I’m up to the Blues Guitar Studies in my guitar journey, but I only have an acoustic guitar.
Some of these string bending techniques are difficult/impossible on my acoustic.
I still like the information and techniques that Blues has to offer, specifically creating melodies and improvisation
Should I still continue on with these lessons? Save them for another time if I transition to electric?
Hello Michael!
You’re right that they’re more difficult on acoustic than electric - but not impossible!
If you have Spotify (or similar), search Acoustic Blues & you’ll hear some amazingly good music by just about any major blues artist!
People like Keb Mo, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Elizabeth Cotton, even T-Bone Walker all did great work with acoustics!
If you’re not ready for an electric but want to learn bending, try some really extra-light strings for your acoustic. Some people claim that tone suffers, but I don’t think so… at least not enough to matter to us budding guitarists!!!
Good luck!
Tod
I think keep on with your lessons too Michael.
Agreed. They will be.
imho, the key word will be difficult.
I find them difficult too. I personally can just get a tone bend out of .011’s on my acoustic. It is way harder than the electric I agree.
Perhaps give it a try. Ya got nothing to loose.
imho, be sure to do them bends like Justin is showing us how to do them. Use your hand as the lever he describes and for sure use your free fingers as backup fingers for the bend. It’ll be hard. But not impossible. It won’t come overnight either.
I can do a tone bend (just barely) on my acoustic for… not to long in my practice (not many repetitions of a bend). It really does wear my fingertips out. So don’t over do it. A little at a time.
I agree w/ Tod. Plenty of blues done on a acoustic guitar. Ya might as well jump right in…
Oh, fwiw, I’ve been at them blues bends now for I suppose a year or so (I work on them intermittent or when a song calls for them). I’m not what I’d consider proficient, but I’m heading in the right direction imho. I’m thinking it just plain and simple takes a good long while to become good at doing them bends.
Or
Let this new class for you become your motivator to go score a electric guitar. Many folks need less than that to go get a new guitar… 
(consider used if price is of issue for you)
Good luck.
Another suggestion - use slides for particularly difficult bends. The timing will get tricker so you might need to modify the lick too…
But do consider getting an electric guitar if your situation permits. It opens up a lot of possibilities!
most acoustic blues is older stuff. Once Muddy Waters hit the scene on electric, acoustic blues took a backseat. But there are still some people doing acoustic blues. By its nature, it’s a little different than electric. Definitely less reliance on big string bends. But acoustic blues is cool stuff.
Justin’s Solo Blues course seems to have more focus on acoustic blues. I still play the lessons on my electric sometimes, but some of the blues lead lessons I’ve encountered aren’t really made with acoustic guitars in mind.
Hey @Kuldace, are you referring to the module “Blues Guitar Studies” in Grade 4 of Justin’s lessons:
https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/blues-guitar-studies
If so, I think it’s fine to do this with an acoustic guitar. There are 4 lessons in this module, 2 of which Justin does with an acoustic, so you’re fine for those. For the other 2 he plays electric, but I just listened to the intro demos to each lesson and neither of them are heavy on string bends, in fact I didn’t really notice any real bending at all. They are sort of based on rhythm electric guitar with riffs played on the lower strings, something you might hear in a band setting, but I don’t see any reason the techniques can’t be tackled on an acoustic. It won’t sound as badass, but you will learn how to play those parts, which is the main point.
If you like these, especially the 2 acoustic lessons, you might want to check out the Solo Blues course, which has a lot more of this style. It’s a paid course, but well worth it, imo.
Similarly to John, I feel like you would get more fun out of the Solo Blues course than the Blues Lead guitar on an acoustic guitar. You will still learn licks and improvisation.
The Solo Blues course is an hidden gem and it’s not based on big bends. It’s a course with a huge potential and I hope it will sell like hot cakes so we can get a sequel in 2-3 years 
The first 3 songs are free, try it.
https://www.justinguitar.com/classes/solo-blues-with-matchmysound-solo-blues
Thanks everyone for your encouraging and helpful advice! Will look into the solo blue course as well.
Blues started out when electric guitars weren’t even invented yet. Or just a schematic in somebody’s head. 
So i shouldn’t worry too much about playing the blues on an accoustic guitar. It’s a wonderfull starting point. Have a listen at old recordings.
An added bonus is that you can take your guitar everywhere. No need for electricity or an amp, or pedals, etc…
You can play the blues everywere.
The moment you get an electric guitar, you open the gates to a whole new region of the blues.
One that includes, like you said, stringbending etc… (other effects come in handy as well).
Have fun!!
just one advice
you can perfectly play the Blues on an acoustic
but the songs for acoustic and electric are different
you can play a Robert Johnson’s song but dont aime at playing one from Gary Moore for example
As long as you pick songs made for an acoustic guitar then there is no issue ^^
Greetings and reach for the stars if you like 
Do you really expect a student beginner to have this level of mastery ?
not helping !
Hi Deborah
That’s your opinion 
, there are also easy beginner Gary tutorials for acoustic. ( but I don’t want to promote other teachers here)…this is just one of many examples with one second search …I’m more of “you can” instead of “you can’t” …
have fun and keep an open mind
Greetings
I was talking of electric guitar version !!!
I clearly made the difference !
Mathieu, thanks for bringing the free lessons to my attention. I had the Steady Bass Primer and Steady Bass Blues on my list of things to learn this year. When the paid Solo Blues course was announced and the Solo Blues lessons disappeared from the Grade 4 lessons, I assumed all the lessons were for the paid course. Now I can add these two songs back to my list of practice items 
I didn’t purchase the Solo Blues course yet, because I had just purchased the TAB subscription and all the Strumming lessons. I’ll probably add the Solo Blues lessons after I do the Blues Immersion next year.
I know I am late to this party. But this is a really good answer. During the Blues Immersion class one of the students I worked with alot started doing slides on some ofnthe more difficult bends. At first I thought that was not a good idea, but I realized that it actually sound great.
Honestly it sounds much better than a bad bend. The key is to continue to practice the bending technique during practice routines and also try to incorporate bends on some of the easier bending strings and also half bends during this time so the slide does not become a cruch or permanent get around. As long as you do it smooth and stylish you are gold.
If it sounds good it is good.
Thanks so much everyone for your encouragement and advice.
I dropped from 12’s to 11’s on my acoustic. Super helpful.
I’m still making an effort to learn string bending (more successful with the 8th fret bends); the 7th fret is a little harder, but I can get there with a lot of effort. I’ll keep doing this to develop my muscle strength and get more consistent.
Once my fingers hurt, I switch to slides to I can understand what it’s supposed to sound like.
I’m practicing and memorizing licks on the lesson plan (and having a lot of fun with it).
Again, thanks so much!
I use 10s. And I’m not alone. My local guitar shop told me they have trouble keeping acoustic 10s in stock.
10s for me too.
Slightly different topic but, do you all feel like there’s any tone concerns when you go to 10s?
I think I saw in one of Justin’s video he prefers to not go below 11s?