Category: Blues

Play Better Blues with David Hamburger

The blues is many things—a collection of styles, an approach to the guitar, a certain musical feeling, a common 12-bar structure, and more. The work of blues guitarists, from pioneers like Robert Johnson and Etta Baker to contemporary performers like Jontavious Willis, inspires music fans and acoustic guitarists alike. Here you’ll learn key concepts, songs, and techniques for playing the blues.

Play the Blues Like… | Acoustic Guitar Champions

Learn the styles of 12 all-time great pre- and postwar guitarists, from Elizabeth Cotten to Charley Patton to Alvin Youngblood Hart.

Pete Madsen
October 9, 2018

Pietro Frosini, whose performance of the Operatic Rag on accordion inspired this guitar version.

Learn to Play ‘An Operatic Rag’ — An Accordion Gem for Guitar

Accordion music of the early 20th century might seem an odd source of inspiration for a fingerstyle guitarist, but not for the San Francisco Bay Area musician Craig Ventresco, with his vast musical knowledge of that bygone era. I have long admired Ventresco’s arrangement of “An Operatic Rag,” a 1910…

Pete Madsen
August 17, 2018

‘Coffee Blues’ – Learn How to Play a Mississippi John Hurt Classic

This is one of Mississippi John Hurt's signature songs, and contains the innuendo-rich lyric "lovin' spoonful."

Adam Perlmutter and Adam Perlmutter
May 22, 2018

‘When the Levee Breaks’ – Watch Del Rey perform this Memphis Minnie classic

The duo of Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy recorded the song in 1929, and it became best known through the recomposed electric version that the rock band Led Zeppelin released in 1971.

Adam Perlmutter
April 17, 2018

Video Lesson: Blues Five Ways

In the following exercises, you’ll find some great phrases and chord patterns that make extensive use of the dead-thumb approach.

Mary Flower
April 14, 2018

Illustration of Memphis Minnie playing guitar.

Video Lesson: Learn to Play Like Memphis Minnie in Open-G Tuning

Memphis Minnie’s guitar playing has gone mostly underappreciated through the decades, but for many blues-inspired fingerpickers she is a crucial link in the chain of Delta blues through to Chicago blues.

Pete Madsen
April 14, 2018

Acoustic Classic: W.C. Handy’s ‘St. Louis Blues’

Learn how to play the prototype for the 12-bar blues as we know it today.

Adam Perlmutter
February 21, 2018

Illustration of Son House playing his acoustic guitar with his right ankle crossed over his left knee

Video Lesson: How to Play Like Son House

Get your guitar tuned to open G and explore Son House's style - a visceral mix of string popping and bottleneck slide.

Pete Madsen
January 16, 2018

bluesman Robert Johnson seated holding acoustic guitar

Acoustic Classic: Robert Johnson’s ‘Hell Hound on My Trail’

The lower string is bent slightly throughout, for a crying sound. Worry less about nailing the notes than capturing the overall effect here.

Adam Perlmutter
December 20, 2017

How to Fingerpick the Blues Like Mississippi John Hurt: The Alternating-Bass Pattern

Apply the techniques players like Mississippi John Hurt, Reverend Gary Davis, and John Fahey are known for to a 12-bar blues.

Pete Madsen
December 17, 2017

Video Lesson: How to Play the Blues Like Charley Patton

Get your guitar into open G tuning and learn to play bottleneck slide in the style of this influential blues guitarist.

Pete Madsen
December 12, 2017

Illustration of Tampa Red with a golden resonator guitar

Video Lesson: Learn How to Play Like Tampa Red

Tampa Red intertwines the bass and treble voices, employing a dance-like approach. Get your guitar tuned to open-D and explore Tampa's bottleneck slide style.

Pete Madsen
November 12, 2017

illustration of Skip James and the headstock of his guitar

Video Lesson: How to Play the Blues Like Skip James

Capturing the haunting, emotive quality of Skip James' music is a challenge. Learn to get into open-D-minor tuning and explore his evocative music.

Pete Madsen
August 19, 2017

‘Freight Train’ Elizabeth Cotten’s Essential Fingerstyle Blues Song

In the instrumental intro as well as in the verses, Cotten plays the melody to this popular song over an alternating bass pattern. Practice slowly, measure by measure.

Adam Perlmutter
June 16, 2017

Illustration of Booker "Bukka" White playing his acoustic guitar

Video Lesson: How to Play the Blues Like Booker White

Explore Booker ("Bukka") White’s playing in open-G and open-D minor and work your way up to his quick tempos and powerful driving rhythm.

Pete Madsen
June 15, 2017

Close up view of Alvin Youngblood Hart's face and the upright neck of his acoustic guitar

Video Lesson: Play the Blues Like Alvin Youngblood Hart

Hart leans heavily on single-chord grooves with monotonic bass patterns. Learn some of these licks and how to capture the feel of Hart's acoustic blues.

Pete Madsen
March 14, 2017

A musical group pictured in black and white.

Learn to Play the Blues Classic ‘Careless Love’

Excerpted from Arranging Folk and Blues Songs “Careless Love” is a classic blues tune from the early-20th-century New Orleans jazz songbook. New Orleans’ trumpeter Buddy Bolden’s band, one of the pioneering groups in Dixieland style jazz, was known for its version of the song. The song has since been recorded…

Orville Johnson
March 5, 2017

black and white photograph showing close up of hands playing blues guitar

PRIVATE LESSON: How to Play Bluesy, Single-Note Licks on Acoustic Guitar

Thumping out a steady bass drone with your thumb lets you spin bluesy, single-note licks over the top with your fingers as an improvised alternative to the folkier-sounding alternating-bass style.

David Hamburger
November 27, 2016

How to Improve Your Blues Solos By Using Arpeggios [VIDEO]

Let's take a look at a few arpeggio-based licks you can use when soloing.

Orville Johnson
November 20, 2016

Playing Country Blues

With its simple chord shapes and steady rhythm, blues can provide the perfect way to improve your right-hand coordination and your ability to improvise in a fingerstyle context.

Dale Miller
October 30, 2016

Video Lesson: 6 Tips For Acoustic Fingerpicking Blues Guitar

Learn to combine the bass and treble voices in your fingerpicked blues to add complexity.

Pete Madsen
August 17, 2016

Acoustic Guitar Gospel Blues: The Devil’s in the Details

This groove-heavy gospel-blues song is a lil’ bit of heaven and a lil’ bit of hell. “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” is one of many songs that collide at the intersection of gospel and blues history. As musician/pastor Reverend Elijah Ott describes it, “To me there’s two kinds of music.…

Orville Johnson
August 11, 2016

Learn to Play ‘Crazy Blues,’ the First Mega-Hit Blues Record [VIDEO]

The 1920 recording of “Crazy Blues,” on the Okeh label, by Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds, is often cited as the first blues record. While that may be debatable, it was the first blues 78 rpm to sell a million copies. It eventually sold over two million copies and…

Orville Johnson
July 25, 2016

Illustration of Robert Johnson with guitar.

Video Lesson: Reimagining Bluesman Robert Johnson in Open-G Tuning

Take a look at some of the songs Robert Johnson played in open tunings and learn how to use his melodic and rhythmic ideas in any 12-bar blues.

Pete Madsen
July 16, 2016

Create Simple Blues Solos by Adding Thirds to Your Blues Lines

Playing solos using scales is great, but that’s just the beginning. One way to flesh out the sound of scales is by adding intervals on an adjacent string to create simple harmonies.

Pete Madsen
June 8, 2016