Poor Man Blues Solo

Hello GMC, welcome to my new blues lesson. Today we will cover a very slow blues solo that I called "Poor Man's Blues Solo", as a tribute to one of the Eric Clapton's tracks that I was inspired by.

The focus in this lesson will be a bit different than before. Instead of focusing on theory and regular techniques, that we usually do, we will try to understand how to make a more expressive solo. Making an expressive solo is about acquiring certain skills that can help you to it. Talent can play important role, but not bigger than anything else with guitar.

So, by learning what are the important skills to know about that are needed for making an expressive solo, and working on it, your notes can acquire needed "weight" and "size".

As you will see in this solo, there is a lot of syncopation. I intentionally leave you some "space" there for you to make a rhythmical improvisation that is corresponding to your feeling at the time. Don't try to carbon-copy the syncopation I used, but instead, try to feel the backing track and put your notes with slight alterations, so that it reflects how you feel.

Regardless of that, we will cover all the techniques needed as well. We use a lot of bending, vibrato, slides and H/P. You should be careful how you use these effects, as they are the most important tools for you making expressive. So I suggest that you spend some time on certain notes where you see a difficult bend or vibrato. It really pays out to rehearse it a bit.

Have fun! :)

E minor: