Beyond Basics: Acoustic Blues Guitar: Guitar Book & CD

Wyatt structures this book around the actual mechanics of blues guitar rather than just listing licks to memorize. The progression from chord forms through solo concepts, paired with a playalong CD, lets students hear how these pieces fit together in real musical contexts.

The acoustic blues sound lives in nuance: bent notes that age like whiskey, bass lines that walk and anchor simultaneously, rhythms that sit just behind the beat. Wyatt's book captures that intentionality, showing you not just what to play but why each move matters.

Guitarists who have mastered basic open chords and standard progressions and want to develop authentic blues vocabulary. This suits self-teaching musicians as well as those in group or private lessons seeking a structured path into the blues tradition.

• Spend time with the full-color slide photos before moving to the audio examples. Understanding the physical technique visually first prevents bad habits from forming.
• Work the turnaround patterns separately from the 12-bar progressions. Master them as standalone ideas so you can deploy them confidently when improvising.
• Play the bass line and melody independently, then layer them together once each feels secure. This builds the two-handed coordination blues guitar demands.
• Use the CD accompaniment at slow tempos initially. Accuracy with the chord changes matters more than speed when you're building independence over blues changes.

Pair this with ensemble work in an acoustic workshop or as supplemental material for students working toward blues-rock repertoire in a full band context. It also serves well as a bridge curriculum between classical guitar study and improvisation-based electives.

• Barred and moveable chord voicings specific to blues idioms
• Reading and executing slides across fretboard positions
• Improvising melodic lines over 12-bar blues progressions
• Fingerstyle bass line independence and coordination
• Blues scale application in multiple positions
• Turnaround construction and variation
• Rhythmic phrasing and note timing in a blues context