Blues for the Curious Guitarist

Name: Blues for the Curious Guitarist
Rating: 4.6 (175 reviews)

Complete blues guitar course. Chords, turn-arounds, rhythm, soloing, theory, songs, jam tracks. Beginner to advanced.

Created byDan Dresnok

Last updated 9/2025

English

What you'll learn

Real blues guitar.
Blues chords all over the fretboard.
Soloing.
Swing feel for strumming & picking.
Major blues forms.
Minor blues forms.
Tricks for flawless solos.
Popular blues songs.
Blues theory.
Blues turnarounds.

Course content

6 sections • 44 lectures • 9h 11m total length

Welcome to the Course11:40
Guitar Fundamentals19:37
Learn the names of the strings, how to read tab (tablature), and how to count the chromatic scale to find any note on any string on the guitar.
Tuning Your Guitar10:02
We'll learn the traditional way of tuning the guitar by ear.
Open Chords17:47
Learn all of the open chords used in this entire course.
Barre Chords22:51
Learn two positions for every barre chord in major, minor, dominant 7, and minor 7.
Basic Rhythm22:59
Learn how to count beats & rests in basic duple time to be used in chord strumming and soloing.
Swing Feel20:51
Learn the true swing feel or shuffle feel of blues rhythms for proper strumming & soloing.
Arpeggios18:55
Learn all about arpeggios and how to use them to create a flawless blues solo.
Scales22:40
Learn the proper scales & modes to create a thoughtful blues solo.
Techniques15:07
Learn the techniques that will smooth out your soloing & help you find your own unique style of playing.
Dominant 7th Chord Shapes12:29
Learn multiple shapes of dom7 chords to give you boundless creativity while strumming.

12-Bar Blues in E21:24
Learn the 12-bar blues in the key of E with a combination of open & barre chords.
Walk Ups & Walk Downs11:25
Learn the signature turn-around riffs that make the blues sound universally recognizable.
Soloing with Arpeggios16:10
Learn to solo through the 12-bar blues using arpeggios.
Soloing with Mixolydian21:00
Learn to solo through the 12-bar blues using the mixolydian mode.
12-Bar Blues in A25:55
Learn the 12-bar blues in the key of A while using open & barre chords, arpeggios & scales, and many more new blues tricks.
The Blue Note13:04
Learn about this special blues concept and how to use it regularly.
12-Bar Blues in C15:03
Learn the 12-bar blues in the key of C. Combine all of the tools you've learned.
Relative & Parallel Modes16:00
Be sure to get both PDFs for this lecture. Learn the advanced method of soloing through the chords without moving.

Minor 12-Bar Blues in A9:55
Learn the minor 12-bar blues in the key of A with a combination of open & barre chords.
Soloing with Minor Arpeggios8:39
Learn to solo through the minor 12-bar blues using minor arpeggios to create a flawless melody.
Soloing with Pentatonic Minor Scale13:40
Learn to solo the minor 12-bar blues using the most popular blues scale in the world.
Soloing with Natural Minor Scale17:32
Use the full natural minor scale to unlock every note needed to make a thoughtful blues solo.
Minor 12-Bar Blues in E11:42
Play the minor 12-bar blues in the key of E using all of the tools you've learned.
Minor 12-Bar Blues in G11:26
Play the minor 12-bar blues in the key of G using all of the tools you've learned.

Backwater Blues5:03
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Frankie and Albert5:12
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Dust My Broom3:16
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Going Down the Road Feeling Bad4:54
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Saint James Infirmary Blues7:59
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Nobody Knows You When You're Down & Out7:09
Learn the chords and soloing methods for this song.
Closing Thoughts - Moving Forward7:06
You completed the course - congratulations! Here we'll discuss ways to continue your blues education & playing opportunities to keep you playing blues guitar throughout your life. Thank you for going through this course with me!

How to Use Backing Tracks14:42
We'll learn how to use backing tracks to practice soloing with our scales.
Jam Track - 12-Bar Blues in G Major10:09
Use this Jam Track to practice your chords & soloing over the 12-bar blues. The chord progression as well as the arpeggio tabs are displayed on the screen. Remember, you can also use your mixolydian scales across each chord and all relative modes (when appropriate.) Enjoy!
Jam Track - 12-Bar Blues in A Major10:09
Use this Jam Track to practice your chords & soloing over the 12-bar blues. The chord progression as well as the arpeggio tabs are displayed on the screen. Remember, you can also use your mixolydian scales across each chord and all relative modes (when appropriate.) Enjoy!
Jam Track - 12-Bar Blues in C Major10:09
Use this Jam Track to practice your chords & soloing over the 12-bar blues. The chord progression as well as the arpeggio tabs are displayed on the screen. Remember, you can also use your mixolydian scales across each chord and all relative modes (when appropriate.) Enjoy!
Jam Track - 12-Bar Blues in E Major10:09
Use this Jam Track to practice your chords & soloing over the 12-bar blues. The chord progression as well as the arpeggio tabs are displayed on the screen. Remember, you can also use your mixolydian scales across each chord and all relative modes (when appropriate.) Enjoy!
Jam Track - Minor 12-Bar Blues in A10:02
Use this Jam Track to practice your chords & soloing over the 12-bar blues. The chord progression as well as the arpeggio tabs are displayed on the screen. Remember, you can use all relative modes (when appropriate) across the chords. Enjoy!

Requirements

This course is for everyone - including complete beginners.
You only need a guitar - any guitar with six strings.

Description

Welcome to Blues for the Curious Guitarist. This is a complete course to help you fully understand & play real blues guitar. We'll start at the very beginning (assuming that you're starting from scratch) and work our way up to advanced blues. By the end of this course, you'll be chord comping & soloing over several different major & minor blues progressions & songs. You'll have endless chord changing possibilities so that your chords will always be exciting with unlimited soloing choices. You'll learn to properly solo over blues songs in any key, giving you several positions & options for where & how you want to approach your solos.

Any kind of six-string guitar will work well for this course - electric, acoustic, or classical guitar.

You'll learn how to navigate blues theory so you can always have fun & be creative when playing blues guitar.

Every lesson video has a PDF attachment in the "additional resources" tab. These PDFs are the tabs, songs, chords, and text guitar lessons. You can download, save, & print these. Be sure to get all the PDFs.

This course is in five sections:

[Blues Guitar Basics] - Get all of the tools you'll need for the entire course (starting from scratch.)

[Major Blues] - Begin using the tools we've learned to play chords & solo through the major Delta style blues progressions while exploring lots of blues tricks along the way.

[Minor Blues] - Learn the minor style of blues playing, still using the tools we've learned, but with new methods for the minor keys.

[Blues Songs] - Learn old blues songs with chords & soloing. These songs will help you jump start your blues song list and give you choices beyond the standard blues forms.

[Bonus Lessons] - This course is always growing! New content (like more blues turnarounds) is added to this section.

I'm glad you're here - let's begin!

Who this course is for:

Anyone who wants to learn real blues guitar.
Complete beginners.
Intermediate guitarists wanting to improve their blues playing.
Advanced guitarists wanting to level-up their blues skills.

Blues for the Curious Guitarist

What you'll learn

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Course content

Blues Guitar Basics11 lectures • 3hr 15min

Major Blues8 lectures • 2hr 20min

Minor Blues6 lectures • 1hr 13min

Blues Songs7 lectures • 41min

Jam Tracks6 lectures • 1hr 5min

Bonus Lessons6 lectures • 38min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: