Blues Guitar Teacher Guide
Blues Teacher Guide
Blues is one of my favorite things to teach beginning guitar players. Not only is the form and style of the blues ubiquitous in pop music, studying blues soloing is the perfect way to start playing single note lines.
I | Teacher Prep & Materials
II | Unit Introduction & History
III | Listening
IV | Form
V | Chords
VI | Bass
VII | Soloing
VIII | Style
IX | Jamming
X | Songwriting
XI | Unit Exam
1 Teacher Prep & Materials
MATERIALS
Class guitars and picks
Headphones to listen to 1:1 devices
High quality playback system
Electric guitars and amps*
Bass guitars and amps*
Drum set *
Vocal mic(s)*
*optional
UNIT PREP
To prepare for this unit, listen to as much blues as possible to become familiar with the style, language, and the notable artists from the differet playlists in the listen section. Take time to learn some blues language from the soloing tab by transcribing some of the licks and start to get the language in your ear by singing through solos that you like. It is important when teaching these lessons to be as authentic and possible in their delivery by approaching the blues as an oral tradition. The best thing to do to be able to teach this way is to try playing some blues guitar yourself.
SEQUENCING AND PACING
I usually spend 3-4 weeks on the blues unit and I follow the sequence order presented in the unit contents. It is important to structure practice time when learning different elements of the blues into timed sections and to change the modality and subject of what is being covered within the lesson to keep it exciting. After covering the baseline knowledge in the chords, bass, and soloing sections, I like to break up a class period into 15 minute chunks where students can then do further study of each section at their own pace using 1:1 devices- this helps with differentiation (15 minutes on chords, 15 minutes on bass, 15 minutes on soloing in the same period). Depending on your teaching situation, you might choose to do formal evaluation for the chord, bass, and solo section, but I tend to do informal evaluations of these sections to keep the momentum of the unit going and save the formal evaluation for the final exam assessment.
2 Unit Intro & History (1.5 Days)
INTRO
Ask students to find rock guitar solos.
Play some for the class and have them list what is similar between them.
Write the list of style characteristics on the board.
Reveal to them that all of these characteristics all come from the blues.
HISTORY
Read the history section of the blues page aloud.
Discuss the historical context surrounding the blues and how it has informed the vocal style and emotional content of blues lyrics.
3 Listening (1 Day)
Start by listening to early examples from the Blues Origins playlist (Robert Johnson and Blind Melon are great for this). Talk about the recording quality and how the slide playing resembles the human voice.
Listen to contrasting classic blues artists like B. B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan and have student identify differences in their playing.
Start each period in the unit with listening to examples from those artists and slowly add new artists to the list. The goal is to get students to be able to identify a few blues artists by just listening to their soloing sound and style. The one’s I focus on are: B. B. King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Albert King, Chuck Berry, and Roy Buchanan.
I also like to introduce students some modern blues players and their Youtube channels like Josh Smith and Chris Buck.
4 Form (2 Days)
Watch the blues form video and count along with the Roman Numerals using the on screen chord chart.
Have students copy down the chord chart on paper or their 1:1 device (its best not to have them take screen shots, the act of writing is helps with memorization).
Listen to the blues backing track and have students clap at the beginning of each chorus, then at the end of each phrase.
Have them show the number of the chord that is being played by holding up the corresponding fingers.
Write out blueses in different keys by viewing the major scale matrix.
Listen to blueses from the listening tab together and have students say the number and or letter of the chord during playback.
Pause the playback of the backing track or blues example part way during the form and have students identify the measure number within the form and the chord number. IE this is the fifth measure which is the IV chord.
Slowly ween students off of using the chord charts and make it a game to memorize the form.
Start class periods by having students write the blues form using numbers and in different keys by memory. After a few days, they will have it!
5 Chords (2 Days)
Watch the roots only video as a class and play along to a blues in A together.
Write out a blues in a student or teacher selected key on the board (I like to have students complete this). Give students time to find the notes on the E and A string and play the blues using only roots.
Watch the power chords video together and have students play a blues in A using power chords. You can use the multitrack Soundtrap file in the Solo tab and mute the chords to make the students sound like they are the only ones playing chords in the band.
CHORD BASELINE ASSESSMENT: Instruct students to play power chords along to the blues backing track in A. Make sure they are playing either on beat one of everything measure, that the chords ring clearly, and that the correct chord is being played to follow the blues form.
DIFFERENTIATION: Once students have done the baseline assessments for chords, bass, and soloing, come back to these elements in timed chunks. Give students time to work independently with the videos to further their confidence using power chords and to learn how to add the shuffle rhythm, the sixth scale degree, and other voicings while playing over the blues form.
6 Bass (1 Day)
Watch the roots only bass video together and play through a blues in A as a class.
Instruct students to use bass technique even when they are on guitar when playing bass lines.
If you have basses and bass amps in the room, rotate students through these instruments and give them an opportunity to sit in as the bass player.
Highlight the importance of grooving with the drummer when playing the bass.
Watch the adding the sixth video together and give students time to work on playing a blues in A with the root, fifth, and sixth.
CHORD BASELINE ASSESSMENT: Instruct students to play roots, fifths, and sixths to along with the blues backing track in A. Be sure they use good technique, have good time, and are using the correct notes on each beat.
DIFFERENTIATION: Once students have done the baseline assessments for chords, bass, and soloing, come back to these elements in timed chunks. Give students time to work independently with the videos to further their confidence using the root, fifth, and sixth and to learn how to do the modified jump blues, how to play the fifth, and how to walk.
7 Soloing (3-4 Days)
Play along with the call and repeat video in the solo tab as a class (they will probably only be able to make it through the first couple minutes of the video).
Have a discussion about how students did during the activity.
Give students time to work indepentantly on the call and repeat video- encouraging them to find licks that they like the sound of.
Play the backing track and have everyone solo together.
Have students find a lick from the lick library that they like and give them time to practice it.
Give students an opportunity to play their lick for the class.
SOLO BASELINE ASSESSMENT: Have students create a narrative of a solo by charting out which riffs are going to be used over the form. Give them time to find five to six licks from the lick library and the call and repeat video that they like. Let them practice the licks and figure out the order that they are going to use in their solo. Allowing students to craft their solo takes the guess work out of improvisation and makes it so students will play a solo that sounds great. When referring to licks from the call and repeat page, they can write the timestamp of the lick to stay organized. The performance of their etude should have rhythmic intention and should follow the narrative that they wrote.
DIFFERENTIATION: Once students have done the baseline assessments for chords, bass, and soloing, come back to these elements timed chunks. Give students time to work independently with the call and repeat video, the lick library, and the blues scale video to expand their blues vocabulary.
8 Style (1 Day during solo assessment prep)
Watch the style video together as a class.
Have students choose a lick and give them ten minutes for them to work on one element of style to make the lick pop. Have them watch the corresponding style video and apply it to the lick.
Repeat the same step for two other elements of style.
Have students present their licks at the end of class.
Inform students that they should always add the different elements of style to their single note lines to help tell their story through their playing.
Highlight players who are actively adding style to their playing to boost their confidence and promote playing with style to the rest of the class.
9 Jamming (1 Day)
Put students into small groups and have them take turns playing bass and chords together. It students need more confidence, assign two of them on each part.
Instruct them to play through a few choruses together while listing to the drums only backing track to help them keep time.
After students are comfortable keeping the form of the blues in small groups, have one of them play a solo while the others are playing bass and drums. The solo can be improvised or it can be an etude.
Alternateively, the entire class can be split into bass players, chord players, and soloists. Students can play each role at the same time. Having more than one student solo at a time helps them with performance anxiety.
If you have drums in the room, go over how to play a basic 12/8 shuffle groove and have students play drums.
The class can arrange a performance of a full blues song by choosing a standard from the essential tune list. I like to start with Sweet Home Chicago or Everyday I Have The Blues. If the class would like to do this, practice singing the lyrics together and have a student or students sing the melody while the rest of the class plays bass, chords, and drums.
10 Songwriting (1 Day)
Watch the songwriting video as a class.
Analyze the lyrics for Everyday I Have The Blues, Stormy Monday, and Sweet Home Chicago, highlighting the AAB structure, the rhyme scheme, and the subject of the words.
Use the blues lyric organizer to write a blues as a class.
Put students into small groups and have them write their own words.
Have the small groups practice their blues compositions and either have them perform it for the class or record it using the Soundtrap template.
11 Unit Exam (2-3 Days)
Assign students into trios (sometimes I double up parts if there are students that are struggling).
Have them determine who is going to start off play bass, chords, and a solo. Here is an example of this being done by Kirk Fletcher, Ariel Posen, and Josh Smith at NAMM 2019through one chorus of the initial configuration, they should switch roles and continue playing. Their performance is complete after they have played three choruses where everyone has had a chance to play bass, chords, and solo.
Give students time to practice in their group with and without a drums only backing track. Students can improvise or use their etude when soloing.
Have each group play for the teacher and give immediate meaningful feedback.
I give students five points for each category: bass, chords, and solo.
The most common error that students make is losing the form when playing, make sure to highlight this and keep them mindful of form while practicing.
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