Blues Guitar Lessons: Free Lessons By Experts [Inc Exercises]

Want to play blues guitar the right way?

This article is a one-stop shop for finding video lessons that’ll level up your blues guitar licks, chords, and practice exercises.

These carefully curated lesson demos will give you a taster of how to get started learning blues guitar today.

Stick around and you’ll also receive a selection of blues guitar exercises to help you practice in the best way possible.

Watch video lessons below about:

How to play blues chords like John Mayer
How to improvise like BB King and Stevie Ray Vaughan
How to play blues licks like Albert King, Joe Bonamassa, and Christone “Kingfish” Ingram
…and loads of other cool blues stuff!

Let's get into it.

Free blues guitar lessons to play better, sooner!

These upcoming video lessons will teach you some blues guitar chords and how to ensure you’re practicing them in the best way possible.

As a blues guitarist myself, I know how difficult it can be sourcing the right lessons when learning blues guitar online.

I distinctly remember that there were lots of times during my own learning that I felt demotivated and frustrated because I didn’t know how, or what was worth my time to practice.

That’s why I’ve picked these specific videos from the blues guitar course to help you get started with the correct material.

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12 bar blues chords

Before I introduce you to some fun licks, let’s get blues guitar voicings and chord shapes straight first.

The 12 bar blues is the most common blues guitar chord progression to know because it holds up the structure of every blues song you’ll jam on.

This may seem like a lesson on blues guitar for beginners, but it’s a crucial lesson that every player must know before they progress.

Ultimately, knowing how to play the chords of a 12 bar blues song can make you a competent blues rhythm guitar player and make jamming more fun.

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Master blues guitar faster

Get expert lessons and community support to play blues confidently sooner…

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Pickup Music co-founder Sam Blakelock says “We designed our Blues Learning Pathway for easier learning to get the basics down so students can advance faster and play confidently sooner, not ‘someday’”.

Anyone who’s serious about learning this style needs a proper blues guitar method to help them get on track.

In this next section, you’ll discover the core fundamentals that will help you to build a blues guitar practice routine.

With some excellent blues guitar samples to keep your fingers busy.

Scales

Blues guitar playing relies almost exclusively on the major and minor pentatonic scales for building melodies and solos.

The minor pentatonic scale is the most common blues guitar scale scale shown in all beginner blues guitar lessons.

Our lesson video takes it one step further and shows you how to form the blues scale, a special scale that uses the minor pentatonic as a skeleton for creating an even more interesting scale.

Lots of recognizable blues players such as Albert King, Eric Clapton, and Joe Bonamassa have utilized the blues scale to create more tension from the minor pentatonic scale.

If you’ve already got the minor pentatonic scale down, learning the blues scale is a great sound to get under your fingers and will help you create more advanced licks.

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Harmony

All of the top blues guitarists like BB King, Freddie King, and T-Bone Walker had a good knowledge of how to play rhythm guitar.

This means, knowing how to play the chords along with the band when you’re sitting back and letting someone else solo.

Harmony is the study of chords and how to form chord progressions.

Some common blues guitar chord shapes that you’ll want to know are as follows:

Basic major and minor triads.
Power chords
Dominant 7th chords
Minor 7th chords

If you’ve got these shapes down already, you’re ahead of the game.

Learning how to play blues begins with understanding how to create solid rhythm guitar parts that combine these chords with interesting rhythms.

Even if you’re a solo guitarist who is more interested in blues guitar chord melody arrangements, knowing how to identify and build chords is a great skill to increase your fretboard and theory knowledge.

This easy blues guitar song is an excellent way to get started with some of the basic shapes.

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Licks/Lines/Phrases

Every guitarist needs a healthy collection of blues guitar riffs for crafting interesting and exciting solos.

Spending time studying scales is always useful, but learning licks is the best way to transform blues guitar theory into real music and vocabulary.

These 10 traditional licks are a great start for helping develop the blues language.

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Improvisation

Once you’ve got some of the blues guitar basics down, you’re ready to start improvising.

Learning to solo is a rite of passage for all guitarists, and it’s the main form of expression in the world of blues.

Every blues guitar teacher will encourage you to work on soloing once you’ve got a couple of the scales down.

It’s a fun way to solidify your new learnings and start feeling creative from the get-go.

Honing your soloing skills is a great way to internalize your blues guitar scale knowledge and translate it into useful blues vocabulary.

To quench your bluesy appetite and get you started, here are 10 tasteful licks written in the style of John Mayer.

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Loops

Loops are a great way to practice blues guitar rhythm and lead playing at the same time.

Practicing with loops is a great way to perfect seamlessly switch from lead playing into blues guitar comping.

Transcriptions

Learning how to play blues guitar the right way means that you’ll need to study how the masters played.

There is no better way to learn a language than to listen and speak it.

Lots of blues guitar tutorials and books highlight the need to learn the master’s solos to know how to ‘think’ when crafting the perfect solo.

In the case of solo blues guitar players who enjoy playing picked fingerstyle arrangements, you’ll want to study other player’s song arrangements and chord transcriptions.

Ear training

Much like transcription, ear training is a vital part of being able to recall melodies, licks, and chords in the form.

When playing in a blues jam you’re unlikely to have blues chord progression tabs to rely on, instead you’ll want your ears to be able to recognize chords, keys, and melodies.

Training your ears to identify chord progressions, licks, and how to use theory is an excellent way to drop the blues guitar chord charts and play from the heart instead.

Ear training is also a useful skill to rely on when practicing extended techniques such as slides and bends.

Developing interesting articulation and phrasing in your solos requires you to be able to hear where your notes will end up before you actually bend them. This is often called ‘pitch recognition’.

Below, you’ll see an insightful lesson on how to use bending like BB King.

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Tone and pickups

Your blues guitar tone is your fingerprint and dialing in the right sound can take your ideas much further and make them sound even more convincing.

Truthfully, there is no perfect blues guitar pickup or tone.

The blues is all about expression and honesty, but it does help to have a clean sound that you like and an overdrive or distortion pedal to kick things up a few notches.

Don’t have an electric guitar?

That's not a problem. Acoustic blues guitar is an excellent way to start your blues journey.

Improve your blues playing faster

Guided lessons and awesome community support so you can progress faster…

Free 14-day trial with full access to the Blues Learning Pathway

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What does a typical blues lesson plan include?

No matter where you are on your blues guitar learning journey, you’ll want to have a lesson plan to guide you to the next level.

With blues guitar tabs, backing tracks, and detailed learning plans, the Blues Learning Pathway has got you covered.

Below, you’ll see an example of how a lesson plan would look for a beginner, intermediate, and advanced player.

Pickup Music's blues guitar artist Seth Rosenbloom says "It’s very tempting to go online and look up tabs. Over the years, I’ve learned that’s not the most effective way to go about learning phrasing. You have to go to the source to hear all of the small inflections.”

Beginner lesson plan example

Here’s what beginner blues guitarists should focus on:

How a 12-bar blues chord progression works and how to memorize it.
Playing through the progression using root notes – follow along with the easy blues guitar tabs.
Learn to apply blues guitar chord shapes stemming from power chords, barre chords, and basic open-string chord shapes.
Jam along at the end by switching between all three chord exercises with the backing track until you’re comfortable.

Intermediate lesson plan example

Here’s what intermediate players should learn:

The first box of the minor pentatonic scale (sometimes called scale pattern 1) along with the blues guitar scale tab.
Visualizing the scale with different ascending and descending exercises making sure to point the flat 3rd scale degree.
Adding the ‘blue note’ to complete the scale and understand tension and release.
Learn some easy blues guitar licks that can be used over a chord progression.

Advanced lesson plan example

Here’s what advanced players should learn:

Map out three boxes of the minor pentatonic scale by visualizing the base position, box shape above, and shape below.
Practice ascending and descending exercises that connect all three boxes until they feel fluid and easy to see on the fretboard.
Identify major and minor 3rds across all three boxes and how to target them in your licks.
Learn to compose and play entire blues solos of your own.

The best blues guitar exercises to practice for beginners, intermediates, and advanced

Now that you’ve seen how lesson plans work for all three skill levels, it’s time that I introduce you to some of the most effective guitar exercises for each level.

There are lots of blues guitar lessons on YouTube, but sometimes it’s hard to know if the content is well suited to you or not.

Each of these exercises are like mini blues guitar lessons that will give you inspiration if you’re unsure what to practice.

Beginners

Practice box 1 of the minor and major pentatonic scales.
Learn some basic blues licks using major and minor pentatonic shapes.
Make sure to have your open chord shapes down.
Play through an easy blues guitar chord progression using power chords.
Try out the hammer on and pull off technique using two notes.
Learn a beginner blues guitar song such as Crossroads by Robert Johnson.

Intermediates

Practice forming dominant 7th chords on the 6th and 5th strings to help you outline common blues guitar progressions.
Experiment with vibrato, double stops, and slides for building blues phrasing and expression when playing blues guitar riffs.
Try out 1/4 tone bends, half step bends, and full step bends to work on intonation accuracy when using string bending techniques in blues.
Study blues guitar sheet music or listen to a record of a learn licks from the masters.
Learning a blues guitar fingerstyle piece can be a great way to level up your technique and understanding of chords on the fretboard.

Advanced

Study new blues guitar rhythms to make your chord accompaniment more interesting.
Learn advanced blues guitar etudes and solos.
Blues guitar arpeggios are built using dominant 7th chords on the I, IV, and V chords. Try to highlight the 12-bar progression using 7th arpeggios across the fretboard.
Stay away from blues guitar solo tabs and try to sing them first.
Download a blues guitar licks PDF and try to learn one per day.
Learn 9th chords and 13th chords for more harmonic interest.
Practice the mixolydian mode for access to more chord extension notes and mixolydian style licks.

Practice the mixolydian mode for access to more chord extension notes and mixolydian style licks.

FAQs

How hard is it to learn blues guitar?

It’s very easy to get started as there are so many free blues guitar lessons available online, but it’s equally helpful to study with an experienced teacher who knows how to guide your learning and keeps you inspired to play.

How do I find a teacher that’s right for me?

A good first step would be to google search for ‘blues guitar teachers near me’.

It’s also worth picking up flyers, talking to musicians at gigs or jams, and contacting teachers in the area to see if you have the desired chemistry.

How long does it take to get good at blues guitar?

This can depend on how much someone is willing to practice, but it’s possible to learn easy guitar blues songs and basic improvisation in under a year.

What gear to I need to start playing?

If you’re just starting out, you’ll only need a guitar and an amp.

In time, you can research into overdrive and looper pedals to help you get closer to the guitar tones of your favorite players.

What are some easy blues guitar songs for beginners?

Easy blues guitar songs include, Sweet Home Chicago, The Thrill is Gone, and Crossroads.

Is the blues useful for other forms of music?

The answer to this one is a resounding ‘yes’. Learning how to use the techniques found in blues guitar is great for strengthening your all-round guitar skills and makes you a more confident and creative player.

What are some easy blues guitar songs for intermediates?

Lucille by BB King, I’m Gonna Find Another You by John Mayer, and Goin’ Down Slow by Eric Bibb are all great blues guitar standards to learn for the intermediate guitarist.

Is it important to practice 8 hours a day?

The quantity of time that you practice is much less important than the quality.

That means, it’s much more beneficial to work on something difficult for 1 hour than to ‘noodle’ or practice without intention for 8 hours.

Is blues guitar harder than jazz?

Blues guitar is significantly easier to learn than jazz guitar because it requires much less understanding of music theory.

Is blues guitar harder than rock?

They’re roughly the same difficulty as blues guitar is fundamental to the creation of rock guitar.

How to play a good blues solo?

Creating a strong melody using the blues guitar scales is what makes a good solo.

What’s the difference between playing to a backing track and playing with a real band?

There is far more opportunity for interplay with a real band, which allows you to feed off of the energy and ideas of your band members in the moment.

Backing tracks are often just repeated loops of 4, 8, or 12 bars.

How important is it to learn theory for blues guitar?

Even learning small bits of theory can help you feel much more in control of your blues guitar improvisations and how to create chord progressions.

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What are the best blues guitar methods to follow?

When I started learning blues guitar, I remember feeling confused and directionless a lot of the time.

I was unaware of how to learn blues properly and what learning methods would help me improve the fastest, and it held me back in my development.

Fortunately, you don’t have to go through that experience as I’ve written out a list of helpful methods that you can try out the next time you sit down to practice.

Trust your ears

Getting away from blues guitar tabs and singing solos is the most effective way to tune your ear to

Blues guitar tab books are great resources for learning specific finger patterns, but nothing beats learning from the real recording to pick up the details.

Learning some of the tricks and tools that blues masters of the past used to make their solos interesting can only be picked up from listening to their playing.

Go out and jam

I remember feeling scared to do this at first, but going out to play with other musicians at jams is by far one of the greatest guitar blues lessons you’ll receive.

The stage is much different to the practice room, but the experience of performing will raise your confidence level and ultimately hone your practice material.

Going to play at jams is the best test of how well you have practiced.

Learn blues guitar standards

Taking the time to learn some of the common blues songs that get called at jams is a major plus point and something I wish I’d done much earlier.

Although most of the songs that you’ll come across share the same 12-bar progression in different keys, it’s still a good exercise to learn the classics so that you aren’t caught off guard.

Most blues guitar online courses will use songs as the basis for writing solos, but knowing the melodies of these songs will allow you to solo tastefully over each song.

Fortunately, there are lots of blues guitar standards tabs and sheet music to help you get started.

Here are some songs I recommend you check out:

Study blues singers

This might seem like a strange learning method to suggest, but blues guitar uses slides, vibrato, slurs, scoops, and bends much like the human voice does.

Most guitarists don’t know that blues guitar solos are supposed to emulate the qualities of blues singers and how they articulate melodies.

Studying the vocal runs of singers can give you a huge, new collection of melodic patterns to work with.

While you could go down the path of having blues singing lessons, I have learned a lot from trying to imitate the phrasing of blues singers on the guitar.

Method books

There are lots of useful instructional books that teach blues guitar licks in tab and sheet music.

A good blues guitar method book can be a great stop gap for players who are more comfortable teaching themselves, or are between teachers.

Many players use blues guitar learning books periodically to keep track of licks they’re studying or to have a written explanation on techniques and phrasing examples.

Some common blues instructional books include:

Learning blues guitar online and locally (worldwide)

If you’ve ever typed into Google ‘blues guitar lessons near me’, you’ll have noticed there are a lot of options out there.

Especially in USA, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, NZ, you’ll find lots of local teachers in your area who provide one-to-one instructional tutorials.

But how do you know if you’re better suited to face-to-face lessons or online blues guitar lessons?

Here’s a list of pros and cons of local and online lessons to help you out.

Locally

The pros of face-to-face guitar lessons include:

Every lesson is tailored to your skill level.
Teachers can give you feedback on technique.
Your local guitar teacher is likely to be connected to the local music scene.
Meeting someone in person can help you get away from screens.
It’s easier to jam in person.

The cons of face-to-face lessons include:

Prices can be high for in person lessons
It can be a big time and cost commitment
It can be hard to cancel lessons if you’ve grown fond of a teacher but it’s not working out.
It’s harder for advanced students to find a teacher that can meet their demands and goals.

In-person tutorials can be great providing you have the extra time and finances required to maintain the program the teacher has laid out for you.

Blues guitar lessons online on the other hand provide greater flexibility, lower cost, and 24/7 support.

With an active blues guitar forum of members who are passionate about learning just like you.

Ultimately you’ll make the right choice for your time and budget, and if you choose to learn online, we look forward to supporting you here at Pickup Music.

We have members online 24/7 from all over the world in cities like NYC, LA, Vancouver, Toronto, London, Paris, Rome, Sydney, Auckland and beyond… so you’ll find lots of awesome guitar buddies to connect with and learn from.

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Online

Pickup Music (Free trial + paid upgrade option) – is the world’s number one online platform for learning guitar.

Our Blues Learning Pathway is super straightforward:

You’ll have daily lessons guided by experts, you’ll be able to submit videos and receive 1:1 feedback on your playing.
You get to join an active and supportive community forum of blues guitar lovers as well as masterclasses to attend and interact.

Plus, there’s a plethora of blues guitar PDFs and practice materials to keep you busy.

YouTube Videos (Free) – there’s always a cost to ‘free’.

With free blues guitar lessons on YouTube the cost is that you won’t have someone pointing out the mistakes that are holding back your progress.

Without guidance, you’ll waste time going down rabbit holes and might end up watching more blues guitar videos than playing your instrument.

Wrapping up

Knowing where to start with blues guitar can be a frustrating experience, but having a sense of how to practice effectively can give you the best possible start.

The guitar exercises and practice methods in this article give you a taste for how all the best online blues guitar lessons structure their learning plans.

Take one step further by checking out what the Blues Learning Pathway has to offer and how it can help guide you to becoming the blues guitarist you always wanted to be.

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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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