This course started out as an experiment – take two pros, each with different backgrounds and expertise, have them collaborate much the way we do in the real world. But this time – film it all, break it down, and see what comes. The experiment developed into one of the most revealing blues course we have in our library and thus the title – Blues Expose!

Blues Expose features Steve ‘Red’ Lasner and Josh Gibson. Red’s played the blues as a pro with everyone and his brother. Street smart with chops you can only develop from years on the blues circuit. On the other hand, Josh likewise has many, many years of pro playing to his credit but the cat is one of those walking encyclopedias of musical and theoretical knowledge. Ask him anything and two hours later you’ll know everything there is to know about the subject. The perfect duo for Blues Expose!

Red and Josh guide you through seven essential blues grooves presented in a classic guitar duo format - slow blues, organ shuffles, medium shuffles, fast shuffles, minor blues, Texas blues, and the rhumba blues are covered across this series. There are two performances for each of the seven grooves – one focuses on Red’s lead playing and the other on Josh’s rhythm playing. Each take is slightly different to further demonstrate how to create variety for yourself and the audience.

The lead guitar lessons are geared to illustrate a range of very useful and versatile blues devices at work. Red and Josh review the BB and Albert King blues “boxes” with a thorough examination of what makes these essential tools tick. Bending, vibrato, and right-hand picking techniques are also covered in meticulous detail.

The rhythm lessons are essentially a study in “groove” illustrating simultaneous bass and chord approaches to shed light on how multiple parts interact to create the various feels prevalent in the blues. Josh also provides tips on improving your feel and articulation on a variety of Boogie-Woogie patterns, played at different tempos. Some of these are deliberately challenging to push your left and right hand independence to a new level. You can use these full-sounding parts to single-handedly accompany a singer or a soloist, or you can strip them down to nuts and bolts for creating ensemble parts.

All of the accompanying breakdowns provide detailed insight into chord voicings and fingerings, scale forms, harmonic and rhythmic theory, technical obstacles and how to overcome them, as well as many creative suggestions for twisting and turning the ideas to make them your own. In addition to transcriptions of each performance, you’ll also find a convenient set of charts and diagrams outlining all of the Chord Voicings and Scale forms referred to throughout the course.

Grab your guitar, pop Blues Expose in the drive, and follow Red and Josh through this very “revealing” course of study. Then call a buddy or head out to the jam and put it all to work!