Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Blues lead over a jam track with STOPS! – Fill the space when the band stops – Guitar Lesson – EP622

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play an Eric Clapton inspired lead over an awesome jam track that was provided by QUIST (links to his channels below). This jam track has stops where the band drops out, and you get to creatively fill the space with your lead (so much fun!)

If you like this jam track, be sure to check out Quist’s social media accounts below:

YouTube channel – full of classy sounding backing tracks by going here
Spotify – Stream Quist backing tracks by going here
Instagram – Featuring some of Quist’s amazing guitar work by going here

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  6. ROBERT M says

    Great stuff and I can handle most of it but my fingers at 82 years of age are not quite as nimble these days so I have to improvise over a few parts but these types of blues lessons are right up there so please give as many as you like.

    • Joseph B says

      Agree Buddy … Just hit 82 years and improvising is all that’s achievable. Voice is gone , Memory is poor, so songs are out, arthritis in the fingers stops chords. But enjoy trying to become a blues guitarist that can entertain family and friends. Where were these internet lessons in the 60’s and 70’s.

  10. Michael Krailo says

    I don’t like getting my electric guitar out very often, but this piece demands it. The backing track is outstanding and the resulting lead guitar is so satisfying. I started working on it using my acoustic, but it really needs the electric sound and ease of bending to really pull it off. Hat’s off you you Brian on this one.

  12. JEFFREY R says

    very good love it. Thanks you for mentioning the equipment your using. The line 6 helix multi effects pedal. It is nice to know . You mentioned the Kemper profiler once in one of your earleir video lessons , Thats why I asked. I Will go check out Quist.

  14. Jeff H says

    Wow! What a great lesson. An instant favourite. So many fantastic elements, great tone, great licks, you can’t help but get that sound in your head. This will be challenging, but worth learning. You’ve done it again Brian.

  16. Andre J says

    HI

    Ive Just Join you and have to say very disappointed
    fist of all having problem to lessen to you on E{-622
    as well on you tube Ep-622 have Very nice backing truck then
    on you site you sending me some other side to find a backing truck // to difficult joining you I thought that will be very professional
    the practice truck on EP 622 is Pathetic
    love you lessons on you Tube

    • Brian says

      Andre, sorry to hear that you’re having a hard time getting things to work. I’ve read your comment 2 or 3 times and THINK I understand what you’re saying. The backing track for EP622 is on THIS page – *YOU DO NOT HAVE TO CLICK ON THOSE LINKS*. I just included the links to Quist’s channels so you can check out his other work if interested. The backing track for this lesson is above – you’ll see “EP622 – Minus Guitar Part”, “EP622 – With Guitar Part”, etc. Those are the backing tracks. I’ve included a slower version as well.

    • Michael Krailo says

      Hopefully you found the backing tracks in the upper right corner of this lesson page because it is the exact same as the one Brian is using. Some lessons have backing tracks and others are simply standalone pieces. The value of joining this site is much more than getting backing tracks. The quality of Brian’s insight into the scales, notes, progression, and techniques used made a big difference in my personal progress. You see some of that quality in the freely given YouTube video’s, but the tool that I like the best is the sound slice tab player which allows you to highlight just the measures you are working on and play at a speed you are comfortable with and keep looping it over and over. It takes some getting used to in order to figure out how to best utilize this tool, but it is a great resource. The backing tracks usually come in a normal and a slower speed as well. So hopefully your initial disappointment has been resolved so you can get on with growing as a guitarist and fully enjoying the process.

      It would take me a life time to go through all the previous lessons. Find the one’s you like and have fun learning them. Be open minded with the different styles of music offered as each lesson has takeaways that you can use in virtually any style of music.

      Honestly, I have not delved into the Quist site other than to look at it and be amazed at his quality backing tracks that he offers. So it is not necessary to use or purchase his tracks. This lesson shows how an amazing lead guitar part can be created to go with any backing track you may encounter if you know the scales, progression, and a basic licks that you can use to fill the voids.

  21. Imerio A says

    Great lesson Brian. I love this kind of blues. The first time I found you on Youtube it was with a similar type of thing and I m following you since then.
    You are a big teacher….the best in many ways.

  28. Alan S says

    Is your guitar sound coming through a Kemper Profile amp? If so in the future could you state what Preset you are using at the beginning of each lesson. Helps to emulate your guitar sound for easier learning and ear training .

    Thanks

  29. Aj M says

    Brian
    Love this sound. I was wondering if I am getting into a bad habit. I seem to find that it is easier (so far) for me to roll me ring finger across the frets, rather than extending my middle finger to hit those “lower” strings (on the same fret).
    Should I “correct” that habit, will it cost me in the future?
    Thank you

    • michael f says

      Hey Aj,
      Mike here. Wanted to respond to your fingering question. I used to use my pinky alot more especially to span 4 frets, but I seem not to use that finger so much. after seeing how Brian fingers some of these licks. Using that middle finger to reach that note on the fifth string tells my ear that the 5 chord is next and its a turnaround, So fingering is definitely part of muscle memory when it comes to hearing the changes. This is brought up by guitar teachers sometimes but you can always try out the fingering by watching the video. Experiment is key. I think your “bad habit” will correct itself over time if need be.

  38. Natarajan R says

    I will confess to not having heard much early Clapton, but the stops do remind me of portions of the intro to Deep Purple’s ‘Lazy’ (1:45 into the Machine Head version). Which I will tackle after I get better at this excellent lesson. Thank you!

  41. michael f says

    Ty muchly. Luv the idea of repeating same lick in different positions! Also shout out to the tab and notation here, especially when it comes to trying to nail the timing down on the bends. I am a learner that has to deconstruct the timing by counting out the notes if there is a chance I can nail the timing. This one has a few measures of just sixteenth notes, so “1-eee-an-a, 2-eee-an-a, etc.” which speed you up but counterintuitively seem easier for me to play than the measures which combine sixteenths with eighth notes, The eighth notes in these measures and in this arrangement sort of serve to slow you down. Like Brian says, if you actually tap your feet in time, ths arrangement actually plays slower than it sounds if that makes sense.
    Also thanks for pointing out that 5 chord option in which you give us the option of “switching” by playing the pentatonic scale OF THAT CHORD. Works in both a major and minor key. If I can hear the chord change, I think I can get there.

    • Will L says

      Hi Michael,
      I too have to work on timing.
      I don’t know if you have noticed the “speed training” option in the tab viewer screen (it is 100% by default), give it a try, loop 4 bars and select “speed training”, it will playback times and become faster after each 3.
      It is my “go to” for lessons like this.

  42. Will L says

    Hi Michael,
    I too have to work on timing.
    I don’t know if you have noticed the “speed training” option in the tab viewer screen (it is 100% by default), give it a try, loop 4 bars and select “speed training”, it will playback times and become faster after each 3.
    It is my “go to” for lessons like this.

  52. Rob S says

    What a great lesson! So many incredible licks and advice. Please keep these incredible blues lessons coming Brian. There’s so much to learn and try to absorb. Your last few comments on forgetting licks is always my problem lesson to lesson but I realize I just have to go back to the prior lessons I’m working on and continue to work them into a regular schedule and try to pull licks from one lesson into another. Thank you Brian. Another home run!

  57. Ronald K says

    Thank you for all the hard work you put in to make these videos. Most of us don’t consider what you have to do behind the scenes. I’d love to see you put together a behind the scenes look at the process. I’ve learned so much from you but this is the first video I’ve learned so much bending technique and it is killing my fingers, but I love it. Thanks again and I immediately went to Quist’s Spotify channel for some fantastic backing track.

  63. Anthony V says

    Hi Brian,

    Big hi from Australia, just want to say thank you so much over the last few years for both inspiring me and challenging me to bring playing my guitar in to my daily life. At 69 YO its slow going
    but hey, that’s OK, there is no rush. With every lesson I get drawn more deeply in to where you are coming from and I appreciate the patience you show in explaining every nuance and every note of your compositions.

  65. Michael Krailo says

    After working on this piece for a while and coming back to it and having an issue reproducing that fast lick, I realized that @13:50 point in the first video, Brian attempts to describe what he is doing for that fast lick on beat 3 of bar 7, but he describes what he is doing wrong by showing his ring finger lifting right away. I slowed the original way down and he clearly holds the ring finger down at normal speed which allows both notes to clash for a moment before pulling off with that same ring finger. If you lifted up on that ring finger like he demo’d in his explanation, the lick may not sound or feel right and be much more difficult to play well. That ring finger has to stay down while picking the Bstring and allowing both notes to clash before pulling off. Again, you will see it if you slow the video down on his original song demo. I hope this helps someone that might be struggling to get that particular lick down but got confused by his explanation of it. It’s a great sounding lick and can be employed in many different ways to create yet other licks that use that same or similar formula of finger movement.

    After understanding this important point about the lick, I was able to duplicate the sound perfectly. So I think it was just an oversight at the time he made the video because sometimes it’s hard to slow down what you do naturally at a fast speed.

    If anyone has any question about this, just friend me and shoot me a PM and I’ll clarify it for you. It’s not hard at all once you get the idea down.

    • Michael Krailo says

      I think what you meant to say was “semi-hollow body” guitar. It’s one of the types of electric guitars that most guitarists have in their collection that they can use to get the sort of sound you just heard in this lesson. It’s usually described as a warmer sound. No mystery to it.

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