How to Practice the Blues

Most blues guitarists don't have a technique problem. They have a listening problem.

The usual routine goes like this. Put on a backing track in A, find the box at the fifth fret, and play for half an hour. It feels like work, but you're rehearsing what you can already do. After a few years you sound fluent and a bit empty, and more hours don't fix it.

This book is about changing what you pay attention to while you play, because that's what practice actually trains.

Inside:

• Why the usual routine doesn't teach you anything, and the one change that fixes it
• What each note of the minor pentatonic does over the I, IV and V chords
• Call and response with yourself: phrases that ask, phrases that answer, and how much space to leave
• Playing ahead of, on and behind the beat, where to start a phrase, and how a note ends
• Practising without backing tracks so you know where you are in the twelve bars
• A half-hour practice session that puts it all together

It's six short chapters, all in A, with tab for every example and the interval of each note printed underneath. Each chapter ends with short exercises, and there are notes pages at the back.

This is a rewritten edition. The first version spent too long explaining and not enough time showing you what to do. This one is shorter, more direct, and built around things you can play.

Who it's for: players who know the pentatonic box and can get through a twelve-bar, but still don't sound like they mean it. It's not a beginner's book and it won't give you new licks.

Also available in the Blues Bundle.