How to play blues like Lightning
Certain blues motifs never get tired – they form an important part of the blues lexicon / vocabulary. These timeless hooks are instantly recogniseable and have been used by blues musicians from Lightning Hopkins and Robert Johnson through to Eric Clapton and John Lee Hooker. Once you have mastered these motifs, licks and hooks you can make them your own adding subtle variations. The Key of E is a great place to begin learning the blues because it naturally lends itself to using the open (unfretted) strings of the guitar.
Slow Blues in E with Stefan Grossman
In the video below Stefan Grossman takes us through some slow blues ideas and motifs at a very comfortable pace. The lesson includes some great hammer on tricks, pull offs, a few chords and subtle string bending over a simple bass line.
Learn the Blues scale
If you want to begin learning the basic building blocks of the blues, as used by Stefan in his video, click here to learn the E blues guitar scale. It is called the Eminor pentatonic
