Description
In this blues guitar lesson you’ll learn how to play a raw, down and dirty sounding blues on electric guitar. You’ll learn how to fill the space in a blues trio, and accompany only a bass and drums. Guitar players in trios have to fill a lot of space and this lesson shows you how to use the “call and response” technique which alternates back and forth between rhythm and lead. I’ll show you which scales all of these licks come from a well. There are lots of takeaways in this lesson that you’ll be able to apply to your own 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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scottas55 says
Thanks ?
Michael Allen says
Love it!!
JohnStrat says
What a beauty lots in this as always johnstrat
madams says
Awesome! Just what I needed to motivate me!
I love how you are always innovating with your lessons.
Michael
Maradonagol says
almost Bonamassa…….I’ll take it…thanks Brian…
Roberto
Jeem says
Nice & Dirty!
I’m sure I can totally trash this one with 4 times more amp gain!
I can’t wait!
Thanks Brian!
Jim
Jimmy James says
Can’t wait to get home and practice this one! Is that a new Jimmy Vaughn Strat?
jimbostrat says
The key changeover with Brian and ActiveMelody.com these last nearly 3 years I’ve been a Premium Active Melody member is :
Brian’s always consistently come up with cool sounding original pieces and has done a fine job of explaining these progressions and riffs and solos etc……but particularly over the past year and a half or so, Brian has become a phenomenal guitar instructor! By this I mean coursing that necessary theory into our brains and identifying possible problem areas we’ll experience ahead of time and knowing when to refer us back to his Active Melody various separate lessons plus keeping these lessons interesting and upbeat to the point!! How can anyone ask for anything more?? With this lesson Brian stresses that we must first learn to jam with ourselves before we can ever expect to jam with others.
Jim C.
squirewire1963 says
Terrific lesson Brian. I haven’t played much over the summer but am starting up again. This lessons is a great place to start. Lot’s of subtle little goodies in there!
Neil.woodcock says
Brian – You are really good at this!
Luc K says
I love this a lot,
thanks Brian
brian-belsey says
The lessons are always interesting, but this one seems to capture something really basic and primitive (in a good way) about blues. Great stuff!
JohnStrat says
Brian re your comment about how it helps you to see people from all over the world posting their playing and how rewarding it is for you we can only guess. It is certainly a great thing.
But it is undoubtedly a two way package. Because of your skills in playing, in web publishing and in teaching we are all getting to be able to play the guitar or improving from our stand point. That for me is a life time ambition that until I found AM thought to be permenantly on the back burner. So I want to say Big Thank You. Iknow that close to 100 percent of all the other premium members will wish to concur with that sentiment .
John Strat
jon a says
Agreed!
and would be nice were Brian to show his ‘CV’ .. to see (and appreciate!) how his talents have progressed .. how he’s grown in skill and incite and abilities ..
So, Brian?? Listening???
jon a says
ooops!!! Try ‘insight’ , although he has ‘incited’ us to work harder ;))
Brian says
I’m always listening. What is CV?
Doug T says
Meat and taters, great to keep it fresh and mix it up. Solid lesson Brain
sunburst says
Good Saturday rainy outside morning ! Going to play along 1st listening to your interesting introduction video.. really enjoy how you explain how you play these licks! feeling the vibratos the palm muting bends pulloffs hammerons slides both Major minor pentatonic positions/ patterns up and down the neck! Really great lesson ..
Jim M says
Brian,
Your lessons always keep my creative juices flowing !!!
sunburst says
Really impressed Brian! I played along and as you say in description ..RAW .. also enjoy the down and dirty ..G F#F descendings.. Another excellent lesson and exquisitely new for me ! thank you much.. going to smooth this out later on today..after this am session!
Lyle says
Awesome! Thanks Again
Mudshark says
Yes thanks Brian for pointing out that North Mississippi Allstars reference; it made me thing about their style. Did you know that the two Dickinson brothers of the NMA are sons the famous producer and collaborator Jim Dickinson (Ry Cooder, Rolling Stones, Big Star, Totos and the Maytals…)I do believe they are still active.
barry says
Brian Another Excellent Piece of Creativity and Playing Skills !!
Barry
roco says
Very Nice!!!
Thomas G says
Ahh! Something something with some grit! Thanks
Lefteris B says
This dirty thing, and sound and rythm and everything get me crazy. Thanks, Brian!
Steve M says
Brian, I love it! So tasty! I think lessons like this that are call and response mixtures of rhythm and lead really resonate with me. I find them both really fun and I seem to incorporate them sooner in what I’m doing. Keep’em coming!
Rajiv D says
Great lesson Brian. Slowly but surely the various blues combinations are coming together in my head !!
joe c says
Kind of midnight in Chicago with a taste of Muddy Waters and Jimmy Rogers, very cool
bwade913 says
Thanks Brian, I look forward to learning this lesson. The North Mississippi Allstars are still active and the opened at Red Rocks this summer for Tedeschi Trucks Band and Los Lobos. All three bands sat in during all three sets. One of the best concerts I’ve seen.
Allan says
Hi Brian love this type of lesson great with the backing track can just get into the groove and play on and on cheers mate
Peter P says
Another great one. By consistently framing the lessons to chords and scales my minds picture of the fret board has improved dramatically. A big step forward for me. Thanks Brian.
Lights says
Very good lesson!
drlknstein says
wow-I really like this one.!!
.I am a big fan of the open E blues…I always forget to try the capo thing..
I had just reviewed the Jimmie Vaughn lesson on thursday -so this was a great surprise…
.I just got thru both parts and there are a lot of really good ideas and “take-aways” in there to go back and work on…
.oh yeah- I could not hear anything on the video (noise) etc …and the BJ sounded real good to me—I m guessing that s your Jimmie Vaughn strat w/ the hot Texas pups-
it all sounded real good to me . thanks
lil blind hermy_-T
Ken C says
Brian, thanks for another great lesson. Your opening riff reminds me of my first introduction to the blues on Beale Street, which was off-limits to Marines, many moons ago. Can’t wait to get started on this one. I’ve noticed you have students from everywhere, thanks to the web and your fantastic site. God bless you and your family. KC
sunjamr says
I was feeling the need for some raunchy slow blues, so I started listening to some of Ronnie Earl’s slow blues a couple of days ago to see if i could learn some of his licks. And lo and behold, here’s a lesson that teaches just what I was wanting to learn! This is my lucky day!
adam-quin says
Excellent lesson, the teaching and guidance is superb, the inclusion of all levels of talent and learning is so refreshing and builds confidence. Thanks Brian.
Andy N says
Down and Dirty Blues! Great Title, Great Lesson! Love all those licks with ringing open strings in them. Just got my first ever electric guitar this week. Always had acoustics until now but your lessons have inspired me to branch out and this makes a perfect place to start my electric odyssey. Plenty to learn and practice here and I’ve been having loads of fun making a proper din in this corner of the UK. The rest of family think we’ve got the builders in 🙂
Greg E says
Brilliant! loads of technique to take away from this one, many thanks
JMTster says
Brian, just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy all your lessons, but this one particularly hit home at the right time. I find myself getting ahead of myself and forgetting to return to the basics and expand on them. A great lesson!
Kyle M says
Awesome lesson as usual Brian!
parsonblue says
Like many of these basic blues tunes I prefer the slow walk through version…more down and dirtier. The word “raunchy” comes to mind.
riteus1 says
Hey great lesson! Thanks for your insights and explanations, it helps me creating my own licks. Still waiting for some Santana.
Rudai123 says
Great lesson! Spot on to play when someone says, “hey, do you play guitar?”
JP4 says
Another great lesson Brian! I think this one has kind of a John Lee Hooker vibe to it and it works just as well on my acoustic as well as my tele. I’ve been following you and your lessons for a long time now and am always able to find a lesson on your site that is applicable to where I’m at in my playing. Some of these lesson take me months to master (actually Jingle Bell Rock took me a couple of years) while some are more straight forward, but the way you present them makes the more difficult lessons seem attainable. Thanks Brian.
nathan m says
i cant play it as well as Brian but i finally think i got this one 🙂 thanks
Manley says
Thank You!! More Please like this!!!
It’s this type playing I want to learn more of.
AdmiralBastard says
Sweet lesson Brian. Your call and response technique is adding a great new dimension to my playing. One question about the chord structure [E, G, F#] in this one. It seems a bit of a twist on the I-IV-V? I see the F# in the key o f E but only a G# so I-III-II#? Clearly it sounds great but I don’t get why. Probably just my lack of theory but figured I’d ask to try to grasp a new concept. Anyway dude keep up the great work and all the best for 2017!
sunburst says
started this Saturday morning but man this really is a tough one at least so far ! I know I’m close but want to nail this before i youtube it! great lesson Brian from that Mississippi band you mentioned!
stratatatcat says
Any recommendations as far as amp settings, pedals etc.
I have a vox night train tube amp , a flashback delay x4 and a radial tone bone texas overdrive pedal but I just cant as of yet hit the tone with this setup on this cool tune you put together Brian.
Oh,
btw Ive been using my american special edition strat and tele
Aaron T says
I’m not sure about Brian’s settings but the distortion that I get that sounds very similar is from having my tube amp cranked. I don’t know how many watts you are working with but a tube amp needs to be pushed pretty hard for this tone. I have an overdrive pedal that helps get the tone a bit earlier on the volume knob but there is no cheating a tube amp. I have a Guytronix Gilmour Jr. 1/2 watt tube amp that I built myself because I live in a condo but I can get it to break up at true bedroom volume. It’s really amazing and a ton of fun to build if you are into that sort of thing.
Aaron T says
Oh, the Night train is 15 watts. To get to tube breakup that is going to be deafening. I can also recommend a Yamaha THR-10c. Its a modeling amp but a very good one. Check out the reviews. I can get the same breakup with it using headphones. Very nice for private practice and well suited to this type of music.
Tom S says
I’m just now getting around to this lesson. Very cool! It amazes me how difficult some lessons seem at first, but really only take a couple of days to get it down, and then it sticks. I must have 30 of your songs rattling around in my head, and tons of great licks. All good stuff!
Thanks.
Phil67 says
As I step into active melody as premium, this is the first full lesson I choose,
First I learn thanks to Brian lesson, second I soundslice to focus on parts
Great piece full of licks
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