Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a rhythm for a 1-4-5 Blues progression that sounds interesting by mixing up strum patterns and chord embellishments.
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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This sounds awesome Brian!
Any chance of getting this in the musical notation format you usually use in Soundslice?
Disregard I found how to change it notation.
how did u do that?
When using the Soundslice section of the lesson at the bottom is a set of buttons. To the far right is a button labelled “More Settings.” Click that and a menu will open on the right side of the screen. There will be a label “Appearance” and to the right of that is the label “Notation.” Click the “Hide” button to switch between only tabs or tabs and notes.
I always welcome rhythm lessons! Great beat and I really love the sound of those 9 chords played that way! Thanks Brian.
Its interesting that playing a clichéd first 12 bars helps accentuate the variations in the bars that follow . Its like a breath of fresh air.
Also like the Freddy King E9 in bar 17
Luv this stuff! It’s the kind of rhythm I find easy and enjoyable, and the extra embellishments I’ve learned over the years with you, are making my guitar playing way more interesting and koool sounding! Thx, Brian.👍
Every week I wonder what has Brian got for us this week. You never disappoint us Brian. Another fun and interesting lesson and composition.
Lots of good ideas here! works well with finger picking too.
Hi Nelson, hi Brian and every one.
Nelson I appreciate your comment ; it will encourage me to continue.
I tell that because I have difficulties to play with a pick and I feel more confortable with finger picking.
But is it possible to be as fast and precise without a pick as with one in such rythm exercise?
Great lesson Brian, bringing all these chords together from previous lessons really pays off
Just to add to my previous comment the E6 at the end reminds me of the Beatles. I think at the time it was unusual but distinct
I have enjoyed your CEO 7 over time and I am disappointed that Martin made guitars with potential binding issues. I understand they have solved the problem in the last few years. I hope you can get them to pay for your repair.with a qualified luthier.
I love this so much. The strum pattern/style is instantly gonna be a staple for me. Thank you.
Always hear songs hidden in different sections of these lessons. This one I hear Lyle Lovett’s I’ve Been To Memphis in the section where you’re going back and forth between the open E and the A half bar with the hammer on the G string with the E chord. Super cool.
I’ve a got an older CEO-7 with a similar binding problem.
It’s a very nice little guitar.
If I was Martin’s CEO I think I would address this known issue on a guitar with my name on it.
great lesson Brian…full of good ideas and not to difficult to follow. come up with more rithm stuff in the future please. it’s so helpfull in many ways.
Good lesson! Thanks Brian!
very good love it . Especially the stuff at the end of a
part 2
Great fun – I caught myself smiling.
I think that when it comes to strumming patterns you just have to feel it. Breaking it down by upstroke, downstroke, etc. makes it awkward for me and causes me to think when I really should be feeling the rhythm. I find that sometimes it’s just easier to listen to the rhythm and then just play until I feel it. And when I feel it I find that I’m just doing naturally what Brian is explaining. Not that there’s anything wrong with the explanations. It’s just that sometimes I think you just have to listen and trust yourself to find the rhythm and eventually you will and all the technical stuff will work itself out naturally.
This is both true and incorrect at the same time. It is true that in the beginning, thinking about the rhythm on each up/down stroke is awkward and will have no rhythm at first. Because this pattern is a bit harder to feel because of the string skipping, it is likely not going to feel natural at first. But getting the proper up/down strokes can prevent hang ups on a lick or strumming if you practice it wrong. It just depends on the particular rhythm and where the accented parts lie. I have benefited greatly by paying attention to the small details such as strumming pattern or pick pattern on some tricky licks. There is usually more than one way to get the job done, but there will always be a way that is more efficient and flows better so I highly recommend duplicating exactly what Brian is doing slowed down to start with.
Even if it is awkward at first, just slow everything down to a crawl and use the correct picking/strumming pattern with correct timing until you get a feel for it. This one definitely tripped me up at first (and I’m pretty good at this stuff) because it just wasn’t natural feeling. So I go through a process of listening to the part at a slowed down speed and try and recreate with accuracy at first. Then, it suddenly will start to flow and I can then speed up a little. Rinse and repeat.
This one is well worth putting the time in to get the strumming pattern down so it all flows well. If you can record yourself, and it sounds correct compared to Brian’s demo, then congratulations, you have something to add to your collection of rhythm skills.
Is it just me? I “feel” like the hammer on between the 1st&2nd measure should start with an upstroke. That’s what my right hand is telling me.
When I play it with a down stroke, I get a heavier accent on the hammer on, but I find it knocks the natural movement of my right hand temporarily out of sync when I push a downstroke on the & of 4.
It works either way, but it just ‘feels ‘ more natural to me to keep my right hand in sync. It takes a bit more practice to accurately hit those notes on the upstrokes though, but the ‘groove’ flows easily that way for me.
All your guitar blues is awesome I’m slowly working on it but I sit and practice quite a bit. Slowed up a little doctors found another brain tumor on me so slowing me up but still hitting hard. You keep me strong on the learning thnx. I’ll find out what they are gonna do on brain surgery on the 22 of this month I’ll be taking my guitar and you to whatever hospital I go. You’re a great teacher
Hang in there, Agustin. Our guitars and our efforts are great sources of strength and solace. All the best to you.
Thanks for another great lesson. Thanks Brian.
I love this style of acoustic playing, these are always fun lessons – Thanks!
As for the binding issue, I had the same issue with my 0-18. Binding starting to come loose at the exact same spots. Called a luthier in town who is a Martin Certified repair person/shop. He or I – forget who – sent the warranty info of the guitar to Martin and the luthier went ahead with the repair. Cost me nothing but a bit of time. He said this is a very common problem with the newer Martins, especially. But since the repair, she’s as good as new. No issues after a few years now. It is sad that such a legendary guitar has this problem, but its all good now and I can enjoy my Martin again.
Keep on, keepin on, man!
Brian,
Another great lesson. As usual, I need to stop the play at various points to try and digest what you are saying. All real good stuff and some of it is actually starting to click with me (:
Hello Bryan,
Just renewed my membership after watching this week’s lesson. I have the CEO7, same vintage, same problem. Apparently an EPA issue requiring Martin to change binding glue. Sites on YouTube which describe the problem. Repair should be covered by Martin, if you use Martin-authorized shop.
Rob
Hi Brian.
Great song. Thanks again. Just to let you know, the TAB shows the G#m and Bm as m7 chords on measure 8.
Oops! My bad I didn’t see the comment.
After just a couple of days I feel that I have a good handle on the first part. Which is a testament to your teaching and how far i’ve come in the past couple of years as a premium member. And I actually understand where its all coming from! Great little tune, love any stand alone Ragtime blues type vibe. Really enjoying EP624 as well. Now last weeks fingerstyle? Thats going to take a bit longer.
I’m a little confused about the F# as an embellisment on the Adim7. That’s like flatting the double flatted 7th. Why does that work? I mean it sounds great, but I’m wondering why that works. Seems like that could be applied to all dim7 chords.
The prior finger style arrangement and this rhythm arrangement are both excellent and provide stretch opportunities for my skill level. Once I get cooking on either the result is very musical, the key seems to be keeping good timing, a good groove. I find that if I simplify them a bit in order to develop the groove, I am able then to add in the embellishments in and get to your full score. I really dig these “ play by yourself” pieces that are well above my skill, by the end of the week I’m able to get pretty close. Thanks again for your awesome teaching! Guy
Excellent composition Brian, certainly adds spice to rhythm and shows how important a good rhythm section can be. Could you do something similar in the style of “I fought the Law”?
Thank you for this…
Brian: I traveled out to Martin in 2019 and bought new D18. Had the same issue with binding after five years. And I treat my guitars well. The more I researched it the more reports like this I saw. One person explained that certain glues had been banned in PA due to environmental concerns and this impacted quality. In any event it’s more common than you think. What ever the cause is.
Hi Brian,
You mentioned the binding in the waist of your CEO 7. I have a 2013 000-28 and the binding in the waste came loose as well. I had a Martin factory rep fix it and Martin paid for it. I must say this took me a while to figure out and how to get Martin to fix it. I did not even know the name “binding” at the time. Needless to say I learned a lot. Martin said it was an issue with glue and the Luthier that fixed my guitar said this was a known issue with Martin guitars and he had fixed many Martin’s with this specific issue.
Love your lessons, have gotten a lot out of them. But this on is over my head with all of the barre cords. Too hard on my old hands. I’m not criticizing, there is so much material on the site, i can always find something I can take on.
Brian, I have that exact guitar and the same thing happened on mine on the front and back. I took it to a Martin repair shop and it is covered under warranty. It is a known problem with that model and year of certain guitars. It was a glue issue. They fixed it and I am super happy I finally took the time to have it done.
Great lesson….a longtime member.
So sorry to hear about your CEO-7, Brian. I remember when you first got it and I fell head over heels in love with its sound and ordered one for myself a year or two later. I have absolutely loved mine like no other guitar I’ve had, and the first few years I had it you and I exchanged comments about how wonderful the smell emanating from the sound hole was even after a few years. Mine is sitting right next to me as I write this or else I’d be holding and playing her. I had been planning to buy my first Martin to fulfill a 50 year wish but I always assumed it’d be a
D-18 and after retiring I could finally afford to buy a 1951 Martin D-18 (my birth year) in moderate condition and I was scouting the market. I don’t play live standing up anymore and a dreadnought was starting to put me off but to me it was the holy grail of sound. Your CEO-7 had that sound but it would be comfortable to play sitting down and pretty much whenever I’m sitting down she’s in my lap. I, of course, have heard of the binding issues and even rumors of a CEO-7 or two but yours is the first I’ve really seen. It reminded me of the first person we all knew who got covid 6 years ago. I’m afraid to look too closely at mine but at least now that I’m retired I’ve built a recording studio and guitar workshop with tools so maybe I can contain it if I keep an eye on it. Thanks for another solid little groove on that baby. She still sounds great! I always think you got a better sounding one and I get jealous until I remember that if we switched guitars, the one you were playing would still sound better…lol. Thanks for a decade of lessons and Ima gonna learn this one right now…
This is why I subscribe!!!!
this is really helping a to understanding the caged system and learning how to improvize thank you john
I always like the rhythm lessons.
sooo cool !!! Thanks Brian !!!!