Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Play a 12 Bar Blues Composition By Yourself on Guitar (No Accompaniment) Blues Guitar Lesson – EP288

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn a classic, 12 bar blues composition that you can play by yourself on electric or acoustic guitar. This uses the “call & response” technique which allows you to easily go back and forth between rhythm and lead licks. As always, I’ll break everything down note for note and explain the “why” behind the notes so that you can start using these licks when you improvise.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walk-Through

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

    • Barrie E says

      Merry Christmas, Brian! I have just joined Active Melody as a Christmas present. I am very excited about what I can learn from your excellent teaching over the next year(s). Congratulations on your successful approach to web based guitar instruction. You are an easy person to get to like and that makes your presentations very engaging. Best wishes!

  2. sunburst says

    Love this! Hop on this tomorrow! I really think this is genius and this is a very popular Blues shuffle in E ! A must learn for me! solid foundation for mixing both major/minor pentatonic shapes up the fret board!

  6. Aussie Rick says

    Great little stand-alone 12-bar composition. Have only had time to listen to a couple of minutes of the breakdown and have already picked up a number of take-away ideas.

    Thanks for your outstanding efforts throughout the year Brian – and a very Merry Christmas and happy and healthy 2019 to you and yours.

    Rick

  7. David M says

    Brian:
    This was one of your best ever videos. The guitar was gritty and ballsy – perfect complimentary instrument to this type of blues.
    I hope to see more lessons like this.
    Thanks and have a Merry Christmas!

  16. sunburst says

    Something new to takeaway every time,, many cool classic fill response licks here and am sure I never did them here or elsewhere so, really enjoying this lesson today!.. so many fun lessons and very educational too,, explaining a classic 12 bar here on active melody!

  19. Rolf A says

    Vielen Dank für die tollen, lehrreichen Lexionen 2018.
    Ich wünsche Dir und deinen Lieben ein besinnliches
    Weihnachtsfest und ein gutes Neues Jahr, bei bester
    Gesundheit und Schaffenskraft.

    • JohnStrat says

      Thank you for the great, educational Lexions 2018.
      I wish you and your loved ones a contemplative
      Christmas and a Happy New Year, at best
      Health and creativity.
      JohnStrat via google translate

  20. Edgardo S says

    Excellent lesson Brian! You are a great teacher! My regards from Argentina for this Christmas. BTW, is there no Christmas offer for Premium Membership? because here in my country it is very expensive. Thank you!

  21. Anthony G says

    Another great lesson. I have learned not only song and theory from you but also how to make clean sounds. What I mean is that your hammer on, pull off and other techniques are spot on and by following your examples I am learning how they should be played to sound good . Also the jam tracks force proper timing, very important.

    Thanks so much, I think we all appreciate the hard work it must take to put these lessons together.

    Happy Holidays to you!

  23. Thomas W says

    Thanks Brian, very nice one. I noticed from the last Blues lessons that you repeat the licks – which is great because we learn thru repetition and it gives me a good feeling that I am actually making progress. Thanks from Hamburg, Germany.

  29. timothy9 says

    Another gem. One of the things I love about your playing is the way you switch from the down and dirty part of the spectrum to the sweet and melodic part of the story. Lonnie Johnson was a master of that kind of playing. Although she wasn’t a guitar player, Dinah Washington sang a lot of songs that way; her songs are a gold mine for musical ideas.

  30. drlknstein says

    Yeah..Bayou Self Blues..!
    good stuff..

    Lonesome stranger is one of my EC fav’s. .learned it a while back and play it all the time..l yrics are awesome…and I know thqt riff but I NEVER THOUGHT OF USING I IN A SETTING LIKE THIS!…

  31. Jon M says

    Another brilliant solo lesson. These are so great, Brian – very few have your combination of skills – as a composer, a musician (performer), and as an excellent instructor, thanks!

  32. Jay Guitarman says

    Hi Brian, it’s difficult for me to know exactly where we are on the strings. Could you also announce the notes. For example when you change to the four chord previously you end on a note in the second pentatonic position which matches the four chord…

  34. Giles G says

    Hi Brian, first comment from me …. to say these are exactly the type of tunes I love to learn. A little groove to return to makes this much easier to learn than some lessons – yet still superb. Many more like this will go down a storm. Happy new year.

  35. Phillip S says

    Hi Brian, I’ve just signed up and already enjoying the lessons which I think will help me a great deal and I really like your style of teaching.
    I have one request though. It would be useful to have an idea of your amp settings to help me get the right sort of sound, I know amps are different but just an idea if you are using a little bit of gain or reverb etc.. Of course you may have a lesson on this I don’t know about.
    Thanks.

  37. mitchellwolfson says

    Great lesson, Brian. One comment/question- when you are playing the 4th position of the B minor pentatonic scale, there’s one note ou’re playing that is actually not in this scale, the G# note (4th fret of the high E string). The 4th position of the B minor pentatonic would have the A note (5th fret of the high E), correct?

    Mitchell

  39. Ludovic M says

    Thanks Brian, the last two blues lessons are great. Very rich in content and tips to practice call and response licks/rhythm. I end up playing the blues for hours and hours after listening to your lessons.

  44. Julie B says

    My husband bought me a membership for Christmas. As you can see I am opening my present early. Is there some way to print out the music in NOTE form, not tabs? I see the notes on the staff in the “on screen tab viewer” and would love to print them out, but all I see for printing is the tabs. Thanks! I am so looking forward to searching through all the lessons.

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