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Playing a blues guitar is no easy feat, but one which becomes infinitely rewarding once mastered. If you’ve already begun on this journey, then you probably already know the kind of passion and commitment it requires, but you can also probably already guess how amazing it will feel once you can deliver those blues guitar solos you’ve dreamed of. In order to able to play your guitar like the heroes you look up to, you first need to master the 3 blues rules any good guitarist follows throughout his career, or until they become so flawless in their technique that they can afford to improvise more.
In this short Griff Hamlin guide and lesson, we will break down for you what these rules are and how you should start applying them, for killer blues solos made easy.
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Basically, our guides and tutorials will tell you everything you need to know in order to become an awesome blues player even with minimal effort. Of course, you won’t be able to turn into this pro-level blues player overnight no matter what amazing tutorials of ours you follow, but with the right guidance, it can only take you a couple of months with just one hour or less of practice a day. Considering that getting blues guitar solos right is usually a tens of years affair, you can understand the colossal important of ‘smart playing’, which involves the following of these 3 blues rules.
You can learn more about the 3 blues rules discussed on this page with in depth training, and you can also discover how to play blues guitar with this tutorial for a more introductory approach. You will get hours and hours of video training, a live tutorial (with notes visible on screen as well) on how to perfectly master and apply the 3 blues rules during your guitar solos, as well as all the awesome blues guitar tabs you could want, neatly organized and presented. Our Killer Blues Solos Made Easy tutorial is really something you don’t want to miss out on, since it was for many amateur guitarists the turning point between beginners and impressive soloists, with minimal hours spent training.
Rule #1: Never start a guitar lick on beat 1
The number 1 beat is a really bad place to start your guitar licks, take it from the pros. If many times it has happened that you hear an attempted blues guitar solo from a fellow amateur guitarist, and it sounds a bit off right from the start, although you can’t quite put your finger on it, this is the reason. No matter how impeccable your technique is, it will be harder for you to hit the beats on your desired rotation if you start with beat 1, not to mention that the sound may still seem a bit off even if you manage the beat sequence and its timing right.
Rule #2: Hit a chord tone on the 3 magic chord changes during a blues solo
Our tutorials (linked above) can teach you the 3 major magic cord changes that once you master can be applied to any blues guitar solos you will be play from now on. Basically, if you take a chord tone which is part of the blues guitar tab you’re trying to play and you try to hit it mainly on those 3 chord changes described in our tutorials, it will sound as flawless and complex as if you’re the reincarnation of a blues legend come back to melt people all over again.
Rule #3: Use the major blues sound over chord I while keeping to minor over chords IV and V
It sounds complicated maybe, but it isn’t. Once you will learn to apply this most elusive of the blues rules correctly, the hand movements involved will start to come natural and you will be able to intuitively play the blues guitar solos you’ve been dreaming of much more easily than if you’re still struggling with internet-found tabs.
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How to Start Applying the Blues Rules
The first thing you need to do is to start practicing for just 30 minutes or another every day, but to practice smartly. Following a well-conceived video lesson plan (like the ones included in our blues guitar tutorials) will allow you to develop these almost automatic hand skills with a really practical approach, so you won’t really need to learn the blues rules the hard way, through the longer and uncertain path of try-and-fail. If you learn to apply these rules & tricks with good precision, the kind of precision which is more of a physical skill and thus can only be built in time, any blues guitar solo you’ll attempt will sound flawless even if you haven’t exactly dedicated your life to practicing for 10 hours a day.
Extra Tips for Playing Your Blues Guitar Solo
Our number one tip must be this: never stop practicing your blues guitar skills. Even if you’re tired at the end of a long day and in the mood for anything else than your guitar, just do some minimal hand warm-ups from a tutorial, for about 30 minutes and you’re done. If you manage to squeeze this 30 minute (ideally, one hour) long practice session into your schedule for at least 2-3 times a week, and you follow our blues rules recommendations, you will have all the advantages you need for becoming truly good.
Next, once you’ve mastered the basic and feel confident about performing your first official blues guitar solo, don’t rush it. It may sound as a complete lack of spontaneity, but trust us when we say that you should practice the exact blues piece that you plan on playing, in private, beforehand. Even when you think you got it right, practice it (re-play it) some more, just to be sure. Only afterwards you should go into the world with your blues guitar solo for an audience, and have all the certainty you could want that your listeners will be blown away.
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