Blues Guitar Basics
Brooks Williams
At least once a week someone tells me this sad story: "I have an old guitar in a closet that I never learned to play. I don't have the patience for months or years of lessons, and I don't have time to practise much. I just wish I could learn a couple of songs to play, and maybe be able to take part in a blues jam with my friends." If this is your story, then this DVD is for you!
Brooks Williams takes you from knowing virtually nothing about the blues to playing authentic-sounding blues with two classic tunes: Statesboro Blues and Sweet Home Chicago. This approach is perfect for the absolute beginner, as it assumes no knowledge of the fingerboard, chords, or even having heard the blues. Lessons cover the basic boogie rhythm, the 12-bar blues form, simple riffs to liven up your playing, and the pentatonic scale for more extended soloing. Techniques such as string-bending and formal elements like turnarounds are included in the Advanced section of each lesson.
Brooks Williams is a patient and sympathetic teacher. You will not have to worry about getting lost or falling behind here. He tells you what he is about to do, demonstrates it, shows you where to put your fingers, plays it slowly (usually a few times), and then integrates it into the song you are learning. There is no need to know note names as the instruction is "put your third finger on the third fret of the first string" while the camera shows Brooks doing just that. The accompanying music booklet is completely in tablature, so no music reading is required.
This DVD is a fine way for an absolute beginner to learn the very basics of playing the blues. Of course this is not for everyone, and experienced blues players will already know most of what is taught for the first two songs. The "bonus" tune - Mississippi John Hurt's Louis Collins - introduces fingerpicking country blues, which is a nice introduction to fingerpicking for the beginner. My only quibble with the material is calling the pentatonic scale the blues scale, because the blues scale includes one more note (the lowered fifth) which is very important to the blues sound. Still, the pentatonic scale is a very good way to approach soloing for the absolute beginnter. We all have to start somewhere, and this is a good place to start for the blues.
So now you have no excuse to leave that old guitar in the closet gathering dust! You will need to do a few minutes of practice for a while to master this material, but sooner than you expect you will be playing the blues.
You can buy this DVD:
from AMAZON.COM - Brooks Williams teaches Blues Guitar Basics
or