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Blues Out of the C Shape – Blues by Yourself – Guitar Lesson – ML129

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a Blues composition out of the C shape from the CAGED System. Blues you can play by yourself.

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Comments

  1. Garry says

    December 26, 2025 at 4:33 pm

    Merry Christmas Brian. Thanks for being a constant inspiration to us all. All the best for 2026! 🎅🎸🎅

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  2. Kevin D says

    December 26, 2025 at 4:44 pm

    👌

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  3. Malcolm D says

    December 26, 2025 at 5:06 pm

    Great lesson Brian much appreciated my friend,have a most wonderful Christmas.. health, wealth and happiness for 2026..

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  4. JohnStrat says

    December 26, 2025 at 5:17 pm

    Brian I hope you are having a great Christmas and of course wishing you all the best for the new year. This weeks lesson has some very nice info and blues feel.
    Thanks
    JohnStrat

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  5. Michael Allen says

    December 26, 2025 at 5:22 pm

    As with every lesson, I love it!

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  6. William H says

    December 26, 2025 at 5:42 pm

    Merry Christmas Brian and everyone else at AM. Another great lesson Brian.
    Amazing how you can do it week after week

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  7. Peter B says

    December 26, 2025 at 5:43 pm

    Another great lesson, thanks, Brian.
    Best wishes for 2026.

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  8. Mike R says

    December 26, 2025 at 6:18 pm

    Did not think you would do a lesson today but thanks. Hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas. This is just another great sounding, fun lesson to play. The more I play these the more I see the scale patterns within the chords. Someday soon I won’t have to think of keys anymore but think about how the chords and scales fit together within the Caged system. Happy New Year!!

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  9. Michael H says

    December 26, 2025 at 6:44 pm

    Wow I really needed this. Minor Pentatonic with root on the B string.
    Sheds tons of light on the BB box as well blending the major and minor sounds

    Happy Holidays

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  10. Jim M says

    December 26, 2025 at 7:14 pm

    Wonderful blues using the “C” position. I need to develop and study solo ideas using this position. Thanks Brian.

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  11. San Luis Rey says

    December 26, 2025 at 7:20 pm

    This is soooo cool Brian! Like you said, we usually do blues with the E shape. Using this C shape opens up the fretboard for me to do runs and turnarounds that sound amazing. I’ve fumbled around with this a little before but your explanation with chord shapes nailed it. Thank you!

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  12. RIFF DIGGER says

    December 26, 2025 at 7:33 pm

    Nice lesson. Love those B7 shapes. Have a great holiday and thanks for the continuing great content!

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  13. Michael Krailo says

    December 26, 2025 at 7:37 pm

    This is a nice workout on position #3 minor pentatonic. It reinforces a lot of what I learned in last weeks lesson which involved knowing where the flat 3’s are for 1/4 bends, and now the blue note awareness is sharpened along with that b7 for either the A7 or B7 chords. Throw in some blending of major and minor pentatonic licks and you have a great reinforcement of things that I have learned in past lessons, but are not always used on a daily basis. Fun micro lesson.

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  14. Martin K says

    December 26, 2025 at 7:45 pm

    Hi Brian,
    I enjoy and learn a lot when you base a lesson around (and mix) the different Minor/Major positions. It helps me blend together transitioning up and down the fretboard vs. isolated positional riffs (I hope that made sense).

    Happy New Year!

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  15. Thaddeus W says

    December 26, 2025 at 9:22 pm

    Great lesson. Always learning to visualize things in different ways.
    Thank you. Merry Christmas

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  16. Christopher W says

    December 26, 2025 at 11:09 pm

    Huge breakthrough for me. Thank you!

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  17. Imerio A says

    December 27, 2025 at 2:27 am

    Wonderful lesson. A great way to learn a less used at least for me, pentatonic pattern. Please do more like this.
    That guitar looks and sounds great.
    Thanks Brian

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  18. Olivier P says

    December 27, 2025 at 3:14 am

    Dear Brian,
    Another very informative lesson on CAGED positions. All my best wishes from Switzerland to you and your family. May the new year bring peace, joy, and happiness, and renew our pleasure in seeing you each week.

    Sincerely,

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  19. Chris J says

    December 27, 2025 at 9:09 am

    This is great stuff! More transferable blues tips!!

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  20. Michael Allen says

    December 27, 2025 at 9:20 am

    I love it even more today

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  21. Ann N says

    December 27, 2025 at 9:20 am

    I always look forward to Fridays to see your new lesson and as to whether I can learn it or not. My goal in 2026 is to more thoroughly learn some of the basics you teach and understand and get better at playing the blues. Thanks for being such a good instructor and explaining all that you are doing. It helps so much. Happy New Year and to a successful 2026.

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  22. Daniel H says

    December 27, 2025 at 9:22 am

    I like your focus on a specific I chord shape and its associated scales. The C shape doesn’t get much attention and the 3rd position pentatonic is great to play with.

    Don’t forget your “Frankenstein” lesson structure where you build a composition/lesson out of a few preceding lessons. The Frankenstein lessons offer nice material reviews.

    Merry Christmas Brian!

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  23. sciencefiction says

    December 27, 2025 at 11:01 am

    Excellent! Another winner. Can’t repeat these kind of things too often until it finally soaks in. Even better that it’s stand-alone solo.!!
    Larry

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  24. houliAK says

    December 27, 2025 at 11:05 am

    This lesson was great timing for me. I’ve been focusing on triad shapes and their major and minor scales in the areas. I’ve been kind of stuck in the “E” and “A” shapes! This lesson tied some great ideas in the mP3 (with some MP4) and related them to the “C”shape.

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  25. Laurance K says

    December 27, 2025 at 11:25 am

    Great lesson / exercise utilizing position 3!

    I’m So thankful for another great year of your lessons. Happy New Year to you and your family Brian!

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  26. Paul N says

    December 27, 2025 at 11:58 am

    This was cool Brian! Definetly gave me a new outlook on the Blues in E. Just really lit a dim bulb on my end!

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  27. Alexandre A says

    December 27, 2025 at 2:58 pm

    Very nice Brian. I learned a lot. Thanks a lot. Happy new year

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  28. Nelson V says

    December 27, 2025 at 6:16 pm

    This was excellent! a real Aha moment…. playing blues out of the C shape. Keep ’em coming. Would like to see some lessons on ‘jazz blues’ at some point, love the variety you put out there.

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  29. Georg B says

    December 28, 2025 at 6:23 am

    Hello Brian,
    First things first: What strikes me most about you is your ability to explain things with crystal clarity because you have thoroughly understood and internalized them. This clarity rubs off on learners – at least that’s how it is for me.
    Here are three important, enlightening moments, breakthroughs, or lightbulbs from your latest episode that I wanted to share with you.
    First one
    The connection between the “normal or basic” D major chord and the dominant A7 chord in terms of their shapes. In addition, I don’t need to play the root note for the dominant A7 chord to represent the dominant A7 sound. The third, the fifth, and the minor seventh are all I need. That’s excellent!
    Second one
    The three chords (E7, A7, and B7) belong together like a connective tissue and this connective tissue can be found everywhere on the fretboard. Therefore, it doesn’t make a difference how the chords are labeled. This gives me an idea of how to play freely.
    Third one
    It’s great how you connect the E minor pentatonic scale (third position) and the dominant E7 chord in the C shape. I also understand how you add the blue note and two notes from the E major pentatonic scale. (As far as I understand, the two notes from the E major pentatonic scale come from the fourth position of the E major pentatonic scale. Please let me know if I’m right here.)
    In any case, it’s all absolutely clear and understandable. This demystifies the fretboard and makes it easy to understand.
    Have a nice Sunday,
    Georg

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  30. James G says

    December 28, 2025 at 6:57 am

    A good mellow blues lesson! Sounds so good. A good warm up practice session for me.

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