Great foray into the blues (which I love)! Your Yorkie seems as interested in your playing as mine are when I play. 
I know you’ll be playing without looking any day now. 
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Hey James, nice share. Quite clean playing and I do think that blues piece is well beyond Grade 2 blues! Some good note picking.
I’ve been working on a solo blues one myself (the one from grade 3) and almost ready to post a AVOYP on it. 
I do have a tip, and that’s around the rhythm. The chunka-chunka rhythm part is a swing rhythm, as you’re moving into the solo piece it sounds like you’re getting offbeat and switching to a straightforward rhythm, and then back to swing when you get back to the rhythm part.
Justin has some good advice on the transitions between the lead lines & rhythm parts in this lesson: Solo Blues 1 Lick-in' Riff | JustinGuitar.com
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Hey @Socio and @jkahn, I had the same exact thought listening to James’ piece. (Agree on the very good note picking, btw). However, when James mentioned that this old lesson is available on youtube, I checked it out and it seems like Justin himself is playing the same way: shuffle rhythm for the chords and straight eighth notes for the lead lines.
I do think it would sound better if the lead lines were played with the shuffle rhythm also, but maybe Justin considered that too advanced for this lesson?
Anyway, great job, James.
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Oh wow, that is surprising. Before my post I did a quick search on the website but didn’t really find it, although I admit I didn’t look to hard. Didn’t check YouTube.
If that’s how Justin played it, then what can I say? Well played.
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Bravo, James, sounded great and reflects excellent progress down this road.
I’d must call it the economy of your left hand action. No flying fingers, compact, smooth motion … excellent!
Would you mind posting the links to various videos you mentioned? When I overcome mental blocks and shift my play:practice balance to a more balanced ratio then this grabs me.
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@Crystalcz Thanks for taking the time to listen, Crystal I’m glad you enjoyed. I would never have thought I’d be playing the blues when I first started a year ago but since Justin’s course introduced its I’ve become hooked on it. Yes, that one is quite content to just lie there next to me whilst I play. It will be a while before I can play it comfortably without checking my fretting and picking hands but the more I practice the more confident I will become.
@jkahn @jjw Thanks for taking the time to listen, JK and John, it’s much appreciated That’s some great feedback and advice. Yes, that piece does feel a bit beyond Grade 2 but I learned a lot from it. I’m more or less getting there with the classic shuffle riff and the 4 variations taught by Justin but still got work to do on the palm muting between different notes to get that real chunka chunka. I completely understand where you are coming from regarding the lead lines and is advice that I will definitely be taking forward. This piece actually leads onto Justin’s Solo Blues Course so I’m thinking now to undertake that course as a side project. It’s not exactly how Justin teaches it as he plays the shuffle variation #1 pattern without the slide but for this piece it just felt more comfortable to me to slide.
@DavidP Thanks for taking the time to give this little blues number a spin David. Your view and feedback is much appreciated. It’s a road that I will continue to go along as a side project as it’s been extremely enjoyable so onwards to the Blues Solo Course which this piece actually leads up to. It’s a great little piece to work on economy of the left hand and coordination with the right hand. I feel it would be good if it were included in the playground section of the website as gives those completing Grades 2 and 3 a nice little additional project to work on. There are three YouTube videos covering the piece,
Solo Blues Part 1
Solo Blues Part 2
Solo Blues Part 3
Happy to also post a copy of the tab that accompanies the lesson if that’s alright with Justin.
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Thanks James.
I’ll drop a line to the team later.
I assume you created the pdf yourself as I note the link in the video is no longer functioning?
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@DavidP Hi David, no it’s in Justin’s Beginners Course Book as bonus material. I’ve just marked up the count following his video lessons. Easy enough to take a photo of the page of tab. There is another page where he explains it bar-by-bar.
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Thanks James. I shall now share this with the Team.
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Hi JJw1, you mean this video ? Easy Acoustic Solo Blues Lesson #1of3 (Guitar Lesson PR-001) How to play - YouTube
It sounds to me like Justin is playing the lead lines with triplets rather than straight eighth notes. So DID - e - ley DID - e - ley DID - e - ley
A metronome set to time the chunkas and the DIDs in the DID - e - leys might be helpful.
Sorry, this post was meant to be addressed to socio, not jjw1
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@twistor59 Thanks Phil. Yes, it goes in parts 1, 2TL, 3TL, 4TL, 1, 2, &, 3, 4, 1, &, 2, &, 3, &, 4, &… to be honest I’ve played this better practising with a metronome and along with Justin’s video. The one thing that I did notice is that I struggle keeping the foot tapping going from the shuffle riff to triplets without the metronome. I presume I just need to spend more quality time with the metronome to develop further maintaining my inner metronome and foot tapping. For some reason I found it harder when recording this one compared to a strumming song with vocals. I presume that I just need to spend more time in front of the camera recording myself and over time it will get better.
That was excellent James. Really smooth and clear. Superb stuff!!!
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Sounded good to me, making some good progress.
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Eddie, Trevor - Thank you very much for listen, support and feedback… Progress is what its all about
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Great stuff James. You’re on a roll with your consolidation.
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@sairfingers Thanks a lot for the listen and support Gordon. I’ve tried to make the most of the consolidation whilst keeping it interesting.
@jkahn looking forward to watching your AVOYP when you’re ready. How are you finding learning these acoustic blues numbers? I’ve just had a look at the first one on the Blues Solo Course and it looks interesting.
Well I’m only working on one so far . Which is the Lickin’ Riff from grade 3 I linked above. And it’s great, it’s lots of fun. I like mixing up the rhythm and lead lines. You?
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nice sound and nice guitar!
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@jkahn I’m finding it a lot of fun too. I’m starting to think about spending some time making my own lead lines in between the rhythm once I’ve got this one nailed. And maybe try a few different rhythm patterns.
@Bytron08 Thanks for taking the time to listen and comment Byron. I’m slowly getting there.
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