rodni451

Hi people, I need to learn to play the blues guitar and the thing being that its not as easy as it seems cause I cannot find a good teacher to make me learn this and the second thing being the cost of private lessons…. so I am looking for online classes. I have an acoustic guitar with strings made from other than nylon in standard tuning.

I have some basic knowledge and know to play a few chords. But what I need is a crash course or something for beginners to get on going. Please do drop in your ideas to help me. (Hail the great William Christopher Handy who wrote the first blues song “Memphis Blues”)

Thanks in advance!

mr dave

tune to an open chord D or G.

the most important thing to know when playing the blues - if you're thinking you're stinking.

stop trying to play the blues and just play it.

if you have to ask someone to teach you to play the blues you will NEVER play the blues.

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SATCHMO

Why?

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bsmix

If I were you I'd learn all the simple open chords and then learn where the corresponding bar chords are. Memorize those and look up tabs for songs that sound easy. Don't give up on that till you play something that actually sounds like the song. Try to recognize what chords are used in the song. And look up simple scales, memorize, and mess around with them.

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mr dave

considering he's referencing WC Handy i'm assuming he wants to go old school delta blues instead of cheeseball SRV 'blues'. in which case most of what i've heard has been in an open tuning, mostly due to the use of slide for leads (D and G being most common). the open tunings also give more oomph to the rhythm and contribute to the overall tone and sound of the style.

just for reference in regards to tuning (low to high)

open D - D A D F# A D
open G - D G D G B D

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SATCHMO

I was assuming it had something to do with slide work. Iv'e always used open C. There's a bit of controversy over whether its better to learn slide in standard tuning or open tuning.

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mr dave

right on, i like open D myself but whatever works.

let me guess, the level of controversy regarding learning slide in standard or open tunings is akin to the controversy regarding learning guitar on an electric as opposed to an acoustic, right? they both have their merits i suppose, if i want to play a 'normal' scale based solo with a slide i find it's easier to use standard tuning. on the other hand i find that playing rhythm with a slide sounds like garbage unless you're using an open tuning.

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ddp

Most styles of slide use some kind of open tuning. It is just more practical.
Lap steel, pedal steel and dobro all use open tunings.

I have been playing in dobro tuning quite a bit lately which is
GBDGBD which is interesting because something you learn on the top 3 strings will work on the bottom 3 as well.

Only style i can think of that would use a standard tuning is when you are playing a regular guitar and mixing regular fretted planing with slide.

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SATCHMO

Derek Trucks, Who's arguably the greatest electric slide player alive, now uses standard tuning. Its better because you can drop the slide and still play conventionally. Its harder to learn that way, but its worth it. Who am I to talk, I suck at slide guitar!

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