I’ve reached the final module of grade 5 quite some time ago but just can’t get myself to start with it because it’s blues related. In fact as of Grade 6 which comes after it just about all lessons are blues or jazz related.
I know what I’m about to say is sacrilege to some others but blues and jazz are 2 music styles that I can not really be bothered about. I really love Justin’s teaching style but this really stops me from continuing the lessons.
So basically now I’m stuck in my Justin Guitar journey.
Atm I’ve reverted to working on song lessons for songs that are slightly above my skill set to improve but I’m afraid I’m missing out on important other generic skills that are learned in all of the blues/jazz lessons in grade 5 and 6.
So now my question for you guys is: is that true, am I really missing out very important stuff even though I’m no fan of blues/jazz? And thus should I bite the bullet and try start chewing my way through it to profit from them for other music styles as well?
Or, since I do not like the 2 music styles, should I keep trying to improve my skills with other methods like I’m doing atm with learning new (slightly) more difficult songs?
Hi Floris
Since you’ve gotten this far, I would definitely check out some of those blues lessons… there are skills that will help you in almost any (almost) style… but the most important thing is fun, but if you want to play rock or pop for example, it is a very important module to do…
I can tell a whole story, but leave that to others. … just tell them what songs you want to play
But joke mode off…
In the end you decide yourself, but I would also recommend watching Justin’s videos and then decide what you’d do with this.
LIke Rogier said before, there will be things you can use in other genres.
And you can practice this stuff in some different context maybe, trying to forget that this is about Blues?
Of course, I am always more looking for fun lessons and dwell on these contents more, but for myself I intend to at least look into other fields too for the learning effect.
In any case, I wish you still fun!
And … maybe there’s content you learned before, but which would be good to revise in the earlier grades?
@floriske write down your 5 favorite bands/guitarist and start a new journey studying their styles. It will either bring you back to Justin to learn techniques or will lead you down a new path. You can start by checking Justin’s Song section on the main site for matches
Personally, I was just like you. I had no real interest in blues and actually had to force myself a bit at first to listen to some albums in that style.
Still, I decided to dive in headfirst to improve my understanding of the guitar fretboard and went through the Blues Immersion course. Honestly, it turned out to be the best decision I’ve ever made for my guitar playing.
I learned to appreciate the style, and it really helped me make sense of the fretboard. Just one year after finishing the Blues Immersion, I’ve done things on guitar I once thought were impossible. If you want to learn “lead electric guitar”, I’d really encourage you to give it a shot — you might be surprised at how much joy you find in unlocking the fretboard.
Blues is really just the vehicle that Justin and other teachers use to help us understand the guitar. Personally, it might not have been the style I would’ve chosen at first, but it seems like most online courses use that style to teach important concepts.
I’ll say what I always say when this comes up. The Blues pretty much underpins all modern music and that everything since the mid 60s. If you actual analyse the songs you do like, you will find an influence of the Blues.
By learning to play various Blues techniques you are learning to play ALL aspects of playing the guitar. Once you can play the guitar and not just specific songs in a niche arena, you can play any genre. It is that simple.
As a very devoted Blues player and lover, I’ll forgive your sacrilege. You are absolved…for the moment…
Having said that, Blues contains elements and expressions of melody, harmony and rhythm that are so very important, and widespread in music.
Blues is also such a huge genre that it essentially encompasses most genres; a testament to its influence.
If Blues doesnt float your bloat though, thats fine.
But my strong advice is to definitely ‘eat your vegies, and chew them well’; they’ll do you the world of good…
I’m not an expert on the blues or anything, but starting to explore it. As others have said, the things you learn from studying it can be applied to basically every genre. But beyond that, one thing I’ll add that I haven’t seen mentioned, is that the framework of the blues also represents a relatively easy to understand and process sense of harmony and progression. Something like the 12 bar blues, while being infinitely expressive in its own right, can feel repetitive at times, but that very feeling is the established sense of progression that allows one to more easily understand and process improvisation. At it’s basic level it’s not a very complex genre, and learning how to advance through the basics of that is a pretty good way to learn how to advance through stages of almost any other genre.
Thank you all for your very constructive answers. A lot of the arguments to continue with the lessons make perfect sense. Especially about the techniques learned being applicable to most other music styles as well.
So I reckon for now I will have to try to “chew my vegies” as advised
As Muddy Waters wrote : The Blues had a baby and they named it Rock and roll
The Blues will open the gates of Rock for you if you study it
at first you may not like it but in the end it will really help you in your guitar journey
… just tell them what songs you want to play
