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Learn to play blues guitar.

Percussive Fingerstyle Blues Composition – Acoustic Blues Guitar Lesson – EP187

Description

This lesson was designed to teach you how to play a percussive fingerstyle blues that requires no accompaniment. I’ll show you how to tap the strings on the off beats to create a rhythmic sound that accompanies your playing. I’ll also show you where these notes come from so that you can start to create your own compositions and even improvise in this style of playing.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walk-through

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  6. willise says

    I really have to get a parlour guitar! I’m not much of a lead player – I guess I never had the desire to learn – but I’ve always been a good rhythm player and these acoustic grooves are just fantastic! Any good recommendations for a parlour guitar? I see you playing the Alvarez – is that a AP70? It’s time for me to move away from my Gibsons into something smaller!

  8. sunburst says

    Really cool Brian, I just came home and want to jump right on the acoustic to try this tonight! I was glad to have time all morning on the last lesson and was so involved with it because it was so fun .. Man it is tough keeping up with you but this is a good thing!

  12. Aussie Rick says

    A great lesson and another top-notch composition thanks Brian. I am constantly blown-out by your ability to not only generate great lessons but to compose and play wonderful pieces of original music week after week. Thanks mate – your amazing talent and dedication are immensely appreciated.

    Rick

  16. Jason B says

    Wow. Great composition. Always impressed. The finger style is always difficult for me. Any other lessons that would help me with that would be great. I guess just keep practicing it is the only way to get it. Thanks Brian!

  35. Buster89 says

    So cool ! Always wondered about percussion style play. Brian, you brought it home !
    Always blown away every week.
    Strangely enough, the most challenging lessons seem to always be the acoustic ones but for good reasons which I fully enjoy
    Just to clarify then, Em in 7th measure is E6th minor , right ? relative minor to G6 ?

  38. drlknstein says

    wow- i just go thru this one…when I first watched it-I thought “looks pretty hard- i’ll never get thru it” after your breakdown and thorough explanation–i got it!

    not that i got it perfect- but i got the groove and something new an fun to work on….gonna try it with some hum buckers and dirt.

    thanks….real nice lesson..haunting melody…

    • Brian says

      Update: I have fixed this to reflect the counting in the video. I changed the tab to be 8/4 time instead of 4/4 so now it matches the video. Thank you for calling this to my attention!

      • [email protected] says

        Brian, I notice in the printed tab that not only does the bass E string precede the 2nd beat, but also the third beat of the measure, then back on beat for the fourth. I don’t know what 8/4 time is, but is that correct that only the 1st and 4th E string are on beat? Thanks an love the piece.

        • JEROME L says

          Hello Brian, hello Danway1, hello every one,
          I noticed the same thing about the bass E string preceding second and third beat, but I’m not an expert for reading tabs.
          I think that you’re right danway1, but i’d prefered having some confirmation from Brian.
          Thanks a lot
          (Sorry for my english, I’m french and I was not a good student at english classes at school)

  44. kenny says

    This piece was way to hard for me at the start,then i split each bar in half and hey presto. I dont know if this is correct or not but it got me through. Great work Brian, all the best from oz.

  52. Andy N says

    As soon as I heard the preview I was hooked on this one! Straight into favourites and straight to the top of the ‘must do right now’ list. Have been working on trying to add this style of percussive element to my playing for a while so this lesson is a god send, Great composition, been haunting me all week, especially the Em/A6 transitions in bar 4. Love that!

  53. BobNTexas says

    Love this lesson Brian! I can play some fairly advanced Fingerstyle stuff, but I’ve always struggled with this particular percussive technique. I know if I stick with it this will be a breakthrough for me.

    By the way, that “Pink Floyd” chord is an Em+9.

  61. milo2010 says

    Great! Exactly what I´m looking for.
    Fingernailstroke + syncopated 2 + pull and hammer on = mystic groove.
    Feels like Mark Knopfler is asking me in.
    Thanks for teaching this.
    Thomas
    Frankfurt, Germany

  62. Michael R says

    I LOVE this one so much!! It checks all my boxes: blues, percussive, acoustic, no accompaniment — AWESOME!!! PLEASE DO MORE LIKE THIS SOON 🙂 Also really enjoy all of the Delta Blues stuff you have done, hope to see more of that as well

  63. Johan L says

    I’m taking a detour from Doc Watson and Deep River Blues to play this!
    There’s a really nice feeling when you hit the zone playing this!
    I’m trying to figure out how to add some more bling to it as well, but currently I’m not finding the time slots to do much yet! But I’m hoping that’ll change when I have to think less about coordination.
    Also I seem to get much better tone if I flick my fingers towards the strings, kind of like snapping them, but using the palm of my hand to lock them before flicking. It seems to work well but I’m not sure if I’m loosing precious time when doing so. I’m talking about my index and middle fingers.

    Love this lesson because of the incredible groove it unlocks with so little extra work one has to add!

  64. Robert R says

    Brian. Forgive me, you have probably answered this a hundred times, but I can’t find the answer on the website so far. What Alvarez are you playing on this song? Is it the masterworks MPA70E? If not the E, what pickup are you using? Also what strings for this song? Going to buy my first parlor, and I love the sound you get from that Alvarez. Thank you.

  65. Johan L says

    So I continued today with this, and just had the hardest time finding the rhythm. I mean it was really strange, and I couldn’t fit my life figure out why. Until it hit me.
    When droning a delta, my thumb is the constant that everything else wrapps around. It’s the #1 #2 #3 #4. But here the #2 completely throws that. And having put a lot of effort into keeping a steady rhythm with the thumb I started thinking about if there was any other “place” I could anchor the groove. And then it hit me! The consistent part though all this are the “slaps” or “clicks”.
    Using that as, I don’t really know how to describe it but I guess like my internal counting clock, everything fell into place again.
    So if someone is having a hard time finding the groove, try to ignore the beat and focus on the backbeat instead! It helped me!

  66. blake d says

    this one is really really tough -getting the timing and positioning right is really difficult -this one seems geared to the more advanced guitarist. the newfeatures are really great. I really like a lot of what’s here this week but learning it is really difficult -heck I spent an enormous amount of time just on the first few measures and still can’t get the timing right!

  67. Johan L says

    Brian I have to ask, after the first B7 when you use your pinky and slide up to the E on the B-string and then grab the Em “bar” chord. Right after that when you flick with the back of your nails, you add this exquisite little thing where you quickly mute and then hammer on.. kind of. It sounds so sweet and I’m just trying to figure out what that is.. is that some kind of spell only you wizards are allowed to use? 🙂

  68. poodlefang says

    I’ve been working on this one all week and struggling with the timing. But today it suddenly fell into place and it feels so wonderful to get that groove! Now I just have to fine tune 🙂 You should feel proud, this one is amazing!

  69. Sebastian P says

    Wow! It takes me more than two weeks to get the timing right, but now I’m so happy that I have this lessons forever in my repertoir!

    “The beautiful about learning is nobody can take it away from you!” – B.B. King

    Thank you Brian!

    • Robin S says

      Been at it off and on since mid-January: just about cracked it yesterday but still find it difficult to get the percussive sound. wonderful though when you get it even half-right ! Much admired by odd listeners !
      Would love more like it if possible.
      Robin from Brexit Island.

  71. Harro says

    Today – practising this very nice lesson – I discovered that when you select some bars in the On Screen Tab Viewer these selected bars automatically loop!!! (with a short pause after every loop, but that’s no problem.) That looping-functionality helps me a lot tp practice the phrases that make up your songs., Brian, and it’s something that’s not possible with (your) youtube or vimeo videos…
    Thank you.and maybe you should make a vlog about this (and other functions of the On Screen Tab Viewer?)

  73. fondstring says

    This is really a great technique for the right hand you teach us here. It’s an effective way for making sound relatively simple chord progressions much much more interesting. I enjoy very much playing your composition and I am able to follow other workshops which teach songs from Hozier (admire him a lot …) and from Maroon 5. Thank you so much 🙂

  75. paul c says

    brian ,first off I really like the sound you get out of a guitar ,very fine touch!! I’ve been playing for more than a half century, and this tune floored me! I can’t seem to get started right on the percussive sound. is there any way you could break it completely down? very slow(I mean snail pace) thank you for the inspiration!! paul

  76. Nick_66 says

    These percussive fingerpicking style sounds really nice, but I am having a hard time to get this style under my fingers. It frustrates the hell out of me!!! I am a decent fingerpicker, but this one (also lesson EP221) floored me like Paul. Even slowing down this song doesn’t help. Somehow I find it harder to play. Going to skip these percussive fingerpicking styles. Maybe later in the future. For now I am going to stick to normal fingerpicking. Anyway, great tune Brain!

  78. Marc D says

    Awesome! More of these please! Maybe in Folk like the style of Michael Dunstan, Ziggy Alberts or so? Deep into theses coastal folk stuff. Would be great Brian. Love your lessons

  79. carvy says

    Well Brian, I am loving this piece. I never thought I could get this groove down but it is starting to come together for me and I’m sure for so many others here. Thank You so much for always challenging your students to improve, especially on arrangements such as EP187 and so many others.

    Kevin

  81. JoLa says

    🎼🎵… People are crazy and times are strange
    I’m locked in tight, I’m out of range
    I used to care, but things have changed… 🎶🎧

    ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🤩👍❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

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