Slow Blues

Slow blues is where you have nowhere to hide. Every note hangs in the air, so feel, space and touch matter more than speed. This chapter teaches you how to play slow blues guitar with that heavy, patient 12/8 feel and the bittersweet sound that makes it so moving.

You'll start by counting four beats split into three, "ONE-and-a, TWO-and-a", and playing the familiar shuffle shapes as even triplets instead of long-short. Then you'll learn to leave room: short phrases in A minor pentatonic box 1 with more rest than notes, late entries, and dynamics that go from a whisper to digging in hard. Next you'll mix major and minor, rubbing the C of the minor pentatonic against the C# of the A7 chord, and switching between A major pentatonic and the blues scale in the same phrase. The chapter ends with slow blues licks from beginner to advanced, including a step-and-a-half bend up to the blue note.

Start slow with the click, stay relaxed, and let every bend ring with vibrato.