How to Play Blues Guitar like a Natural

"...Stevie was right here with me, studying me as I studied the music. That's how we both learned to play. Off the records. No reading, no writing, no training. All by ear."
- Jimie Vaughan on Being Born Into The Blues

Can you really teach yourself blues guitar? You're probably wondering. After all, you've probably seen some of the great blues guitarists of all time play and you can't even imagine playing like that if you lived to be a hundred.

Well, I can honestly tell you that it IS possible to not only teach yourself blues guitar but you can teach yourself and learn it well enough to play as well as anybody else.

Okay, I've just made a bold statement so I better be able to back it up with some data. Don't worry, that's exactly what I'm going to do. For one thing, did you know that MOST blues guitarists are self taught? Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin is a perfect example of a self taught blues guitarist. And he is just one of hundreds of successful ones. But why? Why is it so easy to teach yourself blues guitar?

The reason is because of the nature of the guitar itself. It is not an especially difficult instrument to learn. Some people can pick up a guitar and literally start playing right away, as opposed to the violin which can take a year just to learn how to bow correctly.

The guitar is actually one of the easiest instruments in the world to learn -- period. That's why so many people take it up. And blues is one of the easiest forms of music to learn because of its structure.

Most blues patterns only involve three chords, There are several blues patterns. A common pattern in the key of C would be C for 4 bars, F for 2 bars, C For 2 bars, G for 2 bars, F for 2 bars, C for 2 bars and G for 2 bars before returning back to C. That's 16 bar blues.

You're playing I-IV-I-V-IV-I-V. And there are all kinds of variations on this theme.

Once you learn one pattern in one key, playing it in another key is a piece of cake. Click the link below to read a review of a great product that will allow you to self teach yourself blues guitar. I think you'll find the review quite helpful.

A technical knowledge of harmony is not an absolute prerequisite to the enjoyment of music, but the amateur musician and listener alike should be aware of harmony as an element of guitar chord structure.

He should be cognizant of certain basic principles, properties and the various uses of this element.

Harmony as an element is more sophisticated than rhythm and melody. It is virtually non-existent in primitive cultures. Moreover, it is an element which appeared comparatively late in the history of music, and which was developed primarily in western civilization.

Harmony is a musical element based on the simultaneous combination of musical tones (as distinguished from the consecutive tones of a melody), or the accompaniment of a melody by chords.

A combination of three or more tones played simultaneously and perceived as sounding as a whole is called a chord.

A few rudimentary principles will help you understand the nature of conventional chord construction. The simplest chord is the major triad, which consists of three tones. We can build a triad by selecting the tonic of a certain major scale and by adding two or more tones above it on alternate degrees of the said scale.

For example, if we start with the tone C as "do", the tonic of the C-major scale, we get the triad do-mi-sol, 1-3-5, or using the letter names C-E-G.

The tones of any chord maybe arranged in different order, and they maybe duplicated an octave above or below without changing the essential nature of the chord. This is the reason why oftentimes we see chords such as C/E, (the first inversion of the C major triad using the chord tone E as the bass) or C/G (the second inversion of the same triad using the chord tone G as the bass)

Building chords in thirds (on alternate scale degrees as described) was the basis of all conventional harmony from 1700-1900.

In the twentieth century serious music composers have expanded chord vocabulary by additional means of construction for the sake of more colorful and complex effects. Although additional means of construction have been introduced, modern pop, rock and jazz music still follow the conventional way of chord construction - by thirds.

Going back to the major chord, you may be wondering why there are lots of fingering for a certain major chord. This is possible because in the 12 frets of the guitar, the notes simply repeat themselves in increasing octaves, at their corresponding string.

C, for example, is on the first fret at the B string, third fret at the A string, fifth fret at the G string, and on the eighth fret at the E strings.

As reference, here are the other notes and their possible fingerings:

D: 3rd fret at B, 5th fret at A, 7th at G and 10th at E;

E: 2nd at D, 5th at B, 7th at A, 9th at G and 12th at E;

F: 1st at E, 3rd at D, 6th sy B, 8th sy S snf 10th at G;

G: 3rd at E, 5th at D, 8th at B, 10th at A and 12th at G;

A: 2nd at G, 5th at E, 7th at D, 10th at B and 12th at A;

and B: 2nd at A, 4th at G, 7th at E, 9th at D and 12th at B.

So depending on how the melody of the song is arranged, the chord formation can assume any fingering position as long as the triad is formed and however it is conveniently played.

Now that you have an understanding of the major chord, let us investigate its parallel counterpart the minor chord. If the third of the major triad is altered by lowering it to one semitone (one fret on the guitar and two frets for each whole tone), the resulting triad will be C-Eflat-G, which is the minor triad.

Check the fret board and investigate all the possible fingerings, for the minor chord. You may see that if comparing it with the major chord fingerings, only one string is lowered when forming the minor chord, unless there is a doubling of the minor third (Eflat).

If ever you are wondering why all the examples mentioned here are on the C chord, well, it now your turn to apply the lesson here. Chart down the major and minor chord triads for the rest of the notes and --- start strummin'!

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How quickly can your fretting hand switch from one chord to another? The speed and confidence one has in doing chord changes will be the key to further mastering the guitar and successfully playing and creating music for the instrument.

The key to learning the guitar, or any instrument, like most intricate human activity, is to develop brain and muscle coordination, more commonly called, the muscle memory needed to play the instrument.

If you picture a basketball player, for instance, the key to a good shooting performance is the proper hand-to-eye coordination in order to bring the ball up, prepare, aim, and throw it towards the hoop.

The different muscles of the arms, wrist and hands will learn the right movements and strength needed to score. Constant practice will condition the brain, eyes and entire body to know the routine of shooting the ball.

This is similar to guitar playing. The muscles involved would be the arms, wrists and the fingers, with the eyes, ears and brain working in unison to relate the movements to the music being read and the notes produced by the guitar. This is the mechanism that works when a guitar player starts to change chords.

Luckily, there are simple techniques that can help the beginning guitar player to develop these muscle memories and ear training for proper chord changes. Read on below and you will see that chord changes are not that difficult to do.

When changing chords, first memorize all the chords involved in the song. Then visualize exactly which fingers of the fretting hand are involved in playing the chords. When playing simple barre chords, the most important finger is the index finger, which will squeeze all 6 strings across the fretboard.

So as you move towards playing the chord, you have to position the index finger across the proper fret, or place, along the fretboard before positioning the other fingers of the chord. When playing a broken or simple chord, it is usually the index finger that is the most important finger.

Primarily, the index finger and the thumb will form a stable anchor on the guitar neck in order for the other fingers to press the other strings of the chord.

The index finger is usually played on the lowest fret and the highest string (by pitch, or string 1), where it could more easily find the proper note, and the other fingers can follow to complete the chord.

When playing a particular song, keep time with the music, but anticipate in which bar and on which beat the next chord will continue. For beginners, it would be safe to practice the entire song slowly from beginning to end, taking care to change to each chord on time and on tempo.

When the student can play the entire song like this without chord errors, he can start increasing the speed to the song's proper tempo. It would also be helpful to identify particularly tricky chord changes.

For instance, 2 consecutive bar graphs would be a relatively simple change, because the guitar player needs only to slide his index finger (which is already in the barre position) to its proper position on the fretboard and quickly press in the other strings of the chord.

Changes from simple chords to barre chords - and vice versa - and chords that are positioned at a far distance from each other along the length of the neck would be more difficult to do. Isolate these difficult changes and practice the chord changes.

If it is still to difficult with the slow tempo, don't play the last beat of the last chord and use the time to move your fret hand into position for the next fret. Keep practicing these changes until the short passage can be played without error.

Afterwards, go back to playing the entire song as discussed above. When you can play an entire song properly, try different strumming styles to accentuate parts of the song, or a particular beat.

Or alternate strumming and light plucking to give volume and variety to the music of the song. First, it is best to complete the song by actually copying how the original artist played it on the guitar.

Then, you can add your own twists and extra technique according to your ear and taste. This will help you develop you hands for more difficult chords and finger playing techniques.

Do this for every song, and before you know it, you'd be playing a new song like a seasoned guitarist in no time.