Every now and then, it pays to shake things up.
That’s exactly what we are going to do in this lesson. You’ll rarely see an electric guitar in a BGI lesson and for good reason. Right now my heart is completely wrapped up in acoustic blues.
But occasionally, I’ll pick up my dusty electric guitar and strum away. I feel it keeps me on my toes a bit and let’s be honest, playing electric blues is a whole different ballgame.
Texas Blues Groove
In this lesson, we’ll really work on developing the groove in a very “Texas” way.
Think: LaGrange by ZZ Top or maybe Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker.
The key here is that the main chord parts are played off beat with an upstroke giving this part its Texas roots. I first tackled this style of rhythm when I learned Stevie Ray Vaughan’s classic Texas Blues song, Pride and Joy. It takes a minute to lock into the groove, but once you do…it’s worth the struggle.
There’s also a repeating lick throughout the lesson that is based on the E Minor Pentatonic scale. But the real key here is the continually develop your ability to move in and out of playing rhythm and lead.
Timing is everything on this one so download the TAB, fire up a metronome and really work on getting those chords down on the upbeat.
Good luck!