Playing the Blues on Guitar - Your Simple Guide to Learning the Blues

Playing the blues on guitar is indeed one of the many amazing things you can do if you love guitar playing. The blues music has been around for centuries and although it is said to mean sadness and melancholy, you don't have to be sad to play the blues on your guitar.

Playing the blues on guitar has also become popular as you might find the blues form useful in rhythm and blues, in jazz and rock in roll. If you are interested to learn, here is a simple guide to learn the blues guitar.

- Have the basics in playing the blues on guitar. First thing you may want to have is a guitar, of course. You can make use of your acoustic guitar or your electric guitar, but definitely not a classical one with the nylon strings - you may want to leave that to classical music. You may also need to read music through tablatures. If you are a total beginner with guitar playing, you may want to learn a few chords first before jumping into playing the blues on guitar.

- Get familiar with the tempo and rhythm of blues music. You may want to listen to blues musician to help you get use to the rhythm of the blues music. As soon as you get yourself familiar with it, you will easily get to play it on timing. Most blues are played on 4/4 timing which makes it a little easier to play and learn. You can listen to some Eric Clapton CD to help your familiarize the tempo, and of course, to get more motivation to play blues like a pro.

- Learn the blues scale. If you are enthusiastic in playing the blues on guitar, you may want to start with the basics - learning the scales. Most often, learning the blues guitar scales will also be useful to jazz or rock, so it would be advantageous to start with the blues and learn other styles as well, if you get to master the blues basics. You can start mastering three chords which you can use in almost every blues song - the chords I, IV and V or the keys A, D and E in the key of A. Many blues songs have these three chords, so mastering them would make it easier for you to learn a blues song.

- Learn some blues licks. Blues licks are sets of notes that express a certain feeling when played together. You can watch and listen to some musicians on how they do their licks and you can make your own. To learn more about playing licks and mastering that blues sound, you can find great resources to help you. You can find tutorials on CDs and DVDs to help you listen to what you need to learn. They can be good tools in learning at home as you can practically review or rewind them over and over if you don't get it the first time. Getting a tutor is also another option but you have to prepare to spend a few dollars as this can be a little expensive.

Practice always. Constant practice is always a key to being a good musician. If you have mastered playing the blues on guitar, you can even learn to play other genres more easily as well.

Carolyn Anderson loves to play the guitar in her free time. For a video and detailed instruction on how to play the blues on guitar, check out Blues Guitar Secrets. For a free lesson on playing the jazz guitar, check out Play What You Hear, which is created by a jazz guitarist and a recording artist, Chris Standring. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolyn_Anderson