Working through Grade 3, here is the Solo Blues guitar set piece, “Lick-in’ Riff”. This is after working on it for about 2 weeks. Justin asked for people to upload videos on them playing it in the lesson… and I haven’t seen any yet, so may as well be the first .
It’s fun playing this kind of stuff, I’m very interested in mixing rhythm/chords with lead lines.
Sounding good JK, very bluesy. I’m going to have to check out that lesson!
Well I went back and watched through Justin’s lesson (will start playing through tomorrow), so I had to come back and listen to your post again. You sound right on with keeping the beat, JK, and that is a very good base for your playing. Nicely done.
Thanks Shane, yes it’s pretty fun. Learning a lot with this one. The gain… I probably should have said, that was intentional to give it a dirty feel, it’s the Blues Jr amp model on my mustang GTX . Realise it’s not to everyone’s taste though.
Glad you’re checking out the lesson Mari, it’s a fun one. The beat, well, when I was younger I was a drummer, haven’t really done it in 20 years but the rhythm & timing stick. A key part of drumming is getting right back on the beat after doing a fill, and switching from rhythm to lead lines and back to rhythm feels similar. Thanks for checking it out.
The two week practice, it’s not meant to be an excuse or a crutch. I played it a lot in those two weeks, it felt ready to show. So open to critique in general of course. Thanks for the feedback.
If I try to not do guitar face my playing goes to crap, so I guess I have to look like an idiot! I know now why so many youtube guitar vids are headless people.
Loved it, JK. Got it under the fingers pretty well and I personally enjoyed that grungy (must be channelling your inner love of the 90s) muted rhythm play.
Great work JK. All that was missing was a suit, hat and shades. You’re a naughty boy… you’ve diverted everyone from their current learning path to Grade 3 Module 18 good stuff mate… I might have to restrain myself from jumping ahead to that module… new guitars sounding great.
Sounding good JK and 2 weeks well spent. One I need to come back to along with some other Grade 3 modules. Spent an afternoon dabbling with this lesson and you sound pretty close from what I recall, without an immediate revisit. Making great progress Sir.
I’m not into blues (not yet, at least) so I can’t say much more than it sounds cool to my ear!
What do you mean by “guitar face”? Headless people on socials is something I also wondered about and got my own answer, but I’m curios to know your point of view.
Thanks David, yes I am JUST a bit partial to 90s grunge/rock/anything .
Thanks Phil, would be an easy lesson for you I think given what I’ve seen of your amazing playing!
Blues feels good to play. That swing rhythm is infectious. Its a reasonably straightforward set piece to play all compared to what I imagine some would be, it’s worth checking out. Thanks for the feedback Gordon.
My favourite hat is a camo trucker cap, I’m allergic to suits these days… but I was kind of wearing shades, my glasses are transitions lenses .
Thank you fine sir, it means a lot!
It’s the derp face some of us pull when playing guitar, including loads of famous people. It’s basically an internet meme, google ‘guitar face’ and have a chuckle.
Some nice technique there. Love the blues. Personally didn’t like the fx on the bass side, although I realise that’s what you wanted. Reminds me of the broken down internal speakers of my old macbook! But clearly your playing was good.
When I play through this it seems natural to use my thumb for all the picking, including the riffs. Did you find it ‘natural’ to use your fingers? Justin says use any fingers you want, although he doesn’t include your thumb in that, but he also says essentially that the ‘rules’ are more relaxed playing this kind of stuff. I also tried playing with a pick, which was fine, except I prefer using fingers for the opening bit.
Hey @Mari63. Using the fingers the way Justin does was not natural initially. Fingerstyle for me so far has been Thumb on bass string, next 3 fingers on thinner strings. Using the index to move around for the lead line was new and felt a bit cumbersome.
I mostly used index for the lead lines with some middle and ring. I switched to thumb for the bass walk-ups before the chords (eg 0 - 1 - 2 on the A string before B7).
I can imagine a blues cave where the guitar is plugged directly into a broken MacBook for that authentic grungy blues sound. . You’re not far off though, the Blues Jr sound is apparently about getting the speaker distorted. I’m no expert though! Definitely not for everyone.
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. Realise it’s not to everyone’s taste though.
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. You’re not far off though, the Blues Jr sound is apparently about getting the speaker distorted. I’m no expert though! Definitely not for everyone.