skip over the D string, and my first finger is going to be on the four. Then we're going to go back to the five. Now, these are played over triplets, so we get the one count. The open as string is on the one. And then we got triple So we're doing 545. And then we're going to move that shape down one fret. So we're going to end up playing 434. Move across down one more frat again to the three. So we're playing 323. And then to get that nice turn round, which is moving us up to the B cord. Remember that five chord. I'm going to play first fret on the gene. And then we get this nice. And that last note there, he's giving you the five chord, which is that be. And then we would start the whole cycle over a end. So let me just play that entire section. Nice and sloppier. So So that is example number one. Let's look at another variation of that, and it goes like this. When I'm doing that, again, I'm opening with that E. And then I'm going to be playing four on the G. And I play with my second finger. And then with my third finger, I'm going to play the four on the high string back to the four on the G. And again, that's played as a triple trip. Go to move down one fret, so I'm going to be playing three across to the three and back to the three G and string. Down to the two. And I'm gonna pick it up the same as we did on the previous one. I'm going to go to the first fret on the G. And then. So again, let me play that nice slop. So then two examples, nice and easy to play are in the key of E, and they are pulling across to give you that nice final pull to the five chord over the G. Right. Now let's look at two examples that can be used in the key of A. Example number three in the key of eight goes like this. A little bit of moving around on up the top end on the middle part of the frat board there. But very similar in the principle of the ones we've done before. As I said, these are nice and easy examples. So what I'm doing there because we're in the key of A, I'm going to be opening with the open a string. And then I am playing across the nine similar to that one that we did previously. I am the key example number two, but I'm doing a nine. So I'm doing nine on the G nine on the high. Back to the nine on the G. So Move down one fret to the eight. Down one more fret to seven. Now, I'm going to just go down one fret on the G string to G six. And then to guess us to that code that we're looking for. I'm just playing zero, one, two on the D string. So I put that all together. So that is example number three. Let's have a look at the final example, example number four, and it goes like this. Slightly different to the three that we've done before. We are just moving actually on this one, just across two strings. We've got no skip on this one. So I'm going again start off with the open a string. And now I'm going to be playing five on the B. And again, I'm using second and third finger. I'm playing five on the B. FirdFinger plays five on the high string. Back to the five on the B. So Now, the difference with this one is I'm going to keep this third finger still playing the five, but I'm going to move down and I use my first finger for this one, and I'm going to play four on the B. So I'm doing four to the five on the high string. Back to the four. Then I'm going to move that first finger reaching down to the third, and I'm going to play five three. The first finger is down gonna move down one, fret again to pick up the two. And then to finish off sim. It's the previous one, 012 on the D string. Like that. So I play that nice and slow and I get this. So we have four very easy to play turnarounds, two in the key of and two in the key of A. Now, what we're going to do, we are going to take these turnarounds, and we are going to put them in the context of the 12 bar blues cycle. 9. Combining Turnarounds with 12 Bar Blues: So, let me just play through the first cycle of the 12 b bums that we've looked at before using the Boogie fiel, and end with the first example of the 12 band. So it goes like this. Okay. And back around again. What we saw was the typical 12 bar cycle. We came into the final 4 bars, which was the B being that five or. Down to the A saw another bar. And then the final 2 bars, which has got the turnaround. And which start So that was example number one in context. Let's go to check out again. Example number two. So I'm not going to play through the entire 12 bar. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to play at the last 4 bars. So I'm going to be taking you from the B down to the A, and then example number two turnaround. So we have this. So there are the two timber ms in the key of E. Let's go put the next one into the key of A, and it goes like this. Sounds good, doesn't that? That turn really does have a great blues feel to it. So that was example number three. Let's just finish this whole section off with the final one example number four. Again, what I'm going to do is just take it through the final 4 bars. We're going to st you off on the e to the D. So that was the finite like example. Now, of course, you don't always have to use the same turnaround every single time. I could do the first one using, if I was in the key of A, first time round. Second time round. So, the more turnarounds that you learn over time, you can add them more and more to your playing. Now, if you want to get more information on turnarounds, I do have another callus available. Simply called 20 blues turnarounds. And again, they are showing you a little bit more in depth. Different positions and different ways of playing these turnarounds. Get you started, get you comfortable understanding that feel of that final 2 bars that create the blues turnarounds. 10. Practice With The Backing Tracks: Now, in the next section, you will find four backing tracks. Two are in the key of E, and two are in the key of A. The I want you to practice with the backing tracks. Initially, using the chords that you've learned and then using the Boogi technique to play along with them. All of the tracks are played with the shuffle them. And each one of the backing tracks are typical of a 12 bar blues progression that has been used at some point in a song. All of the chords are indicated on the track as it plays through. All of the chords are indicated on the track as it plays through. So get guitar. Put the backing tracks on and have some fun. 11. Backing Track 1 in E: And then And then And And then the And And 12. Backing Track 2 in E: Okay h. Oh. Oh. H h 15. Learn How To Play Walking By Myself - Gary Moore Easy Version: Now, as I mentioned at the start of the course, we are going to look at how to play two songs. First one is by the late Gary Moore and the second by Tracy Chapman. I have selected the two songs because they both contain sections we've already worked on, but also add a new element to your play. The Gary Moore song is very typical of the songs by Muddy Waters and the Rolling Stones and several other classic blue songs from that era. The Tracy Chapman song again, adds an element to what we've already learned in the course. So, grab a guitar and let's get playing. Now, in this example of a great blue song, we are changing the playing up slightly. We've got a fun little riff, and then we are going to be playing some 12 hour blues in a cycle. The song, It's called walking by myself by the late Gary Moore and was a track from his album still got the Blues. This really is a fun track for you to play and takes in a couple of variations that are used quite often in a 12 bar blues song. And it goes like this. Two three. What a great song that is to play. So let's get into it and let me just show you how to play the various licks through that song. So the lick that is playing through the verses that we could hear. There is a very simple li to play. Play it like this. All I'm doing now, I use my third finger. We are going to start with the seven threat on the East string. I'm also going to be playing five threat on the A my first finger and we're just going to go backwards and forwards initially. We do five. Sorry, we do seven cross over to a five B to the seven the five on the A and then we finish it with seven on the A. So we get. Now, the county is coming in, one, two, three, two, three, four, one, two, three, two, three, four, one, two, three. That's how he's been played. We are going to play that leg five times. So opens up. Tree two four Tree. Two, three, four, one, two, three. S. Five times, you got to play that. The next lick, after the five times, we go the final one, two, three, four, one, two, three. So, what am I playing there? We are going to play two on the a string. Open A. Three on the low East string. To an open. So. And what I like to do is just touch down a little bit on that low E string. Like that. Now, that's coming in on the riff. Tree, four, one, two, three. That's where your count is. Now, this one, you got to move a little bit quick. You are going to be playing this. And the way I play that, I am playing second finger is playing a seven. First finger is playing D six. And my third finger is playing G seven. So it's like a little reverse triangle. And we're just going to play that twice. But we do have to move a little bit sharpish from down here. So we get this. Well, we're practicing that part, but I know you will get it. Then we are going to finish this section, going to a B five power code, which we've looked at before in our normal 12 bar because this is in the 12 bar in the key of E. And we are just playing A two and D four. One and two, and three. So, the whole section. Two three. Now, that is all the new stuff from the song. What we do now, we revert back to our typical 12 bar that we've been playing throughout this course. So we are going to start off on the E five on the Boogie, and we are going to play 3 bars of what we've been doing before. We're going in. So that figures, they're going two, two, four, four, two, 244. Over that open string one and two and three and four. Two. One more. Two and three. Now we've got this great little movement up. Well, we are going to be changing into what would be the e The way Gary does this, we get this So I'm just playing that. I'm just playing two open strings. Then I do a two to the open. Then I do a three to the open. I'm sorry. Three. And then a four. So without all silly mistakes, we would get. Sounds much better when you do it correctly. So 234. Now we have got 1 bar. We are playing the A five, and we're just going in that. Just on an A five. I'll play it across open A, and I'm doing two on the D. Do that twice. Put our finger down again. So it's our usual boogi Over that cord. Then we've got 1 bar playing our B five. And then we got another one of these little fun movements. I'm gonna play this. Like that, so I'm playing open shrink twice. Then I do a four to the open. To the five to the open. And then six to the open. Then we've got seven to the open. And then the final two notes, five on the e to the seven on the E. So that entire line there at the end. Like that. So that is the first part. Now what we do, we go back and repeat it. So we got 3 bars on the e. I'll move. That's to be. We go back to an and what he does, he puts it right back to the beginning cause that is going on that two. And then we're into our riff one, two, free. And we just play the progression all over again. Great fun song. Somebody is, I know you're gonna enjoy learning to play in that, bringing the elements of the blues that we've covered so far together in that song. You have got the backing track for this, so you can play along with it and really enjoy yourself. 16. Learn How To Play Give Me One Reason Tracy Chapman Easy Version: Now, the next song is by Tracy Chapman, and it's called Give me one reason. Now, I selected this track for two specific reasons. First of all, it's not any easy key to playing. And two, it doesn't conform to a typical 12 bar song, even though it uses a 12 bar cycle. Now, this song is played in the key of F sharp, and the cos used are an F sharp. A B and a C sharp, which are not any of the progressions or any of the examples that we have looked at so far. So, how do we play using a method that we already know? Well, it's simple. We just use a table. One of these. So the F sharp chord is playing on the second front. But we've got to get it into a means of being able to use one of our kind of easy to use progressions. So all we have to do is actually put the pel where our first finger had been when we played the sharp, whose on the second frat. But the p over. And then it als us just by putting our first finger on the fourth front of the string. That gives us an F sharp. If we want to play the B, we just move our first finger down to the D four and gives us the B chord. And for the C sharp, we just play as though we were playing a B five. So with that, now, it gives us our chords. So the pal note has enabled us to change the key and allows us to use our as progression. Now, I said this song didn't conform to the usual 12 bar progression. What it does is a bar of F half bar of B. Half a bar of C. And then back for 2 bars of the FS. Then we have a bar of the B, which is a. And then a half bar of B. And then a half bar of C full by 2 bars of the F sharp, which is the e. Then we have 1 bar of 1 bar of d then back for 2 bars of the F sharp. So, let me now play through the song, and you'll be able to follow exactly what I was doing through this progression. And we just play through that cause that was 12 bars that we played there. And the song just keeps on going around that progression. Now, I have got all of the tabletre for that song. And also, I will be using supplying that backing track that I just played along to. You can't play along with the original song. Once you've got that progression down, put your there on the second track and give you a shot, and you can play it along and enjoy yourself with a great song by Tracy Chapler.