The Best Way To Learn Blues Guitar

As a guitar teacher for the past 10 years I have been asked many times, "what is the best way to learn blues guitar?". While there is no "right" answer, I think I can point you in the right direction! 

Before you begin to play blues guitar you have to understand a few basic musical concepts. For the purpose of this hub I will assume that you have been playing for a couple years and are familiar with how to play basic chords such as E, A and D. 

One of the first things you are going to want to do is start listening to lots of blues guitar music! One of the most important things you can do as a musician and guitarist is to listen to lots of other music that is related to the style of music you want to play; if you can't hear it in your head first, how will you ever reproduce it on the instrument? Personally I would recommend guitarists like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Eric Clapton and Muddy Waters as a start, then start venturing out to the more obscure players to really get a sense of what style you want to emulate. 

So lets start with the very basics of how to learn blues guitar.

Dominant Seventh Chords

Blues music is based around the "Dominant Seventh" sound. Now, if you don't understand what that means don't panic! Understanding dominant seventh chords is no where near as hard as it may seem but it does require a small understanding of music theory.

I would HIGHLY recommend that you check out Music Theory.net for a lesson on Key Signatures, Chords and 7th chords. It won't be as painful as you think and you'll gain a much deeper understanding of how music works!

But for now for the sake of keeping moving with this lesson, lets just learn how to play the A7, E7 and D7 chords. Check out All Guitar Chords.com for this.

12 Bar Blues

If you've ever tried to learn blues guitar before, or have been playing guitar for any amount of time you have no doubt heard this term. The 12 bar blues is one of the most basic forms of blues music and is the form behind classic rock and country tunes like Folsom Prison Blues and Johnny B. Goode.

The form is based around three chords: I - IV - V

Huh? never heard of a IV chord before? Don't worry, these are actually numerical representations of chords in any given key. For example:

• In C Major we have C D E F G A B C
• C would be I, F would be IV, and G would be V

So you simply take what ever your first chord is (the I chord) and count up through the alphabet to 4 (IV) and 5 (V).
Some of the most commonly used I IV V progressions in blues guitar are:

• E: E, A, B
• D: D, G, A
• A: A, D, E
• F: F, Bb, C

Another very easy way to figure out what the 3 chords you will need to play the 12 bar blues is: Take whatever note you are starting on, in this case lets say G on the 6th string, 3rd fret. Drop down one string and you will have the IV chord (5th string, 3rd fret = C) then move up two frets from there and you will have your V chord (5th string, 5th fret = D). So for G the chords are: I=G, IV=C, V=D. Too easy!

How to play

Once you have your 3 chords down so that you can play them effortlessly it's time to apply them to the musical form. 

The 12 bar blues has, like the title says, 12 bars of music. Each bar consists of 4 beats, for this purpose each beat will be one down strum. Count and strum out load: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4 to get a feel for the strumming pattern. Make sure you keep an even rhythm and tempo! 

Now fret your first chord and the pattern goes like this: 

I Chord - 4 Bars (1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4)

IV Chord - 2 Bars (1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4)

I Chord - 2 Vars (1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4)

V Chord - 2 Bars (1, 2, 3, 4 | 1, 2, 3, 4)

I Chord - 1 Bar (1, 2, 3, 4)

V Chord - 1 Bar (1, 2, 3, 4) - This is also referred to as the turn around! 

Repeat! 

This is your standard blues progression. There are many variations on this form which I will be covering in a later article but for now, spend some time with this form and try to recognize it when you are listening to other recordings, you'll be amazed at how often you heard this chord progression! 

If you found this useful drop over to my thumb picks website for more information on blues and fingerstyle guitar! 

Cheers and happy picking!