by Pete Albert

Created on: July 01, 2007

There would be no rock & roll without the blues. This great original American art form has helped to transform modern music. And mostly through guitar, which, along with saxophone, has usually always been the centerpiece of the blues.

The great thing about blues is that anyone can play. Speaking of my own experiences, I started out on guitar eleven years ago, when I was eighteen. Growing up in a house where music of all types was played, as my father is a master guitarist of many genres, I hesitated for years to pick up a guitar. Finally I did, and besides learning a Beatles r&b cover ('Baby, It's You), I learned simple blues chords to begin my education. Now, remember the blues is not a fully technical style of playing. it is a genre rooted in feel, rhythm, and heart. You don't have to be a virtuoso to play them. As long as you remember the transition from verse to chorus and back to verse, you will be good. And typically there aren't usually bridge sections in a blues song.

Go to a music instrument store or a book store and buy a chord book for $5-$10. The book should have hundreds if not thousands of different chords. Learn all your major chords- G,A,B,D,C,E,F, and then the corresponding minor chords. practice these and get your fingers used to the differing positions upon the strings. You might also want to invest in a tuner for about $15. The blues sounds best in standard A tuning, or in E flat.

The next step is learning the pentatonic scale, which is the same as a major note scale, but with the fourth and seventh notes omitted. The book might show the pattern, but you can also look it up online.

Pretty soon, you'll be playing some blues, in different keys and moods. And you should have a ton of fun!

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