rapsidy
Verified buyer
11/07/26
Just what I needed a steady introduction to blues soloing with accompanying instructions. Jeff is calm and thorough. Great course
Blues Soloing Guitar for Beginners 1
Learn Blues Scale, Licks, Techniques and How To Solo
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About this course
The key to success when learning any style of music is having a strong foundation to build upon, which is the way most pro musicians learned to play when they were just starting out.
This first module of Jeff McErlain’s Blues Soloing for Beginners is designed to help you build that solid foundation and get you up and running quickly.
”Learning just one scale, a basic vocabulary of blues licks, and a few essential techniques are the fundamental building blocks you’ll need to start start soloing over a blues. You don’t need to learn theory, struggle through tedious exercises, or read music.
I’ll show you the single most important blues scale — the minor pentatonic. This simple, easy-to-learn 5-note scale has powered literally thousands of blues solos. We’ll work on the key blues soloing techniques including bending, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Using the pentatonic scale and these key techniques we’ll start building your vocabulary of blues licks, which you’ll learn how to connect and construct solos with.
What makes this course really special is how you’ll learn these fundamental building blocks for soloing -- we’ll practice everything together!”
Each lesson begins with an overview and demonstration. You’ll practice together with Jeff using a slow playalong, and then you’ll play over a blues backing track for real-world musical context.
In the last section of the course, Jeff will touch on how to improvise your solos. You’ll play together with Jeff, over full-length blues backing tracks, trading solos back and forth to practice everything you worked on in the course.
You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the lessons. 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 learn how to solo with Jeff McErlain!
This first module of Jeff McErlain’s Blues Soloing for Beginners is designed to help you build that solid foundation and get you up and running quickly.
”Learning just one scale, a basic vocabulary of blues licks, and a few essential techniques are the fundamental building blocks you’ll need to start start soloing over a blues. You don’t need to learn theory, struggle through tedious exercises, or read music.
I’ll show you the single most important blues scale — the minor pentatonic. This simple, easy-to-learn 5-note scale has powered literally thousands of blues solos. We’ll work on the key blues soloing techniques including bending, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Using the pentatonic scale and these key techniques we’ll start building your vocabulary of blues licks, which you’ll learn how to connect and construct solos with.
What makes this course really special is how you’ll learn these fundamental building blocks for soloing -- we’ll practice everything together!”
Each lesson begins with an overview and demonstration. You’ll practice together with Jeff using a slow playalong, and then you’ll play over a blues backing track for real-world musical context.
In the last section of the course, Jeff will touch on how to improvise your solos. You’ll play together with Jeff, over full-length blues backing tracks, trading solos back and forth to practice everything you worked on in the course.
You’ll get standard notation and tabs for all of the lessons. 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 learn how to solo with Jeff McErlain!
Jeff McErlain's Preferred Gear
Below is a list of Jeff McErlain's preferred gear including guitars, amps, pedals, accessories, and more. What you see in Jeff's lessons may or may not be this actual gear, but if you are trying to capture Jeff's sound and tone, the gear listed below is recommended by Jeff and it's a great place to start!
Guitars
- Gibson SG Guitar
- Gibson Les Paul Goldtop Guitar
- Fender Stratocaster Guitar
- Tuttle Carve Top Supreme Guitar
Amps
Pedals
- Fulltone Octafuzz OF-2 Fuzz / Octave Pedal
- Strymon Flint Tremolo and Reverb Pedal
- Xotic EP Booster Pedal
- Ibanez Tube Screamer Overdrive Pedal
- Fulltone OCD Distortion Pedal
- Dunlop Jimi Hendrix Fuzz Face Pedal
- TC Electronic Hall of Fame Reverb Pedal
- MXR Carbon Copy Analog Delay Pedal
- TC Electronic Flashback 2 Delay and Looper Pedal
- Fulltone Supa-Trem Tremolo Pedal
- Boss Super Chorus Pedal
- MXR Flanger Pedal
- MXR Phase 90 Phase Shifter Pedal
- MXR Dyan Comp Compressor Pedal
- Ernie Ball VP JR Volume Pedal
- Dunlop Original Cry Baby Wah Wah Pedal
- MXR M199 Tap Tempo Pedal
Accessories & More
What you'll learn
- Apply vibrato to sustain notes and add expression
- Start phrases with an up-pick for better string access and tone
- Curve third finger to avoid muting adjacent strings
- Apply repeated lick phrasing over backing tracks
- Incorporate this lick into improvised solos
Release date: 12/20/2021 • 3h 02m runtime
Sample lessons
The Language of a Solo
Essential Concepts: Demo
Picking Technique
Essential Techniques: Demo
Root Position Am Lick 3
Lesson Demonstration
Root Position Am Lick 3
Playalong: Slow
What's included
56 lessons • 33 charts • 3 Jam Tracks
Hey I'm Jeff McErlain. Welcome to Blues Soloing for Beginners.
The key to success when learning any style of music is having a strong foundation to build upon, which is the way most pro musicians, including myself, learned when we were just starting out.
Learning just one scale, a basic vocabulary of blues licks, and a few essential techniques are the fundamental building blocks of your foundation — and all you really need to start soloing over a blues.
You don't need to learn theory, struggle through tedious exercises, or read music to get up and running quickly.
I’ll show you the single most important blues scale — the minor pentatonic. This simple, easy-to-learn 5-note scale has powered literally thousands of blues solos.
We'll work on the key blues soloing techniques including bending, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Using the pentatonic scale and these key techniques we'll start building your vocabulary of blues licks, and I'll show you how to connect them to construct your solos.
In the last section of the course, we'll touch on how to improvise your solos. We'll play together over blues backing tracks trading solos back and forth to practice everything we worked on in the course.
What makes this course really special is how you'll learn these fundamental building blocks for soloing and we'll practice everything together!
Each lesson begins with an overview and demonstration. We’ll then practice together using a slow play along, and then we'll solo over a blues backing track for real-world musical context. Plus, using TrueFire’s learning tools, you can loop, slow down or sync the tab to any of the video lessons to learn at your own pace.
Ready to start soloing? Grab your guitar and let’s get started.
The key to success when learning any style of music is having a strong foundation to build upon, which is the way most pro musicians, including myself, learned when we were just starting out.
Learning just one scale, a basic vocabulary of blues licks, and a few essential techniques are the fundamental building blocks of your foundation — and all you really need to start soloing over a blues.
You don't need to learn theory, struggle through tedious exercises, or read music to get up and running quickly.
I’ll show you the single most important blues scale — the minor pentatonic. This simple, easy-to-learn 5-note scale has powered literally thousands of blues solos.
We'll work on the key blues soloing techniques including bending, vibrato, hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Using the pentatonic scale and these key techniques we'll start building your vocabulary of blues licks, and I'll show you how to connect them to construct your solos.
In the last section of the course, we'll touch on how to improvise your solos. We'll play together over blues backing tracks trading solos back and forth to practice everything we worked on in the course.
What makes this course really special is how you'll learn these fundamental building blocks for soloing and we'll practice everything together!
Each lesson begins with an overview and demonstration. We’ll then practice together using a slow play along, and then we'll solo over a blues backing track for real-world musical context. Plus, using TrueFire’s learning tools, you can loop, slow down or sync the tab to any of the video lessons to learn at your own pace.
Ready to start soloing? Grab your guitar and let’s get started.
In this lesson I'm going to talk a bit about exactly what a Blues is then I'm going to play through some tunes to help you better understand the dynamics of playing a Blues.
Music is a language, this may sound like a cliche but it's true! In this lesson I'm going to show you some of the essential concepts to help you learn short musical phrases that build up to longer "musical sentences".
We all fall victim to the notion that you must have the best gear to get the best tones, I'm not immune to this myself, but in this video I'm going to show you a few tips to get the best Blues tone with any electric guitar.
The scale that's synonymous with the Blues is the Pentatonic scale, now in my experience a lot of people tend to freak out when talking about scales but in this lesson I'm going to show you why there's nothing to fear!
In this next series of lessons we're going to tackle our first root position. First I'll play through it slowly then we'll go through a performance where you can play along with me!
In this next series of lessons we're going to tackle our first root position. First I'll play through it slowly then we'll go through a performance where you can play along with me!
+ 49 more lessons
Reviews
33 results
Chris
Verified buyer
10/29/26
Great!
I've been playing guitar for around 18 years, self taught. Recently I decided to start from scratch and get some lessons under my belt. I have been playing the Blues for a few years and thought this course would be the perfect way to start at the beginning. This course is definitely set at the right level for absolute beginners and assumes that the learner is a complete beginner, with no prior experience of scales or phrasing. This was great for me as it helped me to assess the level I play at but also identify any bad habits that had crept in during my years of playing. As a result, I found the course very easy to follow but invaluable in teaching me some new exercises I can use to practice and a bit of theory. The lessons are very well presented and taught by Jeff. They are also split into manageable chunks with the lessons only taking a few minutes each. This is perfect if you are busy, with limited time to practice. There are also some tracks where you are free to do call and respinse with Jeff. I found these particularly useful. I had taught myself the Blues by playing to jam tracks on YouTube. The tracks in this course have you trading solos and licks with Ian, which is much more interactive and interesting and also means you don't end up playing 5 minutes of non-stop solos. So I would recommend this course to absolute beginners, but also anyone in a similar situation to me where you are an intermediate-ish guitarists looking to get some tuition and a recap.
buenofunedi
Verified buyer
09/14/26
I love!
Cdnmnt
Verified buyer
06/22/26
Great teacher and Player. Hope he does a part 2
Having worked through his two part blues rhythm guitar course, I bought this and have learned a lot and enjoyed taking it. He is relaxed and has an easy going style but at the same time is precise and explains what he is doing and how he gets there so you don't have to keep going back to figure out what he is doing
Mario2
Verified buyer
05/27/26
Good choice 👌
Another great course from Jeff. The exercises helps you to feel you are progressing and moving forward
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