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Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches

Energize your blues guitar solos with this Blues Learning Path core course.
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Overview

Welcome to Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches for intermediate to late intermediate students of blues guitar. This Blues Learning Path core course is presented by 7 top TrueFire educators: Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Andy Timmons, Jeff McErlain, Corey Congilio, Andy Aledort, and Robert Renman. The Soloing Approaches curriculum is comprised of select blues guitar lessons from the educators' existing TrueFire course libraries.

Solid rhythm chops may get you the gig but it's your soloing chops that gets you the spotlight and the opportunity to electrify the audience with your musicality. Creativity, technique, and vocabulary are the essential skills you'll need to master the art of improvisation and develop into a great soloist. The video guitar lessons in this core course will equip you with the requisite tools and guidance to take your soloing skills to the next level.

Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches is organized into 2 sections. In the first section, you'll work on learning new concepts like playing off of the root, and adding chromatic notes to your solos. In the second section of Performance Studies you will play your way through a mixed bag of essential blues solos.

When you've completed the lessons here in Soloing Approaches, you'll find more lessons focused on soloing in Soloing Principles, also a Play Blues Guitar 6 core course.

The educators demonstrate all of the key examples over jam tracks (where and when applicable) to simulate a real-world application, in a musical context. Key examples are also tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. Take as much time as you need to work through each video guitar lesson before moving on to the next lesson. If you want to dig deeper or wider into any of the topics covered in this core course, check out the rest of the courses in the Blues Learning Path where you'll find more examples, techniques and insight from top TrueFire educators. Grab your guitar and let's get started!

About

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Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches - Introduction

01: Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches - Introduction

Welcome to Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches for intermediate to late Intermediate students of blues guitar. This Blues Learning Path core course is presented by 7 top TrueFire educators: Larry Carlton, Robben Ford, Andy Timmons, Jeff McErlain, Corey Congilio, Andy Aledort, and Robert Renman.

2 min
Concepts and Insight - SECTION 1: Overview

02: Concepts and Insight - SECTION 1: Overview

In this section you will look at how to play off the root note, and always make your way back home. You will also look at how to add some chromatic passing tones to your soloing approach. If you get these concepts down, it will allow you to get to the next level in your soloing.

1 min
Finding Roots & Going Home - Concept 3

03: Finding Roots & Going Home - Concept 3

Finding Roots & Going Home - Concept 3 is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Timmons. Let's build on some of those rhythm and comping ideas with some double stops. I'll show you some of the classic ones that I and other blues players use.

8 min
Free Yourself of Patterns - Fundamentals: Demo

04: Free Yourself of Patterns - Fundamentals: Demo

Free Yourself of Patterns - Fundamentals: Demo is a video guitar lesson presented by Robben Ford. Robben shows you how to break out of a pattern-based mindset with a fretboard workout designed to free up your playing and expand your musical ideas.

4 min
Listen. Play. Emulate. - Fundamentals: Insight

05: Listen. Play. Emulate. - Fundamentals: Insight

Listen. Play. Emulate. - Fundamentals: Insight is a video guitar lesson presented by Robben Ford. Robben shares some great advice on how to speed up your personal development as a musician.

7 min
Approaches to Soloing - Lesson 1:3

06: Approaches to Soloing - Lesson 1:3

Approaches to Soloing - Lesson 1:3 is a video guitar lesson presented by Larry Carlton. In this segment, I'm emphasizing lines that use common chord tones.

3 min
Hybrid Scales - Concept #4

07: Hybrid Scales - Concept #4

Hybrid Scales - Concept #4 is a video guitar lesson presented byRobert Renmanl. This is my own way of viewing 3 useful scales that you can use over the 1-4-5 chords in a blues.

12 min
Chromatic Passing Notes - Concept #13

08: Chromatic Passing Notes - Concept #13

Chromatic Passing Notes - Concept #13 is a video guitar lesson presented byRobert Renman. Chromatic passing notes is something I learned from listening to jazz players. You can add a long line of chromatic notes, as long as you resolve the idea on a good chord tone.

2 min
Performance Studies - SECTION 2: Overview

09: Performance Studies - SECTION 2: Overview

This section is packed with a ton of great solos for you to learn. From Texas blues, to a Rhumba, Chicago blues to a great Call and Response. Learning different styles of solos helps you broaden your range and find your own voice!

1 min
Rumba Blues - Overview

10: Rumba Blues - Overview

Rumba Blues - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. Lets take a look at a rumba blues in the style of Albert King's Crosscut Saw. We are going to mix the major and minor pentatonic scales. This skill is IMPERATIVE for any blues guitar player.

2 min
Rumba Blues - Performance

11: Rumba Blues - Performance

Rumba Blues - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. One of the keys to soloing smoothly and mixing scales is to learn the notes we want to use in the same position on the neck.

1 min
Rumba Blues - Breakdown

12: Rumba Blues - Breakdown

Rumba Blues - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. I am a big fan of mixing the major and minor blues scales as opposed to sticking to the minor blues scale for many reasons. I really love the brighter or sweeter sound it produces.

6 min
Call and Response Blues - Overview

13: Call and Response Blues - Overview

Call and Response Blues - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. Here is a classic call and response blues. Here we are learning how to listen to the band and where we are in the framework of the blues down to the measure.

3 min
Call and Response Blues - Performance

14: Call and Response Blues - Performance

Call and Response Blues - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. The most difficult aspect to a call and response blues is to be in and out of your allotted phrase time smoothly.

2 min
Call and Response Blues - Breakdown

15: Call and Response Blues - Breakdown

Call and Response Blues - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. "OK, so where do I come in with my response lick and where do I finish the lick?" The more you do this the more the timing will come together.

6 min
Floydian Slip - Overview

16: Floydian Slip - Overview

Floydian Slip - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Timmons. This performance is a David Gilmour, Pink Floyd-esque track called "Floydian Slip," a straight rock track on which we can apply several of our blues ideas.

2 min
Floydian Slip - Performance

17: Floydian Slip - Performance

Floydian Slip - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Timmons. This performance is a David Gilmour, Pink Floyd-esque track called "Floydian Slip," a straight rock track on which we can apply several of our blues ideas.

1 min
Floydian Slip - Breakdown

18: Floydian Slip - Breakdown

Floydian Slip - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Timmons. We'll look at my performance of "Floydian Slip," highlighting how to use blues ideas in a rock setting.

4 min
Gate's Girl - Overview

19: Gate's Girl - Overview

Gate's Girl - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown was one of the "swinginest" bluesmen of all time.

2 min
Gate's Girl - Perfomance

20: Gate's Girl - Perfomance

Gate's Girl - Perfomance is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. We're in the key of Eb here. Guitarists don't often play in Eb and it can sometimes feel like a no-man's land when navigating the fretboard. Jump in!

1 min
Gate's Girl - Breakdown

21: Gate's Girl - Breakdown

Gate's Girl - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. Starting phrases on upbeats is a great way to jazz up your solos.

11 min
Messin' Around - Overview

22: Messin' Around - Overview

Messin' Around - Overview is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. "Messin' Around" is based on Fleetwood Mac's "Stop Messin' Around" from the Mr. Wonderful record released in 1968.

2 min
Messin' Around - Performance

23: Messin' Around - Performance

Messin' Around - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. I think one of the main ways to develop your own style and personality is to borrow heavily from the people who came before you.

1 min
Messin' Around - Breakdown

24: Messin' Around - Breakdown

Messin' Around - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Jeff McErlain. This tune contains some tricky pre-bends that take some work to develop the hand strength and ear strength to make them possible.

10 min
Solo #5 - Performance

25: Solo #5 - Performance

Solo #5 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. It's slow blues time. I really enjoy playing over this type of feel because I can take my time!

1 min
Solo #5 - Summary

26: Solo #5 - Summary

Solo #5 - Summary is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. Lick for the I chord is Brotherly Love. Lick for the IV chord is Cross Your T's. Lick for the V chord is Nine To Five. Vaughan Brothers mixed with T-Bone Walker. Can't go wrong!

3 min
Solo #6 - Performance

27: Solo #6 - Performance

Solo #6 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. In this variation I wanted to change everything. I guess I just got caught up in the moment of building solos! Hopefully you will too.

1 min
Solo #6 - Summary

28: Solo #6 - Summary

Solo #6 - Summary is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. Lick for the I chord is Nothing Without This. Lick for the IV chord is More Colors. Lick for the V chord is Need To Know. These are classic sounds in this style.

3 min
Solo #7 - Performance

29: Solo #7 - Performance

Solo #7 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. A topic players often talk about when improvising is starting your lick on upbeats. This example does just that.

1 min
Solo #7 - Summary

30: Solo #7 - Summary

Solo #7 - Summary is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. Lick for the I chord is I Love Pattern 4. Lick for the IV chord is Start Up High. Lick for the V chord is Funky In 4. I'll explain how we stay in a new area of the guitar to create this funky lil' solo.

3 min
Ready for Freddie - Performance

31: Ready for Freddie - Performance

Ready for Freddie - Perfomance is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. If you were longing for some bends, this solo is for you! There are bends in almost every bar!

1 min
Ready for Freddie - Breakdown

32: Ready for Freddie - Breakdown

Ready for Freddie - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Corey Congilio. This solo is in the key of D. Like many great blues solos, this one uses major pentatonic notes mixed in with our trusty minor pentatonic.

8 min
One Way Street: Lead 1 - Performance

33: One Way Street: Lead 1 - Performance

One Way Street: Lead 1 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. Dickey Bett's "One Way Out" solo is a true iconic moment in rock history (so much so that director Martin Scorsese used it for the barroom fight scene in his film, "The Departed.")

1 min
One Way Street: Lead 1 - Breakdown

34: One Way Street: Lead 1 - Breakdown

One Way Street: Lead 1 - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. This solo kicks off with a strong theme based on A minor pentatonic, along the lines of Betts' original solo.

3 min
One Way Street: Lead 2 - Performance

35: One Way Street: Lead 2 - Performance

One Way Street: Lead 2 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. I take a more aggressive approach for solo number two, leaning on standard rock techniques like unison bends and oblique bends.

1 min
One Way Street: Lead 2 - Breakdown

36: One Way Street: Lead 2 - Breakdown

One Way Street: Lead 2 - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. A unison bend on the b7, G, starts off this solo (in true Johnny Winter fashion), followed by a quick slide down to an oblique bend in fifth position.

3 min
Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Performance

37: Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Performance

Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. An earmark of a good solo is that it is melodic and memorable, and this is especially true, and challenging, when playing the blues.

1 min
Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Breakdown

38: Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Breakdown

Sweet Windy City: Lead 1 - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. I utilize and revisit very specific melodic shapes throughout the solo in order to create a feeling of direction and continuity.

3 min
Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Performance

39: Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Performance

Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Performance is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. This second solo example is much more "notey" and is played in a style that evokes Johnny Winter, Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan and Lightnin' Hopkins.

1 min
Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Breakdown

40: Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Breakdown

Sweet Windy City: Lead 2 - Breakdown is a video guitar lesson presented by Andy Aledort. The style of this solo is, to my mind, along the lines of a classic Freddie King "Hideaway" type solo.

3 min
Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches - Conclusion

41: Play Blues Guitar 6: Soloing Approaches - Conclusion

Congratulations on completing this core course in your learning path! When you're ready to advance your skills further, dive into the next core course in your TrueFire learning path. Practice smart. Play hard!

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