Alfred's PLAY: Blues Guitar 1: Guitar DVD

Blues guitar demands feel and restraint in equal measure. You'll hear the space between notes matter as much as the notes themselves, where a bent string and a held breath carry the weight of the melody.

Beginning guitarists who want to play blues immediately without waiting for a private teacher's availability, weekend players looking to deepen their blues vocabulary, and students at any level seeking clear visual reinforcement of technique and style.

• Pause and replay sections to lock in the instructor's left-hand finger placement before attempting the passage yourself.
• Use the DVD alongside your instrument so you can mirror the instructor's hand position in real time.
• Start at slower speeds if the lesson plays at performance tempo; most students absorb blues phrasing better when they can track every movement.
• Focus on the tone production segments first; blues guitar lives or dies on your sound, not just your notes.

Use this as supplementary material for elective guitar students during independent work time, or assign specific video modules to reinforce classroom instruction on blues form and phrasing. It's also valuable for advanced ensemble players wanting to deepen their understanding of blues vocabulary outside the concert band or orchestra setting.

• Blues scales and pentatonic patterns across the fretboard
• Bending, vibrato, and other blues-specific articulations
• 12-bar blues harmonic progression
• Blues phrasing and call-and-response patterns
• Finding and playing by ear over blues changes