Vinny228
Verified buyer
04/09/26
Finger training
Very good for intermediate player looking to expand
Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit
Techniques, Riffs & Repertoire For The Fingerstyle Blues Guitarist
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About this course
Fingerstyle Blues guitar is jam-packed with benefits for any level player whether you desire just playing rootsy front porch jam sessions with your buds or take it to the bandstand performing solo or with a band.
The style presents the challenge of mastering what first appears to be complex fingerstyle approaches and techniques, but these skills can be quickly acquired with Tim Sparks’ Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit.
Tim will get you up and running quickly with his innovative and highly effective hands-on curriculum -- you’ll play your way through the course, learning the necessary techniques and then immediately applying those skills across a series of a series performance studies.
”I’ve designed this tool kit to make it easy for you to get started with all the essential licks, chord shapes, and riffs you need to play authentic fingerstyle blues. Throughout the course you’ll learn to play 8 fingerstyle blues tunes over 8 sets of lessons. In each set, I’ll first show you a set of concepts and techniques, and then we’ll put them to use right away over a tasty blues groove. All of the examples in this course are in the key of G to make it easier for you to see how different styles of riffs can connect on the guitar fretboard.”
Down on the Delta is a simple fingerstyle blues in G played in first position that employs a call and response melody over a repeating bass tone.
Mississippi Mud takes the call and response theme of Down on the Delta and adds a variation on the V chord as well as a tasty Delta blues style turnaround.
Muddy's Jam is built on a repeating chord riff that's answered by melodic riffs in a style heard in songs like Hoochie Coochie Man, Mannish Boy, and Tobacco Road.
Twang Tone Blues will teach you some basic country sounds using simple hammer-on and pull-off phrases that mimic a pedal steel guitar. These are played on the I, IV, and V chords used in a G blues.
Twangier Tones is a study that features pedal steel style riffs and introduces string bends to create the effects of hammer-on and pull-off phrases.
Basie's Boogie is a swing blues that features a call and response between a classic Count Basie chord riff and a melody line.
Bumpin' the Blues takes the elements of Basie's Boogie and extends the ideas into a more jazzy territory in the style of Wes Montgomery and George Benson.
Memphis Mama is a finger-picking blues that features a blend of Merle Travis style and Muddy Waters blues riffs. We'll add in a twist by playing in drop D tuning, where the 6th string is tuned down from E to D.
Tim will first demonstrate the performance study and then break it down for you, measure-by-measure, emphasizing the key concepts, techniques and creative approaches used in the study.
All of the key examples and performances are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down any section of the tab and notation as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get bluesy with Tim Sparks!
The style presents the challenge of mastering what first appears to be complex fingerstyle approaches and techniques, but these skills can be quickly acquired with Tim Sparks’ Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit.
Tim will get you up and running quickly with his innovative and highly effective hands-on curriculum -- you’ll play your way through the course, learning the necessary techniques and then immediately applying those skills across a series of a series performance studies.
”I’ve designed this tool kit to make it easy for you to get started with all the essential licks, chord shapes, and riffs you need to play authentic fingerstyle blues. Throughout the course you’ll learn to play 8 fingerstyle blues tunes over 8 sets of lessons. In each set, I’ll first show you a set of concepts and techniques, and then we’ll put them to use right away over a tasty blues groove. All of the examples in this course are in the key of G to make it easier for you to see how different styles of riffs can connect on the guitar fretboard.”
Down on the Delta is a simple fingerstyle blues in G played in first position that employs a call and response melody over a repeating bass tone.
Mississippi Mud takes the call and response theme of Down on the Delta and adds a variation on the V chord as well as a tasty Delta blues style turnaround.
Muddy's Jam is built on a repeating chord riff that's answered by melodic riffs in a style heard in songs like Hoochie Coochie Man, Mannish Boy, and Tobacco Road.
Twang Tone Blues will teach you some basic country sounds using simple hammer-on and pull-off phrases that mimic a pedal steel guitar. These are played on the I, IV, and V chords used in a G blues.
Twangier Tones is a study that features pedal steel style riffs and introduces string bends to create the effects of hammer-on and pull-off phrases.
Basie's Boogie is a swing blues that features a call and response between a classic Count Basie chord riff and a melody line.
Bumpin' the Blues takes the elements of Basie's Boogie and extends the ideas into a more jazzy territory in the style of Wes Montgomery and George Benson.
Memphis Mama is a finger-picking blues that features a blend of Merle Travis style and Muddy Waters blues riffs. We'll add in a twist by playing in drop D tuning, where the 6th string is tuned down from E to D.
Tim will first demonstrate the performance study and then break it down for you, measure-by-measure, emphasizing the key concepts, techniques and creative approaches used in the study.
All of the key examples and performances are tabbed and notated for your practice, reference and study purposes. You’ll also get Guitar Pro files so that you can play, loop and/or slow down any section of the tab and notation as you work through the lessons.
Grab your guitar and let’s get bluesy with Tim Sparks!
What you'll learn
- Create complex jazz chord progressions
- Use extended chord voicings
- Execute alternating bass line technique
- Understand blues scale variations
- Develop multi-finger bending technique
Release date: 06/09/2016 • 1h 31m runtime
Sample lessons
Mississippi Mud
Performance
Muddy's Jam
Overview
G Chord Vamp
Demonstration
Bent Blues Riff
Demonstration
What's included
53 lessons • 35 charts
Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit
Hi, I'm Tim Sparks and welcome to the Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit. Fingerstyle blues is one of the most rewarding styles of music, jam packed with ideas for rootsy front porch jam sessions. In my earlier courses, we've learned fingestyle blues ideas in the key of A, as well as the key of E with the Mississippi Blues in The Fingerstyle Boogie Handbook. In this course, we're going to learn cool riffs and chord shapes in the key of G.
The Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit aims to teach you a variety of chord shapes and riffs, ranging from rootsy Delta blues sounds to country chicken pickin', to cool, modern, modal jazz, all of which are derived from simple 12 bar blues played in first position. After learning basic first position licks, we'll transpose them up the fretboard to discover more complex ideas for you to use.
All of the examples in this course are in the key of G to make it easier for you to see how different styles of riffs can connect on the guitar fretboard. I'll break down how to play each of the tools you need in detail, and you'll also have standard notation and tab to work with as well. Ready to get started? Grab your guitar and let's get pickin'!
The Fingerstyle Blues Tool Kit aims to teach you a variety of chord shapes and riffs, ranging from rootsy Delta blues sounds to country chicken pickin', to cool, modern, modal jazz, all of which are derived from simple 12 bar blues played in first position. After learning basic first position licks, we'll transpose them up the fretboard to discover more complex ideas for you to use.
All of the examples in this course are in the key of G to make it easier for you to see how different styles of riffs can connect on the guitar fretboard. I'll break down how to play each of the tools you need in detail, and you'll also have standard notation and tab to work with as well. Ready to get started? Grab your guitar and let's get pickin'!
Down On The Delta
First let's look at everything we need to play "Down on the Delta", a simple fingerstyle blues in G played in first position that employs a call and response melody over a repeating bass tone. This section will provide the framework to which we'll add more complex variations and styles as we progress through the course.
G Blues Scale
In this lesson, I'll demonstrate a G country blues scale that blends major and minor flavors using pull-off and hammer-on riffs in first position.
Repeating Riff
Now let's look at a repeating syncopated blues riff played over a simple repeating bass tone in G.
Repeating 12 Bar Riff
This segment takes the repeating blues riff from the preceding section and plays it over the I, IV, and V chords to create a simple blues. We'll also go over how the same riff "lights up" different degrees of the three basic chords in the blues.
Down On The Delta
Now I'll perform our study of "Down on the Delta" in G. The important thing to make note of here is picking out a melody with the fingers while maintaining a steady bass with the thumb.
Down On The Delta
Let's break down all of the tool box elements and techniques found in "Down on the Delta".
+ 46 more lessons
Reviews
11 results
Osokin
Verified buyer
08/12/22
Fingerpicking Good!
Tim Sparks is a brilliant fingerstyle guitarist and an excellent teacher. Lots of great sounding riffs, chords and licks in this course. Great stuff!
Laurence P.
06/05/21
Excellent Teacher, excellent course
Tim is a great teacher, and is so proficient. I keep practicing his techniques, and am now starting to notice a difference in my playing. I cannot recommend him enough!
geelinus
Verified buyer
04/13/21
Good stuff presented in easily digested form
Klmnop
Verified buyer
03/15/21
Great method
I specially appreciate to learn a concept at a time and then to be able to apply it in a real song/music.
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