I think for your needs, that backing track is not going to work. Yes, it has a drum beat (1 2 & 3 4 with an occasional drum fill) but no other rhythm. The chord just rolls on and on and on giving no other rhythmic information.
There are loads of interesting backing tracks. In my view, that is not one.
PS
If we’re really going to help you we need to see and hear yoh play.
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How about this one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1iVA8Pm3Yc If this is not OK can you suggest any at 60bpm?
I reminded of a Buddy Holly song at this point. 
Well… alright 
In the Lick Tabs, the bends are shown as either “full” or “1/4”, for a tone or semi-tone, respectively. Why is it a 1/4 for a semi-tone? Or have I misunderstood something?
Hi Jon, @RiversideAce
Welcome here and I wish you a lot of fun 
And what, I read in the accompanying text, but also what is said in the lesson, it says that Justin always talks about a “Blues curl” when the 1/4 comes in …
A semi tone should be 1/2 … Are you by any chance mixing these up?
Hope this helps, 
Greetings,Rogier
Thanks for the super-quick reply, Roger.
Ah, that makes sense. So the 1/4 bends are not full semi-tones. That’s what I hadn’t picked up on.
Much appreciated 
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Close but no cigar!
That’ll be the day! 
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Really enjoyed this lesson (although it may have destroyed my fingers!)
When bending the 8th fret on the high E string, I noticed that Justin used his 3rd finger instead of pinky. Any reason you don’t use the pinky and back it up with the 3rd finger on the 7th fret?
Thank you for this!!
the 3rd finger is stronger than the pinky for bending
you can hold the strings better and stay longer on the note
but some players do use the pinky instead thats true
Hi @Djkerner1 , it sounds like you jumped to this lesson without doing the previous lessons in the module, or maybe you just forgot the relevant stuff. In any case, you should definitely review Justin’s lessons on the minor pentatonic scale:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/minor-pentatonic-pattern-1-bl-402
and string bending:
https://www.justinguitar.com/guitar-lessons/bending-technique-in-blues-bl-403
where he discusses the issue of ring finger vs. pinky.
Hi. I’m finally back to playing guitar after a long break. Got myself an electric and want to fully jump into the blues.
I think the language analogy is wonderful and really puts me in an expressive mindset rather than simply thinking about playing notes.
Where I’m a bit confused is this:
When improvising, I tend to play a lick, repeat or try to vary it, move to another lick, or pause. But since I only know a few licks, I inevitably reach points where I leave my pre-learned vocabulary and in between my known licks I play whatever comes to mind. Which is something vague like “go higher,” “resolve to the root,” or some vague attempt at inventing a lick on the spot.
When I’ve recorded myself, these spontaneous bits are usually not very musical or bluesy, although there are occasional exceptions.
So should I actually stop doing this? Is this equivalent to speaking gibberish? Should I instead focus on pre-learned vocabulary. Varying licks’ rhythm, endings and fragments, combining them, and learning to make them sound bluesy through phrasing, timing, articulation, etc.?
In other words, should my rule be something like 'if it isn’t a learned lick, a variation/fragment of one, or a coherent combination of them, don’t play it?
Ultimately I guess I’d like to know if expert improvisation is always grounded in deeply internalized vocabulary, patterns and musical grammar just recombined and modified so fluently that it no longer feels like “using licks”? Or do accomplished improvisers eventually become capable of genuinely inventing phrases spontaneously, detached from anything they’ve previously learned?
I’d appreciate if anyone could illuminate how I should be thinking about this?
Hi Zimbo
See this post and follow the link within to a topic I wrote that should help. 5 Blues Licks from Pattern 1 - #70 by Richard_close2u
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Hi Richard
Thanks I read through the post and it’s very informative. Basically milk the licks instead of doing disorganized nonsense. Thank you.
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I would definitely not invoke this mindset.
While certainly no master, I’ve been Blues focused for a few years now.
I’ve never been a ‘lick-centric’ person, although I’ve picked up quite a few along the way. I would encourage you to explore the ‘gibberish’ between the licks; as you gain more experience and get the sounds of the Blues in your head, these will develop with your own flavour.
Cheers, Shane
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Didn’t Matt Schofield say in one of Justin’s live classes he doesn’t use licks as his vocabulary.
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That he did 
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I really appreciate your input Shane. I think what I need to do is more listening to blues and really ingrain some basic vocabulary and perhaps then my own spontaneous connecting lines will start to become more fused with the sound of the blues.
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