BUILDING BLUES LEAD GTR VOCABULARY - Lesson 1

LESSON 1  AIMS

• Play through the chords of a 12 bar blues in A
• Learn licks relevant to each chord within the blues in A
• Put these licks together to form a full solo.

Over the one hour lesson you will establish the chords for a 12 bar blues progression in the key of A. Nat will take you through the chord sequence using both barre chords and CAGED triads based at position V around box 1 of the minor pentatonic. It will be useful for you to know the barre chord shapes shown below ahead of time, but please don’t worry if you struggle. The idea of also showing the triad shapes is to not only give you a greater music vocabulary, but also to give those struggling with barre chords an easier approach. Everyone should be able to master something in the lesson, and for anything you struggle with, that’s what the lesson video is for. You can practice as much as you like afterwards.

Once Nat has covered the chords, you will then learn an initial solo, focusing on a few licks (notated in standard notation and TAB) that correspond to each of the specific chords in the blues progression. The licks will be numbered sequentially for reference. You will be shown the picking techniques and fingerings used for each lick to develop your technical approaches. 

THINGS TO LOOK AT AHEAD OF TIME

A Minor Pentatonic Scale Guitar Pattern 1

Below is pattern one of the minor pentatonic scale. The numbers inside the dots indicate the fingers to be used on the frets. The red dots in the pattern refer to the root of the scale.

Barre chord shapes

Check out the whole series

• You can purchase all three lessons as one course. This is the advised option as the lessons develop on each other to give you an in-depth practice regime. It’s also cheaper at £50 for all three lessons.

• Purchase lessons individually at £20 per lesson.

Materials

• Lesson PDF
• Any relevant MP3s used in the session
• Access to a video recording of the complete live session

Who’s this level suitable for?

The level is ideal for players who are:

• beginner plus and above players
• it is a perfect introduction to blues improvisationwant to:
• further their blues knowledge
• correct/tweak existing chord and soloing skills
• take your blues playing to new levels

As a guide you should be familiar with:

• Fretboard knowledge – basics (E and A strings but all strings should be the target)
• Reading TAB Yes (including basic rhythm)
• Chords – Open and basic CAGED barres
• Ability to change between chords smoothly and play basic melody
• Scales – you should be comfortable with a minor pentatonic scale

Things you won’t need to know (but you should definitely not ignore them):

• Theory – although it’s so useful to understand the essentials as it makes learning things much faster and better when playing with others
• Reading music – this is something to strive for as a long-term project

IMPORTANT POINTS

• You will receive the Lesson PDF and video link after your payment is confirmed. We will email it asap. just prior to it being run.
• The lesson video is a private link on YouTube. Please keep this and the Lesson PDF private. Don’t not share with others or online.