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Thank You For Making “50 Cool Blues Licks Improv” Possible

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And then there was the “50 Cool Blues Licks Improvisation” course. Something I worked passionately on for quite a long time.

I started out creating blues licks that would give you some new insights and cool ideas for your own soloing and improvisation and then I came into a flow where I just couldn’t stop and decided that 50 cool blues licks was a nice number to go with and to get loads of ideas from.

And then I thought, well there’s more to guitar playing than building a good vocabulary of blues licks.

You need to know how to play the blues scale shapes and have solid improvisation ideas for all of these shapes with exercises, assignments, tips and tricks that will make sure you really master the blues scale thoroughly and know how to use these scale shapes for improvisation. I was on a roll.

Eventually I realized I had created a course that I wish I had myself when I was learning this stuff.

May 23, it was time to go online and it was really exciting. It’s the first time I have created a guitar course for guitarhabits and now selling it online. The launch was above my expectations!

I want to thank everyone who purchased the “50 Cool Blues Licks Improvisation” course. It gives me the opportunity to keep the course available online and making guitarhabits a better place for all guitar players and guitar lifestyle designers.

I also want to thank everyone for all the kindhearted responses I got via email and an awesome thanks to all the readers of guitarhabits. I’m forever grateful!

I’ll keep continuing to make guitarhabits a great source of guitar study material with tabs, videos and abundant inspiration for guitar lifestyle design.

May you keep enjoying and improving your guitar playing forever and ever!

Best regards,
Klaus Crow

 

The Two Most Important Scales in Western Music

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Today I’ll show you the two most important scales in western music. The “Major Scale” and the “Pentatonic Scale”. If they are not in your vocubalary yet, be eager to learn. If you know your scales you can learn how to solo, improvise and much more. We’ll start with…

The Major Scale.
The major scale is the mother of all scales, because all the other scales, modes, intervals, chords and harmony in western music can be derived from it. If you want to learn anything about music theory you need to know how to play the major scale.

And why would you want to learn music theory? Because you’ll be much faster in learning to understand everything about guitar playing. Yes you’ll become a better rock, blues, metal, country, jazz guitar player. If you know music theory you know the short cuts to playing and transcribing guitar solos, chord progressions and improvising. It makes the life of a guitar player a lot easier.

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5 Effective Pentatonic Exercises For Building Speed

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Photo by JD Hancock
Building speed is not just for guitar players who want to play fast and look good (not that there’s anything wrong with that), but building speed is good for any aspect of guitar playing.

Once you’ve got a good technique and finger dexterity everything you play becomes easier from rhythm playing to soloing and everything in between. Life on the guitar gets better.

I’ve written down 5 exercises that will help you build up speed but also to get a good grip on your pentatonic scale so you can learn to play them inside out.

Go through each exercise slowly a couple of times before you try to speed up.

Set up a slow tempo on your metronome and when you feel comfortable enough gradually increase the tempo. Play as accurate as possible and keep your notes clear and clean.

Try to avoid extra sounding notes that aren’t supposed to be there by muting the strings you don’t want to hear with either your left hand or right hand.

Practice with focus and dedication and reap the benefits.
Have fun!Continue Reading

Learn From The Three Kings of Blues

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Albert King playing and smoking.

Today there are so many great electric blues guitar players out there, but what most of them have in common is that they are directly or indirectly influenced by these 3 gentleman:

B.B. King (9/16/1925)
Albert King (4/23/1923 – 12/21/1992) and
Freddie King (9/3/1934 – 12/28/1976)

Many blues players like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix have been influenced by B.B. King.

Otis Rush, Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix and Gary Moore were influenced by Albert King. Younger blues player John mayer has been influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan who in turn was strongly influenced by Albert King.

Guitar players like Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Lonnie Mack, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton were influenced by Freddie King.

Most of you already know the reputation of B.B. King but for those who are not familiar with each and every one of the three kings you’ll absolutely benefit if you do. The impact of Albert and Freddie King on the evolution of the blues is not to be underestimated.

I suggest you take the time to listen and study the music and skills of these 3 blues guitar players. It’s worth while the effort and it will change the way you play the blues for the rest of your life!

B.B. KING
Name: Riley Ben King better known as B.B. King (B.B. stands for Blues Boy).
Songs: “The thrill is gone”, You know I love you, Ten long years, Woke up this morning.
Guitar: Viriants of the Gibson ES-355 (which he all refers to as “Lucille”)
Amps:Lab Series L5 2×12″ combo amp and Fender Twin Reverbs.
Strings:Gibson SEG-BBS B.B. King Signature Electric Guitar Strings. Gauges: 0.10-0.13-0.17p-0.32w-0.45w-0.54w
Technique: B.B. King is noted for his minimalist playing style. He knows how to play the right notes or even a single note at the right time with the most beautiful vibrato. He often plays around a certain area of the 2nd position of the pentatonic scale which is referred to as the “BB King Box”. (See below) and mixes up major and minor Pentatonic/Blues gracefully.Continue Reading