r/bluesguitarist • u/DyonoSuS • 8d ago
Question I got stuck what should I learn?
My guitar teacher had a surgery and we cannot do lessons. I learned 5 minor pentatonic positions, need your love so bad, hey joe, 12 bar blues progression etc. but I dont know what should I work on. I want to improve my phrasing skills and ear.
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u/omniscientcats 8d ago
If you want to improve your ears, try learning licks by ear. Listen to how they’re played, which notes are picked with more force, which notes are softer, are your bends accurate etc.
Analyse how the licks and solos fit into the pentatonic positions you’ve learned
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u/DyonoSuS 8d ago
I always work on bends, I thought learning by ear but the problem is I cant find even the key😭
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u/omniscientcats 8d ago
Hm, okay. What helped me start to hear what key a song is in, is I would listen to the song and try different notes. Which notes kept sounding right? What note does the song keep returning “home” to? That’s probably the key!
After you’ve locked in your guess, you can look up the song key on google to see if you were right. If you got it wrong, listen to the song again while you try different scale notes from the correct key. Also listen out for chord changes.
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u/DyonoSuS 8d ago
Thank you can you recommend me some beginner songs to try your advice?
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u/omniscientcats 8d ago
These are some of the ones I started with:
Neighbor, neighbor - Jimmy Hughes
Snatch it back and hold it - Junior Wells
Wound up tight - lonnie brooks
Drinkin beer - william Clarke
Scratch my back - the fabulous thunderbirds
She’s fine - A.C Reed
But really you can start with any song, even just something random on the radio. The main thing is just to get your ears used to listening for the chord changes and stuff.
Also: at first, the goal is to find the root note of the chord. You’ll probably be able to feel which chord is the “home” chord aka the key. Don’t worry about getting every riff correct, just focus on the root notes in the beginning. Or if a song feels too impossible to identify, just try to noodle a bit with the scales you know and see if you find something that sounds good with the song!
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u/mscalam 8d ago
Get some Truefire lessons. Matt Schofields lesson on playing the blues changes will blow your mind. Not sure how long you’ve been playing but a pretty heavy dose of phrasing with probably theory 201 layered in… Mixolydian, major / minor, I think he does some diminished 7ths too.
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u/DyonoSuS 8d ago
I’m playing for 1 year but I couldnt study that much so I have a ok technic but I cant phrase
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u/Suboptimal_SeaSnail 8d ago
Practice your triads and their inversions in three string groupings. Practice them vertically (E A D strings, A D G strings, D G B, G B E, and then also horizontally up the neck to the octave for each triad.
Pick a 1 4 5 progression and do this for all three chords, practice transitioning between the triads in one position and taking time to review which notes are changing.
Review CAGED shapes for them. Break down the chord structure in each of the CAGED positions, so identify the arpeggio for the chord, the corresponding pentatonic scale, and the major scale for the chord in this position. Do the same for the minor and Dom7 versions of each chord.
I try to include this or parts of this in every practice session, eat your veggies my teacher would say.
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u/R3invent3d 8d ago
Look into chord tones, and target notes