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Lesson 1 of 3

Étude 1: Lantern Street Shuffle

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Your first complete blues piece: a 14-bar shuffle in A, played with a swing feel. It uses only things you already know: open-string shuffle shapes, box 1 at the 5th fret and one bend.

The form

  • Intro (2 bars): a walk up the A string, then a chromatic walk down to an E7 stop.
  • Verse (4 bars): the shuffle on A, D, A, A. These are bars 1-4 of a quick-change 12-bar.
  • Solo (4 bars): short answers in box 1 over D, D, A, A.
  • Outro (4 bars): the shuffle on E, D and A, then one ringing A7 to finish.

Verse, solo and outro together make one full 12-bar blues.

Playing tips

Keep your index on fret 2 in the shuffle and reach fret 4 with your ring finger; at the end of the verse, the pinky grabs the 5th fret on the D string (G) for a bluesy push. Downstrokes only on the shuffle, palm resting lightly near the bridge. In the solo, bend the 8th fret on the B string (G) up a whole step to A with your ring finger, backed by your middle and index. The bend on the 5th fret of the G string is only a half step, C up to C sharp: keep it quick and small.

The most common mistake is the jump from the open shuffle to box 1 and back. Look at fret 5 during the last beat of the verse, and the A string during the solo's final rest.

How to practice

  1. Learn each section on its own at the start tempo, looping it until it's clean.
  2. Chain them in pairs: intro + verse, verse + solo, solo + outro.
  3. Play the whole piece from the intro to the final A7, counting the bars out loud.

Raise the tempo only when the full run has no stops.

Exercises

Intro: bass walk-up and E7 stop

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, open
    2. rest
    3. A string, fret 4
    4. A string, fret 5
    5. A string, fret 7
    6. A string, fret 5
    7. A string, fret 4
    8. A string, open
  2. Bar 2
    1. D string, fret 2
    2. D string, fret 1
    3. D string, open
    4. rest
    5. low E string, open + A string, fret 2 + D string, open + G string, fret 1 + B string, open + high E string, open, hold, hold
    6. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Verse: A-D-A-A shuffle

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. A string, open + D string, fret 2, accented
    2. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    3. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    4. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    5. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    6. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    7. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    8. A string, open + D string, fret 4
  2. Bar 2
    1. D string, open + G string, fret 2, accented
    2. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    3. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    4. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    5. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    6. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    7. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    8. D string, open + G string, fret 4
  3. Bar 3
    1. A string, open + D string, fret 2, accented
    2. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    3. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    4. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    5. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    6. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    7. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    8. A string, open + D string, fret 4
  4. Bar 4
    1. A string, open + D string, fret 2, accented
    2. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    3. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    4. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    5. A string, open + D string, fret 5
    6. A string, open + D string, fret 5
    7. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    8. A string, open + D string, fret 4

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Solo: box 1 answers

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. high E string, fret 5
    2. B string, fret 8
    3. B string, fret 5
    4. G string, fret 7, vibrato
    5. rest
    6. G string, fret 5
    7. rest
  2. Bar 2
    1. B string, fret 8, bend to fret 10, vibrato, vibrato
    2. rest
    3. B string, fret 8
    4. B string, fret 5
    5. G string, fret 7
    6. rest
  3. Bar 3
    1. high E string, fret 5
    2. high E string, fret 5
    3. B string, fret 8
    4. B string, fret 5
    5. G string, fret 7
    6. G string, fret 5
    7. D string, fret 7
    8. rest
  4. Bar 4
    1. G string, fret 5, bend to fret 6
    2. D string, fret 7, vibrato, vibrato
    3. rest
    4. rest
    5. rest
    6. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Outro: E-D-A and the final A7

70 → 110 bpm
  1. Bar 1
    1. low E string, open + A string, fret 2, accented
    2. low E string, open + A string, fret 2
    3. low E string, open + A string, fret 4
    4. low E string, open + A string, fret 4
    5. low E string, open + A string, fret 2
    6. low E string, open + A string, fret 2
    7. low E string, open + A string, fret 4
    8. low E string, open + A string, fret 4
  2. Bar 2
    1. D string, open + G string, fret 2, accented
    2. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    3. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    4. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    5. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    6. D string, open + G string, fret 2
    7. D string, open + G string, fret 4
    8. D string, open + G string, fret 4
  3. Bar 3
    1. A string, open + D string, fret 2, accented
    2. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    3. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    4. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    5. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    6. A string, open + D string, fret 2
    7. A string, open + D string, fret 4
    8. A string, open + D string, fret 4
  4. Bar 4
    1. A string, open + D string, fret 2 + G string, open + B string, fret 2 + high E string, open, hold, hold, accented
    2. rest
    3. rest
    4. rest
    5. rest
    6. rest

Clean 3 times in a row? Raise the tempo by 5 bpm.

Checkpoint

Move on when you can do all of these.

  • Each section clean at 110 bpm, 3 times in a row
  • The whole 14-bar piece from intro to final A7 without stopping at 100 bpm
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