Piperk8
Verified buyer
10/25/26
Helped me fill in the gaps in my learning
This is a great course with a methodical pathway that has allowed me to fill the gaps in my previous learning.
Learning to Lead: Blues & Rock (JamPlay)
Learn Powerful Soloing Techniques for Blues and Rock Guitar
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Dave Isaacs
Educator
Genres
About this course
Cherrypicked from JamPlay, our sister TrueFire Studios’ company, Dave Isaacs’s top-ranked curriculum of video guitar lessons, Learning to Lead: Blues & Rock has been upgraded with all of TrueFire’s advanced learning tools for the optimal “anytime, anywhere, any device” learning experience. Now available for download and streaming!
Dave Isaacs’s Learning to Lead: Blues & Rock starts with a Beginner’s section, which is followed by sections for Late Beginners, Early Intermediate and then Intermediate players. Whatever level player you happen to be, plug into that section and take your soloing skills to the next level!
Dave demonstrates the essential techniques, vocabulary and creative tools you’ll need to craft tasty Blues and Rock solos and improvisations.
”I’ll show you a few key scales and fingering patterns, but great lead playing is not about blazing technique and playing lots of notes. It’s about phrasing, tone and feel. Even the greats play powerful, engaging solos with just a few notes — and you can too!
As you progress through the course, I’ll keep expanding your vocabulary, broaden your range of techniques and pass on dozens of creative soloing approaches. Work your way through the entire curriculum and you’ll have the chops and confidence to jump on any jam stage!”
Dave will guide you a progressive series of video lessons covering: Phrasing, Call and Response, Tension and Release, Practical Theory, Improvisation, Slides and Slurs, Building a Solo, Bending, and Soloing Over Changes, Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales, Arpeggios, Fretboard Patterns, Chord Tones, Melodic Sequences, Dorian and Mixolydian Modes
You’ll have all of TrueFire’s advanced learning tools at your finger tips to personalize your workspace and learn at your own pace.
You can loop, slow down, or speed up any section of a lesson. Plus, all of the tab and notation is synced to the videos for the optimal learning experience. You’ll also get tab and standard notation files to print out, Guitar Pro files, and all of the backing tracks to practice with.
Grab your guitar, and let’s dig in with Dave Issacs!
Dave Isaacs’s Learning to Lead: Blues & Rock starts with a Beginner’s section, which is followed by sections for Late Beginners, Early Intermediate and then Intermediate players. Whatever level player you happen to be, plug into that section and take your soloing skills to the next level!
Dave demonstrates the essential techniques, vocabulary and creative tools you’ll need to craft tasty Blues and Rock solos and improvisations.
”I’ll show you a few key scales and fingering patterns, but great lead playing is not about blazing technique and playing lots of notes. It’s about phrasing, tone and feel. Even the greats play powerful, engaging solos with just a few notes — and you can too!
As you progress through the course, I’ll keep expanding your vocabulary, broaden your range of techniques and pass on dozens of creative soloing approaches. Work your way through the entire curriculum and you’ll have the chops and confidence to jump on any jam stage!”
Dave will guide you a progressive series of video lessons covering: Phrasing, Call and Response, Tension and Release, Practical Theory, Improvisation, Slides and Slurs, Building a Solo, Bending, and Soloing Over Changes, Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales, Arpeggios, Fretboard Patterns, Chord Tones, Melodic Sequences, Dorian and Mixolydian Modes
You’ll have all of TrueFire’s advanced learning tools at your finger tips to personalize your workspace and learn at your own pace.
You can loop, slow down, or speed up any section of a lesson. Plus, all of the tab and notation is synced to the videos for the optimal learning experience. You’ll also get tab and standard notation files to print out, Guitar Pro files, and all of the backing tracks to practice with.
Grab your guitar, and let’s dig in with Dave Issacs!
What you'll learn
- Apply appropriate hand positions for bending in different neck positions
- Perform complex bend variations: bend-release, pre-bends, bend-release-bend
- Combine bends with other articulations (slides, hammer-ons, pull-offs)
- Use proper body mechanics (forearm rotation) for efficient bending
- Phrase bends rhythmically with varying speeds and timing
Release date: 10/14/2022 • 11h 42m runtime
Sample lessons
Rhythm: The Pulse
Rhythm: The Pulse
Vocabulary: Pentatonic Patterns Part 1
Vocabulary: Pentatonic Patterns Part 1
Phrasing: Shape and Line
Phrasing: Shape and Line
Practical Theory: Chord Tones from Pentatonics
Practical Theory: Chord Tones From Pentatonics
What's included
62 lessons • 38 charts • 29 Jam Tracks
Dave introduces us to his course, Learning to Lead, where we will learn things like the basic vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of working with backing tracks.
Simply put, phrasing is learning to organize your ideas in time. When fleshing out this concept, learning how to play various note groupings, rhythmic subdivisions, and rhythm 'cells' is key. In this lesson, Dave starts us out by showing us how to execute rhythms on a single note in time against a track.
What is a pentatonic scale, and why does it work so well in so much of the music we play? The answer to these and other questions are found in this lesson, as Dave shows us how to execute pentatonic fragments in time against a track.
Phrasing sometimes involves the shaping of intervallic contours in a line or scale. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the rising and falling of intervals and the steps or jumps in scale degrees.
Now we take a look at a new pentatonic formation, and how to duplicate melodic figures in different positions.
Now we take a look at a new pentatonic formation, and how to duplicate melodic figures in different positions.
When it comes to phrasing, the call and response technique is certainly foundational. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the technique, specifically at how it is used in blues playing.
+ 55 more lessons
Reviews
15 results
GoneWorkin
Verified buyer
09/08/26
Solid and Thorough Launchpad
Very thorough introduction to guitar. For me, since my education has been spotty, it helped me find weak points in my basics and bridge the gaps. I like his direct, clear teaching style.
Pdo2001
Verified buyer
05/25/26
Good
JGS
02/05/26
not for late beginners.
some of it useable for a late beginner, and some of it is just too advanced.
littlesister
Verified buyer
09/30/25
David Isaaca:Learning to lead: Blues and Rock
An excellent course. I learned so much popular blues and rock phrasing I had missed years ago. One of the best courses on Truefire.
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