Bluescapes

Learn Creative Approaches for Your Blues Solos and Improvisations

Marty FriedmanTommy EmmanuelSteve VaiEric GalesEric Johnson

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Bluescapes

About this course

What makes one blues guitar player really distinctive from other players is not just their technique and fretboard dexterity; It’s the artful mix of their influences, creativity, rhythmic feel, dynamics, and heart that makes a player’s musicality really stand out.

As you play your way through Artur Menezes’ Bluescapes hands-on curriculum you’ll examine the full range of these artistic qualities and then put them immediately to use in a musical context as you play through a series of performance studies.

A native of Brazil, LA-based Artur Menezes won the Albert King Award for Best Guitarist at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He also won Gibson’s ultra-prestigious Blues Guitarist of the Year awards. “Although very much influenced by blues, he crosses genres with psychedelic rock, funk and Brazilian rhythms such as “baião”, creating his own voice and sound, which has been attracting younger audiences and helping to keep the blues alive.”

We’re thrilled to welcome Artur to the family with his first TrueFire course, Bluescapes. You will likewise be thrilled as you play your way through his highly engaging and illuminating curriculum.

’I’ll show you how I develop motives and improvise creatively, we’ll talk about outlining changes, I’ll show you some ways to get more exotic sounds from a minor blues blueprint, we’ll talk about fast lines, double stops, things I’ve learned from my guitar heroes, and many approaches I’ve discovered myself along the way. I’ll explain each of the concepts in detail, show you some different ways to apply them in your playing.

We’ll put all of these techniques and approaches to work across ten blues performance studies in a handful of common keys. We’ll play over shuffles, slow blues, minor changes, funky blues, jazzier progressions, driving blues-rock jams, and Texas shuffles.”


Artur will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the performance studies. Plus, you’ll be able to use TrueFire’s learning tools to sync the tab and notation to the video lesson.

You can also loop or slow down the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace. All of the backing tracks are included to work with on your own as well.

Grab your guitar and let’s dig in with Artur Menezes!

What you'll learn

  • Use chord tones (major third, ninth, major sixth) over blues changes
  • Play Albert Collins-style licks in standard tuning
  • Navigate the blues progression starting at bar 9
  • Apply Latin rhythmic feel to blues soloing
  • Balance technical playing with feel and phrasing
Release date: 05/27/2021 • 3h 39m runtime
Start Course
Sample lessons
Twisting a Minor Blues Sound
Twisting a Minor Blues Sound
Demonstration
All the Minor Feels in C
All the Minor Feels in C
Overview & Rhythm Analysis
All the Minor Feels in C
All the Minor Feels in C
Performance
All the Minor Feels in C
All the Minor Feels in C
Breakdown

What's included

43 lessons • 20 charts • 10 Jam Tracks

Bluescapes
Hi, I'm Artur Menezes. Welcome to Bluescapes!

What makes one blues guitar player really distinctive from other players is not just about technique and fretboard dexterity. It's the mix of their influences, creativity, rhythmic feel, dynamics, and heart that makes a player's musicality really stand out.

I'll show you how I develop motives and improvise creatively, we'll talk about outlining changes, I'll show you some ways to get more exotic sounds from a minor blues blueprint, we'll talk about fast lines, double stops, things I've learned from my guitar heroes, and plenty more...

I'll explain each of the concepts in detail, show you some different ways to apply them in your playing, and of course you'll have all of TrueFire's learning tools to work with along the way.

We'll put all of these techniques and approaches to work across ten blues performance studies in a handful of common keys. We'll play over shuffles, slow blues, minor changes, funky blues, jazzier progressions, driving blues-rock jams, and texas shuffles...

So if you're ready, grab your guitar and let's explore a few bluescapes!
Motives & Creative Improvisation
A motive is an idea that you play and repeat, changing it up a bit each time. This can be a change to the rhythm, or changing some of the notes, whatever creative choice makes the most sense. Let's check out a few examples of motives here and the different ways we can change them up over the course of a solo.
Let's Shuffle in C
This track is a 12-bar blues shuffle in the key of C. Let's take a look at the chords for the progression, and then we'll get into the performance next.

Note: In the video, I accidentally said Major 3rd interval instead of what it really is, a Major 6. Oops!
Let's Shuffle in C
This track is a 12-bar blues shuffle in the key of C, with a standard I - IV - V progression. We're focusing on three different motifs for this track, one over each of the chords.
Let's Shuffle in C
This track is a 12-bar blues shuffle in the key of C, with a standard I - IV - V progression. We're focusing on three different motifs for this track, one over each of the chords.
Playing Like a King
"Playing like a King" means playing like two of the greats: Albert King and BB King. These two guys are huge influences on my playing, so let's look at some of the things they do that I've worked into my own style.
Slowing Down in D
This track is a slow blues in the key of D, with "fast changes" meaning we're going to the IV on the 2nd bar. Let's check out the chords and rhythm we'll use over the track here, then move on to the performance next.

+ 36 more lessons

Start Course

Reviews

9 results

pab14

Verified buyer

12/14/23

This Guy Has talent!

It is easier to learn when you can see the instructor has the skills down and has charisma.

Wolfenrico

01/12/22

MERAVIGLIOSO!

Un corso straordinario, con un chitarrista dal talento, dal gusto e dalle capacità eccezionali! Bravissimo Artur Menezes! Consigliatissimo, per chi vuole approfondire il linguaggio Blues e scoprirne i segreti.

peyosyl

Verified buyer

12/13/21

Latin Blues

I love the mix between blues and latin music. In Bluescapes, the Minor lessons (all the Minor feels in C, Minor groove in A, more exotic lines etc) give excellent opportunities to learn blending latin sensitivity with outbursts of pure bluesy notes. See also "Latin flavors" by Jack Ruch in the course "Shades of Blues" !!

Doyle A.

09/15/21

Eye opening! Great value!!

With this course, Artur Menezes unveils time after time ways to think about playing. Very educational. I'm actually surprised in a few ways with this course. 1.How well he explains the how, when and why's of the strategy show in each section. 2 The wealth of knowledge he has and unleashes to us to consume. 3. The easy but effective teaching manner.

bluedreamz

06/21/21

Top Tier!

Beautiful playing and nuance. I'm learning a lot!

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