In this post, I want to share with you how to play in the style of “Roadhouse Blues” as recorded by the Doors on guitar. This song is a unique blend of fingerstyle guitar, blues, and rock n roll. You’ll discover how to play the main riff, blues patterns, rock rhythms, and even some soloing using the blues scale. So get tuned up and let’s dive in!

Who wrote Roadhouse Blues:

"Roadhouse Blues" was written by all the members of the American rock band The Doors: Jim Morrison, Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek, and John Densmore. It was featured on their 1970 album Morrison Hotel. It was one of the band's most popular and enduring tracks, known for its energetic blues-rock sound and captivating lyrics.

The origin of "Roadhouse Blues" can be traced back to the band's early days of performing live in small clubs and venues. The Doors often played in intimate settings where they experimented with various musical styles, including the blues. The song's title and lyrics...

Who else wants to add a great blues standard perfect for jams to their repertoire? 

Today I want to share with you how to play Freddie King’s version of “Sweet Home Chicago.”

This song is so fun to play with friends or call at a blues jam. In this post, I’ll walk you through Freddie King’s version. We’ll cover how to play the chord progression, rhythm patterns, licks, plus we’ll even dive into soloing and a classic King-style blues turnaround. So get tuned up and let’s play!

Who Wrote Sweet Home Chicago?

"Sweet Home Chicago" is a blues standard that has been recorded by a lot of artists over the years. The song is originally credited to Robert Johnson. Johnson was one of the most influential blues musicians of all time from the Mississippi Delta. He first recorded "Sweet Home Chicago" in 1936 during his legendary recording sessions in San Antonio, Texas.

The origins of the song can be traced back to earlier blues compositions....

Hey Friend!

There is nothing quite like John Lennon’s raw and edgy vocals singing a blues tune. So today I want to share with you how I play "Yer Blues" by The Beatles on guitar.

This is a raw and soulful blues-rock guitar tune. And in this blog post, we'll explore the chords you need, 12-bar blues, riffs, and even some time signature changes. So get tuned up and let's dive in!

Who wrote Yer Blues?

"Yer Blues" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon-McCartney. It was recorded by The Beatles for their self-titled album commonly known as the White Album, released in 1968. The song originated during The Beatles' stay in Rishikesh, India, where they were attending an advanced Transcendental Meditation training course with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

The song's origins can be traced back to a moment of frustration and homesickness experienced by John Lennon during their time in India. Feeling isolated and longing for the blues, Lennon wrote "Yer Blues" as a...

Ready to unlock one of the most powerful guitar scales that you can use in millions of songs today?

In this post, I’ll show you how to play the blues scale on guitar step-by-step.

WARNING: About The Blues Scale

Before we get into the meat of this lesson I need to address a concern I see with a lot of other lessons on this topic, and that is the combination of the blues scale with the minor pentatonic scale. 

From a player’s perspective, I completely get the fact that they are almost the same thing, however from a theoretical perspective they are actually two different scales. The pentatonic scale has 5 notes in it while the blues scale has 6.

Also, I want to address another common issue, it is important to know that the majority of the time musicians refer to the blues scale they are actually referring to the minor blues scale.

However, there is a major and a minor blues scale. For this lesson, I’ll be demonstrating an E minor blues scale and this would often...

What if you could rock out at a blues jam with confidence? 

Or be able to play with other musicians and demonstrate some serious blues guitar skills? 

Well, if either of those sounds good to you, keep reading because, in this post, I'll share with you how to play "Everyday I Have The Blues" as recorded by B.B. King on guitar.

Who wrote Everyday I Have The Blues?

"Everyday I Have the Blues"  was written by the Sparks brothers, Pinetop and Milton. They used to perform the song in pubs and bars in St. Louis, Missouri. The tune follows a standard 12-bar blues chord progression and the original recording features Pinetop on piano and singing with a falsetto style tone. This first recording was done on July 28th, 1935. 

Throughout the decades it’s become a blues standard and has been recorded by countless famous blues musicians. 

This song became a staple in B.B. King’s repertoire. So much so that throughout his career, he made numerous recordings of...

THIS is a song that I struggled with learning for a while. It wasn’t the chords that I struggled with or the song form, those are both very common patterns. Where I got stuck was with the actual guitar part to play from the recording. 

It sounded like one guitar but I couldn’t quite get my part to sound like the recording. So for years, I played this song on gigs with just a common rhythm accompaniment that wasn’t like the guitar part on the recording. It wasn’t until later I finally went back and figured it out from the recording. It’s actually TWO guitars.

In this “Mustang Sally” guitar lesson, I want to share with you the chords, rhythms, and scales to start jamming it with ease today! I’ll break down the guitar parts from the recording and share how you can combine them to play a great pattern for this song on one guitar.

Also, it’s a valuable song to know because it comes up at many jam sessions and parties. A lot of...

When the clock struck 9:55 P.M. every Friday night for six years, I played the same song.

"Wait, what!" you may be asking. "You played the same song at the same time every week for six years?"

"Yes!" 

"What song is it that you may be wondering?" Well, the answer is "Hide Away" by Freddie King. While this may sound a little crazy, let me fill you in on the backstory. Decades ago, I was sitting in a private guitar lesson with a great teacher I had at the time. In the lesson, he started playing this really cool blues in the key of E. I heard it and was immediately hooked.

I thought, "Wow," and asked my instructor, "What is that?" He said, "That's the Hide Away riff." He didn't really explain it; he just played the riff and said, "Yeah, it's a blues break tune I've been playing for decades." 

Then I said, "Awesome, what's a blues break tune?" And he said, "Well, it's a song you play at the end of your set when you are going to take a break. You know it's the one where...

When guitar players think of blues chord progressions inevitably they often default to thinking about the typical 12-bar blues progression, however, there are a ton of other blues progressions that don’t get talked about as much. Today I want to share with you one of those progressions in this “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” guitar lesson.

“Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out” follows an 8-bar blues chord progression and has quite a different chord progression than just the typical I, IV, and V chord blues.

In this lesson, I’ll break down the chords, and different ways of strumming, fingerpicking, and even soloing over this blues classic. So get tuned up and let’s go! 

Who Wrote Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out?

"Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" has become a blues standard over the years but it was originally written by pianist Jimmie Cox in 1923. It was first performed in a...

Often when players begin learning to solo over blues progressions they start by learning the minor blues scale. Next, they’ll work out a few licks or make up some of their own and play them over some rhythm. 

This rhythm backing could be a blues shuffle into a looper or maybe even along with a backing track. 

In this post, I want to show you a simple way to take that information and get more from it by simply shifting how you think about licks on the neck.

So let’s say for example we were going to solo over a rhythm pattern like this:

This is a common blues rhythm used in countless tunes. Since this pattern is based on the A chord shape, we could use the A minor blues scale at the 5th fret like this:

These same strings and frets can be thought of like this as well:

6th string frets = 5, 8

5th string frets = 5, 6, 7

4th string frets = 5, 7

3rd string frets = 5, 7, 8

2nd string frets = 5, 8

1st string frets = 5, (8)

Here’s an example of a lick you can...

Want to play blues licks like B.B. King?

In this post, I'll be sharing 3 B.B. King licks that capture specific elements of his guitar style. I'll break down each lick and examine the chords they go over, as well as the scales that are used behind the notes.

These licks will sound great when played over blues progressions, but they are not strictly limited to the blues. As you become more comfortable with these phrases, you'll find many other places to use them.

King is often regarded as one of the most iconic blues guitarists of all time, known for his soulful playing and signature vibrato. King was able to create so much music with so few notes, establishing an instantly identifiable style. He was a true master of blues phrasing and had exquisite taste in his choice of licks.

Lick #1

Lick #1 can be used for a blues in the key of G. Here we are playing over a G7 chord, but the shape I associate with this lick looks like this:

This chord looks like a barred-up open position C...