If you’re not having fun or learning anything it’s best to move on to something that motivates you. Sit down and write out a list of things you would like to beable to play. Don’t be vague like Blues, there are dozens of different styles of Blue.
You could even post it in your LL and get some help on what you need to concentrate on to achieve your goals.
Life is to short to try and master everything.
2 Likes
@Stuartw I feel like the process is similar to the beginner club by Lee : learn a song in 3 levels.
In the context of this lesson, the first level is to focus on getting the fingers in the right fret. The second level is adding the rhythm/groove. And the third level is revisiting the songs with new licks.
If you really like the song, you may work now on level 1, come back to it in a few weeks for level 2 and in a few months or years for level 3. Or move on once you are no longer having fun.
I would say the first level is to get the shuffle rhythm part down. Forgetting the intro, play the shuffle rhythm of chorus 1 with the chords. In the bars where the licks are, play the appropriate chords instead. That way, you’ll get a feel for the shuffle rhythm and beat throughout the 12 bars.
When you are happy with that, you can start replacing the chords with the licks.
You could also practice the licks as a separate item. Play each lick over and over until you’ve got it. Don’t forget to play the bass strum on beat 1 of the lick.
took me like one week to finish this lesson haha
2 Likes
It’s at least a couple of weeks now on this lesson for me. At first I never thought I would get anywhere with it but slowly I am getting somewhere. I keep reminding myself that Justin says not to be in a hurry to move on. If I am honest, this lesson has underlined that I have actually been wanting to hurry on and in doing so magically become better. So, I am trying to ignore time, be patient with myself, and get as good as I can with this study.
My question is about expectations. After this study I can see myself as having a better intellectual understanding of the structure and having learnt new licks and been able to mix them with rhythm playing which is wonderful. But, I don’t imagine a large amount of automatic competence though. How long does that take? One blues study can’t do that can it? Is Justin going to come back to this and develop it later in the course? Thank you and good luck everyone with your journeys!
2 Likes
You are right with your expectation for automatic competence. Take it like an introduction to a new style that you can choose to study further in grade 4 and also supplementary courses like Blues Immersion and Blues Solo with MatchMySound.
As an example, I’ve worked on Blues Immersion for a few months and I’m starting to see more fluency with my licks. So, I suppose it’s a project of at least 6 months to 1 year studying different blues pieces. You took the first step in grade 3 and a lot more fun to come in grade 4+ 
1 Like
Thank you for the reply.
Agreed and I’m doing that. Have found fingerstyle again!!
It’s not that I don’t like it but assume it’s part of the process to learning. I’ll keep coming back to it to see how things progress.
Didn’t think of doing that. Strange as I didn’t really consider the lick as chords as they are separate notes.
In some cases the bass strum is two notes - the first part of the shuffle rhythm. This always seem odd to me that the lick part starts on two note strum in some cases, as it just interrupts the flow.
1 Like
@Stuartw
That’s right, Stuart, the licks are single notes, not chords.
This may better explain what I meant:
This is from the Blues Studies module in Grade4
And this is the Lickin Riff
Compare Variation1 of the Vari Shuffle with Chorus1 of the Lickin Riff:
After the intro, the first two bars of the first two lines are the same.
The first two bars of the last line are different but they are interchangeable.
If you learn to play Variation 1, you can then replace the second two bars on each line with the licks in chorus 1 of the Lickin Riff.
I think Justin’s idea with the bass strum on beat 1 of each lick is to continue the flow of the rhythm into the lick.
It’s important to play the 8th notes in the licks with the same shuffle rhythm.
I opened this lession just yesterday and at the first 10 minutes decided that this is a bit much for my current level and closed it (without even watching it to the end).
It is not in my nature to skip lessions, but I would probably pause this lession and further lessions for a good while and focus on current excersises and songs.
But then I found your post and I found it encouranging. Thank you.
I will give it a good at the very next opportunity.
@Stuartw It took me about 3 months of practicing this 5 minutes per day, 5 days a week, until I was able to play the Lick’n’Riff setpiece at 80bpm.
YMMV
2 Likes
Hi Bostjan,
You’re very welcome. Best advice I can give is take it really slow and build up speed/rythm over time.
You’ll be surprised what a little practice every day can achieve if you stick at it.
For what it’s worth, what kept me going when I felt I was getting nowhere and making no progress
was the satisfaction that I’m not going to just quit like most people do 
2 Likes
It’s strange really as, even after all this time, I don’t really have any long term goals, although I did set a goal of finishing grade 3 this year, which I should achieve. What I do after that or where I go from there I don’t know.
Same Stuart ! I don’t have a specific long term goal/vision beside getting better each year. There are so many ways to achieve it that it’s hard to imagine my plan in 2 years. 
But, at least, I try to have a shorter goal for a period at a time. Last year, it was grade 3 and rock songbook. This year, it’s blues immersion. Life is full of surprise since I did not listen to any blues in my life prior to the course (I’m 31). But since Justin uses it as a vehicule to learn lead guitar in the intermediate grades, I decided to try it. I like it so far, but i have no idea if I’ll stick to that genre after the immersion. But, it doesn’t matter because everything that I’ll have learned will be useful in whatever my new goal is.
For instance, I’m so glad that i finished grade 3 last year (even though some parts were not motivating me) because it made me grew as a player. And I feel more confident for my current challenges.
Finally! I can do it. I never thought I would be able to play this and now I can from start to finish. It’s not like listening to Justin though! 
I have a feeling this is what people refer to when they say ‘getting it under your fingers’ and I would like to perfect this a little before leaving it as I am sure it needs to be tightened up.
How do you use a metronome with 12 bar blues though? It doesn’t fit because of the blues rhythm. I had a look at garageband to try and make a drum track but I can’t work that out either.
1 Like
You can absolutely use a metronome for a blues with a shuffle rhythm. The blues rhythm has evenly spaced pulses on the beats, i.e. 1-2-3-4. It’s only the rhythm of the “ands” that gives the shuffle feel.
You set your metronome to some bpm and then play such that the beats (i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4) occur together with the metronome clicks. The “ands” will come between the clicks.
2 Likes
John’s right but about the metronome but the count is off a bit.
not quite between on the and it’s delayed this is what gives it the shuffle feel. It’s more 1 trip let.
Here’s Justin’s Lesson on counting shuffle beats
1 Like
It depends on what metronome you have but some can be set to a shuffle/swing rhythm.
Here’s a screenshot of mine.
The middle button of the three in a row can be set to various rhythms. It’s set on a swing rhythm.
The top line shows 4 beats. There are 2 clicks on each beat, the second one being nearer to the next beat.