Blues Guitar Courses: Guided Lessons, Learn Step-By-Step

Search for online blues guitar courses, and you’ll see courses from experts like Texas Blues Alley, Marty Swartz, and Pickup Music’s Seth Rosenbloom.

There are also a tonne of sites offering one or more courses, such as Truefire, Rocksmith, and Pickup Music.

When I started learning blues guitar, like you, I wasn’t sure where or what to learn for an authentic blues guitar education.

All I knew was that I needed decent lessons, and some structure to my practice routine to make the most of my learning time.

I want to give you the information I wish I’d had when starting out.

After reading this article, taking the next step in your blues guitar education will feel so much clearer and easier.

Get ready to master blues guitar

My name is Jack and I’m an instructor at Pickup Music.

I’m going to tell you why learning blues guitar can help you unlock fresh ways to learn the electric guitar and help you absorb new sounds, and explore undiscovered techniques.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a blues guitar purist or a general guitarist looking to dig deeper into blues guitar theory.

Spending time brushing up on your blues guitar fundamentals can level up your overall guitar playing massively.

What else does blues guitar mastery offer you?

The ability to improvise beautiful, melodic solos.
Iron-clad skills for understanding how to navigate the guitar fretboard.
Making music theory fun and instantly usable.
Deep knowledge of electric guitar techniques.
How to use blues guitar playing in all music genres.

“The beautiful thing about learning is nobody can take it away from you.” - B.B. King

The ultimate online blues guitar course: The Blues Learning Pathway

Course name: Blues Learning Pathway

Course creator: Seth Rosenbloom

Course copyright: Pickup Music

Language: English

Who’s it for? Everyone from ages 15 and up

Course level: Advanced-Beginner to Intermediate

Course duration: 3 Months

Course delivery: Online

Media:

Video: Instructional lessons and performance piece demonstrations

Course support:

Online Community 24/7/365
Live Q&A
Live Band Practice

Course topics & modules

Grade 1. Blues Basics

The first grade is aimed at learning blues guitar for beginners and covers all of the bare essentials you’ll need to work your way up to becoming an intermediate blues guitarist.

Learning how to create and memorize the 12-bar blues form.
Building power chords and how to transpose them.
Studying a blues guitar classic, “The Thrill is Gone”
12-Bar chord performance challenges to test your learning.

Here’s a quick taster of 9 blues chords that you can learn today.

Grade 2. Lead for Beginners

Learning blues guitar licks is a great way to spend your time brushing up on blues vocabulary.

This grade breaks down how to play lead blues guitar like the best.

How to build a guitar solo from scratch using motifs.
Learning a full blues solo and how to pick out key licks.
Breaking down a solo into call and response phrases.
Three full solos to learn in the performance section.

Grade 3. Minor Pentatonic 101

Every free blues guitar course gives you the basics of the minor pentatonic scale, but this grade teaches you how to truly master it.

A comprehensive rundown of the minor pentatonic scale across the entire fretboard.
Dexterity drills to make your fingers fly across the strings.
How to overlay the blues scale on top of what you know.
A collection of 6 solos to learn and perform.

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Grade 4. Bends and Vibrato

The ultimate blues guitar class for mastering small details that make a big difference.

This grade has a mammoth amount of lesson content divided into two parts.

Getting the right intonation into your bends.
An in-depth breakdown for adding vibrato using each of the fingers.
Imitating the stylistic bends and vibrato from blues guitar legends such as B.B. King, John Mayer, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert King.
Learning how to transpose licks into new keys and find them across the fretboard.
Six traditional blues guitar solos to learn during the performance section.

Grade 5. Break out of the Pentatonic Box

A worthwhile blues lead guitar course focuses on helping you break away from the pentatonic scale shapes to give you real fretboard freedom.

Taking you into the intermediate and advanced blues guitar territory.

Connect and expand each of the five pentatonic shapes.
Explore the ‘B.B. box’ position and how to freely move around it.
Create more interesting chord voicings for your blues rhythm guitar.
Targeting major 3rds and combining with minor pentatonic scale shapes.
Learn blues music the correct way by studying three more challenging solos in the style of SRV, Albert King, and B.B. king.

Grade 6. Add some spice to your playing

Modules on adding harmonic interest to chords and solos will take your blues guitar music theory to the next level.

Improve your rhythm guitar voice leading using 9th and 13th extension tones.
Combining scales with arpeggios to highlight the I, IV, and V chords in a 12 bar blues.
10 essential licks in the style of Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
4 advanced blues solos for the final performance section.

All these advanced lessons cover a variety of technical material.

If you’d like a taster of what’s on offer, check out this free blues guitar lesson.

By the end of the course, you’ll know how to…

After you’ve completed everything in the blues curriculum, you can expect to have a masterful understanding of how to play both lead and rhythm blues guitar.

But that’s not all...

After you progress through the final grade, you can tick all these off of your blues guitar wishlist.

Create your very own blues guitar solo improvisations that showcase your knowledge of pentatonic scales across the fretboard.
A deep understanding of how to use blues guitar theory to highlight every chord in a 12-bar blues progression.
Transcribe your favorite blues guitar masters and know how to apply their licks to new keys.
Create your own major and minor pentatonic licks to use in your next solo.
Play rhythm guitar like a master accompanist with rich, interesting chord voicings across the neck.
A huge collection of licks in the blues language of SRV, John Mayer, Albert, and B.B. King.
Lighting fast recall of chord and scale shapes through visualization skills.
Much more developed ear training skills for identifying certain licks, chord progressions, scales, and chord types.
Apply music theory to make blues guitar practical.

Course Cost: $15 per month (with an annual subscription)

Get Your Free 14-Day Trial To Pickup Music’s Blues Learning Pathway…

Local blues guitar teacher vs. online course

For anyone looking for blues guitar lessons, it can feel very tough choosing between a local tutor or making the jump to online lessons.

Wherever you are in the world, be it the USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, South America, or beyond, face-to-face lessons can have major upsides and downsides.

But before you make a decision, here’s a list of the pros and cons of online lessons versus working with guitar tutors near you.

The pros

Local tutor	Online course(s)
Playing with a local tutor can give you more playing in-person opportunities.	Courses such as Pickup Music’s Blues Learning Pathway are staffed by world-class guitar educators who are at the helm to steer your education into the right path.
Local tutors can give you tips on your tone.	Most online blues courses will be stacked with a variety of backing tracks and instructional videos that you can practice to, so you’ll never be out of material.
You can ask questions in the lesson about the learning content.	There is a diverse range of topics and ways to complete the blues learning pathway so that you can build your own custom guitar-learning plan that works for you.
An in-person guitar tutor can help spot any technique blindspots you might have.	The best online guitar schools all have a forum or members area where other students can connect with each other over
Weekly lessons can help to keep you accountable when it comes to practicing.	Online courses will come equipped with graded material and a blues guitar learning plan making it far easier to track your progress and tick off your achievements along the way.
A local tutor may tell you about local jams or concerts to attend.	The best blues guitar online courses will provide easy-to-access resource folders where you can print off charts and exercises for your next practice session.
	Self-paced courses make learning fun and as regular as you want it to be, whether it’s daily, weekly, or monthly. You can come back anytime you want
	Professional guitarists are on hand to give you real feedback for your performances, enrich your quality of learning, and help you keep on top of your goals.

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The Cons:

Local tutor	Online course(s)
Just googling “blues guitar lessons near me” might not always provide you with the best available guitar tutors.	Requires some self-discipline to learn alone.
Most full-time musicians don’t have a lot of flexibility when it comes to rearranging lesson times and dates.	May be difficult to figure out your playing level when you’re starting out.
Not every guitar teacher will have follow-up materials or specific lesson plans for your learning.	It can be confusing to know if you’re playing something correctly without instruction.
Some blues guitar teachers don’t learn to play blues with music theory and therefore don’t teach it in lessons.	It’s not always best suited to beginner students.
If you forget to take notes or ask questions, it can be really difficult to keep track of what happened in each lesson.

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What to look for in a blues guitar course

One of the biggest lessons I learned when I started studying blues guitar seriously was to make sure you know exactly what you want from a course.

If I had a list of desirable things to draw on when choosing the right course for me, it would have saved me plenty of time and energy mulling over.

Ask yourself what the best online blues guitar lessons would look like for you – it’s a great way to figure out what you want from online education.

Here are 10 things you need for a great online learning experience:

10. Enjoyable and consistent style

If you’re going to be put time and money into your online guitar education, it’s important that the format, style, and overall feel of the platform appeal to you.

9. Teachers that you want to learn from.

Straight off the bat, you’ll want to know who the teachers are and what their playing sounds like. If you dig their approach to playing, you may have just found your next guitar sensei.

8. A community of students to connect with.

Studying how to play blues guitar alongside other learners that you can connect with makes the experience much more enjoyable.

7. Make sure there’s enough material to keep you busy.

This is a major sticking point for finding the best blues guitar course online. A couple of “learn how to play like [insert blues legend]” aren’t going to cut it.

Practicing blues guitar is a lifelong journey, and there needs to be enough material to keep you interested and excited to play.

6. High-quality videos and lesson content.

Video quality isn’t everything, but it can make a huge difference to your ability to learn. Multiple camera angles can help you analyze those important nuances.

5. Ways to keep track of your learning.

To keep your playing improving, you’ll want to make sure that a blues guitar course has a good system for keeping track of your learning progress and goals.

4. Easy-to-read learning materials and exercises.

This is self-explanatory, but printable charts and clearly tabbed-out exercises can make your practice sessions much easier.

3. Song libraries, transcriptions, and professional insights.

You’ll want to hear from the best in the business about what to practice. Song tutorials and learning blues tunes are valuable lessons.

2. A clear methodology to follow.

Music theory doesn’t have to be complex. Having a clear syllabus that shows exactly what you’ll study and practice is crucial for progressing in blues guitar.

1. Updated lessons and introducing new material.

Make sure a course can teach you modern blues styles and concepts as well as traditional blues guitar. Fresh topics keep learning fun and can instill new ideas.

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FAQs

What is the best course to learn blues guitar?

The Blues Learning Pathway is a one-size-fits-all approach for learning blues guitar online.

How can I master blues guitar chords faster?

Fluent visualization of the basic 6th and 5th string bar chords is a valuable skill that will help with blues chords.

How important is online community support when learning blues guitar?

Very important. Learning with others can make the experience far more enjoyable and result in new musical friendships.

Are there any hacks for studying blues guitar licks?

Listening to the blues guitar masters as often as possible is one of the most underrated ways to speed up your learning.

Can I learn blues guitar by myself?

Of course. There has never been a better time to learn by yourself, with so many available electric blues guitar courses.

What are 3 important things to know when practicing blues guitar scales?

Visualize scale shapes on the fretboard, practice with a metronome, and memorize the intervals of the scale notes.

What’s a good guitar brand for beginner blues guitarists?

Epiphone, Gretsch, Squire, and Ibanez offer some top quality, introductory guitars for beginners looking to buy their first blues guitar.

I’m new to blues guitar. What are some easy songs to begin with?

Sweet Home Chicago by Robert Johnson is a nice place to start for your first blues guitar song.

Wrapping Up

Truly, there has never been a better time to learn blues guitar online.

Online courses are packed with numerous features that make your blues guitar learning experience enjoyable and interactive while helping you to become a proficient musician who can jam to anything.

Explore our free 14-day trial of Pickup Music to experience The Blues Learning Pathway alongside Seth Rosenbloom - did we mention it’s free?

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Author: Jack Handyside

Jack Handyside is a professional jazz guitarist, composer, and teacher from the UK with extensive experience in performance and education. A long-time member of the Pickup Music team, Jack serves as a course writer and feedback instructor, providing 1:1 video feedback to Pickup members.

He's also a seasoned private guitar instructor with an international student base and a strong social media presence. Jack's dedication to both performance and education has made him a respected voice in the jazz guitar community.

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