24 Reusable Blues Licks
This lesson teaches you 24 great blues licks, as well as the rhythm guitar parts. The reason I called it “Bar Blues”, is that each lick spans 2 bars. You will learn 4 licks over bars 1-2, another 4 licks over bars 3-4, and so on. The result is that you learn good blues licks that are played in the right context. The licks I teach over the IV-chord are purposely played a bit differently compared to licks over the I-chord or the V-chord.
After you learn all the licks in this lesson, you will have enough blues licks to play a 48 bar blues solo! Since each lick spans 2 bars, 6 licks will cover the first time through the 12 bars, another 6 licks for the next time through the 12 bars – so 24 licks will last for 48 bars of blues lead playing.
This lesson is NOT a beginner lesson, although beginners will benefit from this lesson too. It is an Intermediate level lesson, and the lesson doesn’t teach you scales or theory. Instead, the focus is on playing Good Blues Licks At The Right Place in a 12 bar blues.
If you are a beginner, you will probably be able to play some of these licks, but there are a few that will give your fingers a workout. I purposely included some licks that use more advanced techniques, such as 1 1/2 step bends, quick alternative picking, hammer-ons and pull-offs, double-stops and more.
In short – if you are a guitar player who have been using the pentatonic scale and/or blues scale, but you have problems making your lead playing sounding good and convincing, then this lesson is for you. This lesson is straight to the point – you get to learn blues licks right away and all licks are played to a backing track, so you can hear how the licks sound in the right context. You will also enjoy learning the guitar rhythm parts from this backing track.
Here is the explanation of the whole point of this lesson.
Scenario: you know some pentatonic scales and licks, but you want ideas on how to use good sounding licks in the right place in the progression. BINGO! This lesson is for you.
The focus of this lesson is to learn 24 blues licks, but with a twist. For every 2 measures of the chord progression, you will learn 4 licks. So for measures 1 and 2, you learn 4 licks; then for measures 3 and 4, you learn another 4 licks, and so on. The idea is that you can then choose ANY of these 4 licks for those 2 measures in question. This is a good way to build a solo. Just take any one lick from measures 1/2, 3/4, 5/6, 7/8, 9/10, 11/12, and you have ready-to-go solo. As you can see, the solo would consist of 6 licks, since each lick spans 2 measures = 12 bars. Have a look at my demonstration in the video.
Licks Guide
- Licks 1 – 4 in the PDF are for bars 1 – 2
- Licks 5 – 8 in the PDF are for bars 3 – 4
- Licks 9 – 12 in the PDF are for bars 5 – 6
- Licks 13 – 16 in the PDF are for bars 7 – 8
- Licks 17 – 20 in the PDF are for bars 9 – 10
- Licks 21 – 24 in the PDF are for bars 11 – 12
Learn the Rhythm Guitar
I will also teach you how to play the rhythm guitar for the backing track. You will learn how to play professional sounding rhythm guitar – not the usual blues shuffle taught to most beginners. I will show you how to play a moving chord sequence that lasts for one bar, and the voicings for these chords are very useful in other situations too. This is a great way to learn comping over a progression, and you will find this way of playing rhythm guitar a great compliment to the typical shuffle grooves you probably already know.
What’s included in this lesson?
The total amount of video is 1 hour and 25 minutes.
The DVD version includes the Digital Download. In other words, when you buy the DVD, you can immediately download the HD video over the internet.
The DVD will be sent to you within the next 2 business days. The lesson files are also emailed to you immediately.
Digital Download – because the video file is over 800 megabytes in total, I have split it up into 2 files, so it will be more convenient to download.
The Download Lesson includes three files – 2 video files and one zip file:
- First Quicktime movie (Licks 1-14 – about 400 MB in size)
- Second Quicktime movie (Licks 15-24 & Rhythm guitar – about 400 MB in size)
- A Zip file (10 MB) that includes:
- PDF for the 24 licks
- PDF for the rhythm guitar
- Guitar Pro 6 file with all 24 licks
- Guitar Pro 6 file for the rhythm guitar
- Guitar Pro 6 file for all 24 licks played in sequence
- Backing track in MP3 format
These lesson files and the video download are included in the Bar Blues 1 DVD product, so you will immediately get the links to these after you have made your purchase.
Chapters make it easy to navigate
I have provided chapters in the Quicktime files, so it’s easy to find each lick in the video. You will see a dropdown menu on the right side in the Quicktime Player, after you have opened the video.
You can then just choose a selection from this menu, and the player will jump to that location in the video. Very convenient – just like using chapters on a DVD.
The first video has an Introduction, an example of what it sounds like when you play all 24 licks over the backing track (this means 48 bars, or 4 x the 12 bar progression). The licks in this file are from 1 to 14.
The second video has the licks from 15 to 24, as well as a lesson on how to play the rhythm guitar parts from the backing track. This is a great way to play chords in a blues! I will teach you all the little “tricks” and “secrets” that make this way of chording sound so great.
Why use Guitar Pro?
I whole-heartedly recommend you get Guitar Pro if you don’t have it. This way, you can both view and hear the licks being played, which is great for learning. Naturally, this applies to the rhythm guitar parts as well. You can also set certain sections to repeat, if you want – also great for learning.
Introduction to the Blues
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Funny, I just pulled this out again last night to go over all the licks again. When I did it before, I found that the licks are not taught in the order Robert plays in his solo. But going through all the licks, and then rearranging them was a good way to learn.
If you don´t know what you do... this is awesome!
If yo do know theory and need guidance to get great and play your own stuff... this course is essential!
One of the best courses out there!
When one wants to show children how to speak, one begins with small words and the child imitates us. We will not show him the spelling, the syntax or the grammar.
Learning "classic" musical licks is exactly the same process and Robert does it perfectly. I am very satisfied with my purchase. If you want to have fun with your guitar, this is the ideal solution. I highly recommend it.
This is a very well done video for both parts, rhythm and lead. I recommend it highly because the takeaway is huge. The lead guitar is broken down into 24 bit-size licks that can be easily digested as shown, but what's more is they they can port to virtually any Blues tune.
One minor detail that I would address is in the accompanying charts. I would add the chord symbols above the staff in each measure (A7, D...)
That being said, I certainly got my money's worth from this course.
What a great course to learn some Blues Riffs / soloing over a chord progression. With Roberts courses I think your expected to know a little music theory, so taking the time to learn some scale theory / chord construction / major and minor 3rds / double stops / passing notes, etc.... and relating it to the scale / progression your playing, is an investment in your playing ability. Then your able to explain these riffs and improve upon them and make them your own, then you're not just playing Tabs. Robert has two other great courses that explains the theory behind the Rhythm section / chord progression of this course - Triad Voicings and Comping with Triads (Voicing and Comping the Blues is another one). I know scale theory can be a little complicated depending on your level of knowledge, and for me I had to go back and start over at the fundamentals / basics which worked for me. And put me on the path to learn more and improve / apply to my writing. You have to learn the way it works for you at the level you're at, and what you want to do with your playing and the type of music (for example - I don't think you'll see Robert playing Blues on a Banjo...... but you never know). So if you get a little stuck, ask Robert to point you in a direction that helps you with scale theory.
Hello, my name is Rodger and I"m from Manitoba Canada and i bought the bar blues 1 lesson back in 2010 i think it was. I just want to say that I still use the lesson and the licks still today. To relax i will play the rhythm on my guitar anytime even if I"m watching TV lol. In all, this package still gives me great pleasure to use and play and learn from till this day! Thanks Robert and keep up the great work! Merry Christmas everyone.....
Just got the Bar Blues download,really impressed.Its the first online lesson that really gets you into it.I Have been playing for a number of years and it has provided the answers to a lot of questions i wanted to ask.
Dear Robert - the most sincere "thank you" for your wonderful "Bar Blues" lessons. You are not only a great guitarist, but more importantly to those of us who are aspirational, you are a fantastic teacher. Your approach is the most accessible I have found. So clear and so complete. I would recommend this course to any guitarist from intermediate up.
I can't say enough about the Bar Blues lesson. Like the people Robert talks about in the intro, I've learned the pentatonic and blues scales and move around the neck pretty well, but making it all sound good and not repetitive has been a challenge. Robert's 24 licks have definitely allowed me to move to a higher level. Some are easy to learn, some take a little more work, but I was able to work through them all in about 3 or 4 weeks of steady effort and now pretty much have them all under my fingers and I sound like a completely different player. I did have to modify a couple where I don't seem to have the speed to make them sound smooth. Maybe that will improve with time, but the modifications work just fine and it sounds great. I'm now at the point where I'm mixing up where I play them to create more variety and that's coming along nicely.
There are lots of good instructional videos on the web these days, but I'd put this one right at the top from what I've seen.
Amazing, i love this, cant wait to buy it, very soon hopefully!