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Ben's Blues Guitar Lessons
13 members • Free
10 contributions to Ben's Blues Guitar Lessons
1d •
Uptown, Downtown tryouts.
Thought I’d kick off some feedback. Trying to mix up these rhythm figures and stay in time! Alesis drum machine blues setting. Definately shuffle to my ear. 100bpm. Bit slow? Trying for staccato using some left hand muting. Didn’t try the rake, which is a nice technique, so maybe cover that again for me Ben? How are you muting? Close up might help.
1 like • 24h
Great feedback. Don’t mind the nit picking at all! The challenge is focusing on everything, and nuances of technique do get overlooked. I guess with practice you can take care of everything!? Great exercise in time and tempo. Cheers.
18d •
Gear talk
Hi all, here’s an idea for a topic for discussion: the gear that we use, whether that’s for gigs, recording, or home practice.
0 likes • 1d
What’s the ‘perfect’ guitar for you and why? I started with Strats because Hendrix (mostly) played one. Not a good reason, but I wasn’t a player when I started. Stuck with Strats though, because I was used to them. Tried flatter fingerboards and shorter scales, but just kind of stuck to what I knew. I had Squiers that had very poor sounding pickups back in the day. But later Indonesian made Squiers with Seymour Duncan designed pickups and they were very nice guitars. Tried high output modern pickups, but tend to prefer classic lower output for the slightly nasal out of phase Strat sound? But on the whole I kind of think the sound of the guitar is mostly down to the amp and effects. That’s another story. The main guitar I play now is a Performer Series Strat, one of the last ash bodied production line fenders, so nice and light. Custom ‘69’s for pickups. It’s the best Strat I’ve owned….for one overwhelming quality. The neck. To me, in the end, it’s all about the neck. Very slim front to back, C profile, but, by chance I guess, just a bit finer than the standard. Reasonably good action, but overall it’s the feel. Comfortable. My fretting hand is getting a tad stiffer as I get older. So comfort really matters. It’s the neck. What do you guys think? Pickups, sound, looks, comfort, weight? I’d be interested.
2d •
Today’s Hangout
Hey guys, looking forward to catching up later for our live hangout 🤘 6pm UK time. I’m thinking of teaching a little something from the course I’m in the process of creating. How does that sound? Or let me know if you have anything you want to chat about. Catch you soon 👍
1 like • 2d
Look forward to it. Bit of learning, bit of chat. Sounds ideal. Hope to sign up for some feedback at the end of the week.
0 likes • 1d
Really enjoyed the Hang. Thanks Ben, Rob and Ian. Are the tabs for the "uptown" and "downtown" rhythm figures available? I kind of remember them, but not entirely! Great exercise to tighten up I think.
7d •
What do you think?
So in the next couple of weeks, I'm going to start creating my first mini course. I've decided to do a mini course, rather than one HUGE course, as I think everyone struggles with different things, so if I can create mini courses that focus on just ONE particular problem, students will have more choice of which problem they want to focus on, without getting overwhelmed with a load of unnecessary information. These courses can then be laser-focused and super specific. I've come up with a bunch of ideas and wanted to get your thoughts on which sound the most interesting or the most useful. I'd like to eventually run these mini-courses as short workshops, so maybe once I've created the course, you guys can dive into them, and then we can do a short 4-week live bootcamp on the topic. I think you can vote for more than 1, and if you have any thoughts on this or additional ideas, let me know in the comments 👍 NB: Here are some other options that didn't fit in the poll: 11. Play awesome blues guitar by yourself (without a band) 12. Build your own blues loop to practice over 13. How to learn blues licks, use them, (and never forget them!) 14. How to develop your blues vocabulary (without learning 100 different licks!) 15. Spice up your minor blues solos at your next jam 16. Must know theory for blues guitarists that you can use (and that’s actually fun to learn) 17. How to improve your blues phrasing (without more scales, notes, or theory!)
Poll
3 members have voted
1 like • 7d
Really it’s all of them, but got to start somewhere. Look forward to progress on all fronts!
16d •
Check this out!
I've just stumbled on this old video on YouTube, and it's gold! This guy is not only a serious guitar player but an awesome educator, and I resonate with a lot of what he speaks about. What do you think?
1 like • 7d
I like his style! Great communicator. Taking bits from anywhere sounds right. Learning a whole solo note for note not so much, mostly because I forget them so quickly unless I play them regularly. But vocabulary is necessary so stock phrases for sure?
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@iain-brown-9771
Retired hobby player. Hendrix, Cream, Peter Green, Knopfler, Dylan. Into blues and rock.
Active 17m ago
Joined Mar 19, 2026
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