Interested in learning blues guitar

agent_smith wrote: »

Hi Guys,

I'm wondering if anyone here could recommend a good guitar teacher for blues style guitar (eric clapton unplugged type stuff). I know you can teach yourself from free stuff on the net. However I am a classically trained pianist for the last 18 years and believe that its important to get somebody to teach you good technique from the get go to avoid bad habits.

Woudl appreciate any advice

Thanks

agent_smith

Blues music is really a bastard child that you need to learn yourself.
My suggestion would be to buy the unplugged book and dvd and learn each song, song by song, until you are comforatble with them.

If you've been playing piano for 18 years then you have the music theory, all you need is the technique...

If you are starting guitar from scratch, I'd strongly recommend a few lessons on technique to get you started. A teacher can point out if/where you are going wrong. Where are you based ? I can PM you details of a good teacher in Nth Dublin if you are interested.

Agent Smith-
I'd recomend forcing your GF/BF to sleep around all over town,while stealing all yo' money at the same time.
If you have a pet dog- kill it.
For authenticity blind or at least visually impair yourself in some way.
If your house/flat/appartment doesnt currently have a little wooden porch build one.
Learn to pick cotton. Actually that could be a tough one. Maybe learn to pick potatoes instead.
And most importantly take a walk down to your nearest cross roads and see if theres anyone who looks remotely like the devil- if so sell him your soul.

Then and only then will Rigsby's tutor be of any use.
Mark my words:pac:

What Boycey said!
And watch the master. What a legend.


And just to add to that, blues is one of those things that is easy to "learn" but takes a lifetime to perfect. Technically speaking there's not much to it when you break it down into individual bits, but it's the way you put it all together, even the smallest most insignificant things end up making massive differences. I've been playing "The Blues" for all my guitar playing life, and i'm only at the tip of the iceberg, just listen to as much of it as you possibly can, get to know the feel of songs, and play.

boycey wrote: »

Agent Smith-
I'd recomend forcing your GF/BF to sleep around all over town,while stealing all yo' money at the same time.
If you have a pet dog- kill it.
For authenticity blind or at least visually impair yourself in some way.
If your house/flat/appartment doesnt currently have a little wooden porch build one.
Learn to pick cotton. Actually that could be a tough one. Maybe learn to pick potatoes instead.
And most importantly take a walk down to your nearest cross roads and see if theres anyone who looks remotely like the devil- if so sell him your soul.

Then and only then will Rigsby's tutor be of any use.
Mark my words:pac:

Admittedly blues is all about feeling, but if you are starting from scratch, then that feeling ( if it's there in the first place to be tapped in on )will come faster and better when you learn some of the basics of your instrument from a good teacher.

Even SRV was glad to have Albert King as his teacher and mentor.


Would you be able to play blues piano if it was unfamiliar to you ? I doubt it, no matter how many crossroads you were on or how much cotton you picked

alan dunne 27 wrote: »

Get some blues CDs, listen to them, play along at your own pace.

bingo.

you need someone artist(s) admire in blues, someone who's style and sound you want to aspire to, that you really want to incorporate into your own.

i mean, i could decide i want to learn classical, but if thers no body who plays music that really moves or inspires me in that genre, then i wont get far with it at all.

I listen to Rory Gallagher every day at least once and each time theres always some part of a song that still blows me away, even if ive heard it 10000 times previous.


So listen to some of the best blues guitaristists out there, find which one gets your blood pumping, listen to it, listen to it and listen to it and then try to figure it out on the guitar.

if your not used to the guitar, a teacher will really move things along, to show you some required techniques and what not, but the fact that you have most theory anyone would ever need puts you way ahead of just a beginner.



Note, im not saying that im great or even good at blues, but im always learning, and ive found ive made the best progress by trying to play stuff that really moves me and getting a teacher to explain the theory, techniques and finer points that I always seem to miss/gloss over by myself.