Beginner Basic Blues Guitar Lessons – Where to Start.

Blues music is ideal for learning the guitar as it uses a very simple set of chords for most of the blues songs that are written. The only trouble is, Blues music also uses a huge range of more advanced techniques in the fingering of the left hand. Even Eric Clapton says he cannot master all the techniques used by the classic blues legend Robert Johnson. If you listen most Robert Johnson's songs they sound simple but they are played with a high degree of skill.

But you can still focus on the basic chord patterns as a beginner and play reasonable versions of the blues classics in a few weeks. There is a set of 6 chords you can learn and play most simple blues songs

Stay in the key of E

This is the easiest key to start plying the blues. The chords you need to learn are E, A, B7, Em, Am, D. The basic chord pattern is 12 bars long and only uses the first 3 of these chords. There are actually a few basic 12 bar patterns but start with this and strum through the pattern until you can do it automatically.

12 BAR blues pattern.

Each chord is played for one bar.

E,A,E,E,A,A,E,E,B7,A,E,B7.

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Once you have mastered the pattern and it is ingrained in your brain and your fingers you should be able to play it with your eyes closed. Now you can look at improvising with the chord pattern and add new chords.

How to Progress You Playing

Change the order of the chords in the pattern and try to hear for yourself if it remains blues or becomes something else. Blues music is very much a feel it type of music and you should try to feel it from the start. The skill of the great blues artists such as Lightning Sam Hopkins and BB King is that make a very simple structure sound great over and over again with different songs that have the same basic idea. To write your own blues original you will be varying the chord pattern and using other grace chord that are not normally in a blues song to make it interesting.

As well as learning the blues you should also learn basic rock guitar because there is a strong musical link between these 2 music styles. Learning both rock and blues guitar will help you play both types better.

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