This book provides a great introduction to the world of Blues guitar playing. It would be useful to have some basic knowledge of open chords before starting this book (see Progressive Beginner Guitar) but it is possible for comlete beginners to use the book. Both rhythm and lead playing are covered along with essential elements such as turnarounds, slides, note bending and vibrato. All techniques are demonstrated with authentic examples and consolidated with at least one 12 bar Blues solo. All examples sound great and are fun to play. The section on rhythm playing begins with triplets and the shuffle, which are at the heart of the Blues sound. Variations are given for both open and moveable shuffle patterns, before moving on to bar chords and a whole system for moveable 7th chord shapes. The section ends with a demonstration of how to combine two string shuffle patterns and chord shapes to back a singer or harmonica player.
The lead guitar section demonstrates all the essential sounds and techniques using a variety of licks which begin at and easy standard and gradually become more challenging. A system of moveable fingering patterns is then introduced to enable you to play over the entire range of the fretboard. Both the minor pentatonic scale and the Blues scale are used in several different keys, along with an introduction to arpeggios and how to combine them with the Blues scale. Several solos are used to consolidate all techniques learned in the course of the book. The solos cover a range of feels and styles. By the end of the book, you will be well equipped to play in a Blues band or to jam with other musicians.
To practice jamming, some extra tracks have been recorded on the CD (see page 78) which contain full band backing but no lead guitar. Practicing with these jam along tracks is a great way to improve your improvising ability and is lots of hun, especially if you don't have regular opportunities to jam with other players. To improve your skills even further it is recommended that you use a metronome or drum machine with all the examples in the book until you can play them easily from memory. You should also learn to play all the examples along with the CD. If you are serious about music, a good teacher can often help you progress much quicker than you can on your own.
Because the Blues is such a big subject for guitar players, there is a whole series of Progressive books dealing with various aspects of Blues playing in more detail than space allows here. These titles can be seen on pages 79 and 80.
