J’ai pensé la même chose.
I thought the same thing, it’s not always that easy.
He speaks ‘American English’ haha … a totally different language.
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hahaha
So do I, though ![]()
I kinda feel bad for all y’all whose first language is something else.
gotta love modern English (lord, no, not the band…def not them) for all of its borrowed words and sometimes nonsensical structure.
I briefly thought about guitar solos since that’s definitely the most common usage with regards to guitar playing. but it didn’t take me long to realize that Justin was referring to something else (I’ve always referred to this as fingerstyle blues, but I guess solo fingerstyle blues could also work).
****Fingerstyle arrangements Blues course ****
The Dutch here understands that in one read … ![]()
Richard, I gave you the ‘like’ but John actually nullifies it … ![]()
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well I tried the free lesson and realised : no its not what I thought it would be ![]()
For anyone who still has questions about exactly what it is, Justin Johnson has a lot of stuff in this vein.
(note that he calls this style solo fingerpicking blues so the language for this lesson is consistent with fairly common usage)
[ mod edit … I have removed the links … in a topic specifically concerning one of Justin’s subscription courses, it is not cool to link to others offering similar ]
you could post something like this as this comes a lot closer andf it is from the same teacher we talked about here above ![]()
Greetings
I honestly didn’t give this course a second glance until this video popped up on my Youtube feed yesterday:
Why am I going on about Unaccompanied vs solo? I often search for lessons, ideas and inspiration on youtube and if you search for solo you will not get (much if any) unaccompanied content. Conversely search on unaccompanied and you will hit pay dirt (but this exciting new JG course is no where to be found). So you see it’s more than just potAto vs potAHto.
Also, I have enough interest in the subject to have created my own Youtube content: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0JwwpE28qzGBHNf5v0zmrUX8afhArdNw
Can somebody tell me what a ghost bend is, and how to do it, please?
Justin mentions it briefly as an alternative for the semitone bend in bar 12 of the Target 3rd Blues
Thank you
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Hi Jasmine
Bend your string up without sound…strike it and lower it …
I’m looking for a good example in about 4 minutes of a free lesson …
Greetings
Hi Jasmine - could you narrow it down a little and give a time stamp plus which of the lessons for Target 3rd? ![]()
Target 3rd Blues – Main Lesson
18:50
I changed my name ![]()
Greetings
Thanks to @roger_holland for helping me find it.
Just says, ‘ghost bend, or pre-bend’.
Pre-bend is perhaps a more common name.
Without making a sound, bend the string the appropriate amount before playing it, then when yo pick it, you are playing a bent note that is already at the correct pitch.
It takes practice to know how much bend is needed for it to be at the correct pitch.
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It appears that the 4th grade lesson https://www.justinguitar.com/modules/essential-blues-lead-guitar is mandatory for these improvisations.
Thank you! @roger_holland and @Richard_close2u ! ![]()
I kept rewatching that little piece but didn’t get it.
Wow, Rogier! That’s a great example, and amazing that you found it! Thank you!
I’m going to put some practice into this, it is very cool ![]()
I’m working my way through the Blues lead guitar modules too.
Thanks again
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I noticed that Justin plays the first lesson (Boom bass with licks 1) with his fingers as well as his thumb. When I started playing it, I realized I was playing all of the strings with just my thumb. Using my fingers for the higher strings makes it much more challenging. I’m wondering if trying to learn “finger style” is worth the effort.
hey @Jwerkjr, only you can decide if it’s worth it for you. I can say that if you want to learn to play the pieces in this course, then you definitely have to learn to play fingerstyle: using both thumb and fingers. The Boom Bass with Licks piece could theoretically be played with only the thumb, but that is not true of the other pieces.
One of the main ideas of this style of guitar playing is to have the thumb playing the bass notes, which kind of sets the groove and also indicates the chord, while the fingers play melody licks on the treble strings. It’s the separation between the bass part and the treble part that gives this style its distinct sound.
I will give you my experience as an example. I had been playing Boom Bass with licks in a similar fashion to you. I am having individual lessons with @Richard_close2U. Our lesson topic intersected with this piece and I sent him a video of me, he highlighted the thumb playing all the strings, gave me some exercises to grow thumb independence, which immediately helped. The piece sounds much better timing wise and less robotic now, still needs more work to get it up to full speed. Thumb independence is really useful in other pieces too. It is up to yo whether it is worth the effort to keep your thumb playing the bass notes. However the effort probably isn’t as much as you imagine, awareness is the biggest part.
Thank you both. I gave it a try today and it did feel like I can pick it up relatively quickly.