Learning to play blues guitar isn’t tough, rather it’s more about learning a bunch of basic concepts and applying them all together.

For example, the first step to learning the blues is understanding the form of most blues tunes, known as 12 bar blues. While this is for another article if you’re not familiar with the 12 bar blues form I would suggest taking a little time to find a blues guitar lessons video or article to explain.

A quick primer video can be watched here about the 12 bar blues that can help.

After you learn the simple form of the blues you’re able to learn it in multiple keys all over the guitar neck.

Learning the blues in different keys simply means knowing the notes in a particular scale and then being able to pick out the notes you need to build that keys 12 bar blues pattern.

Example: 12 Bar Blues in C

{First, let’s look at the scale. The C major scale has no flats or sharps:The C major scale has no flats or sharps so it looks like this}

C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C

To make the 12 bar blues pattern you take the one chord, four chord and the five chord. So for this example that will be the C, F and G.

Let’s take these basic concepts and make em even more bluesy.

7th Chords

The 7th chord is used a lot in blues guitar and it’s a variation of the major chord. I’m going to teach you a basic 7th chord shape you can make in the open position and then easily move it around the neck to play different 7th chords all with the same shape.

We’re going to base this 7th chord on the C7 chord. Below is the tab for the C7 chord, note you do not strum the 6th string, low E when playing this chord.

e————-

B—–1——–

G—–4——–

D—–2——–

A—–3——–

E—–X——-

Now if you take that same shape but play it without strumming the 1st string or high e either you can now slide it up and down the neck playing strings 2 through 5. Here is what the tab looks like for the moveable chord.

e——X——

B—–1——–

G—–4——–

D—–2——–

A—–3——–

E—–X——-

Now applying a little bit of simple theory we can find other versions of the chord.

The root note of the chord, on the A string is going to stay consistent no matter where you play it on the neck. When you’re playing the 3rd fret on the A / 5th string in this chord shape in the open position the note is a C. That is what makes it a C7th chord. What would happen if you slid this entire chord shape up the neck to the 5th fret on the A string? You’re not playing a D Chords. Sliding it up just two more frets, or a full step, you’re not strumming an E on the A string making it an E seventh chord.

That’s all there is, not hard huh? Just this chord shape and understanding which string and fret is the root note and then moving it around the neck to find the different variations for each key.

Have a good time with these and experiment. When I start playing around with 7th chords I come up with all kinds of great sounds, and if you’d like to learn more about the blues why not consider a learn guitar dvd.

Guitar lessons on dvd are quickly becoming a very effective form of instruction for busy adults and those who want to learn guitar from home.

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