Blues Guitar Mastering Tab [Mastering Blues Guitar]: Guitar Book & CD

Dense and rewarding. This is not a book that holds your hand through basic positions; it assumes you can already play and wants to teach you how to think. The work is rigorous but grounded in the actual sound of blues masters, so every exercise connects to something real you've heard.

Advanced guitarists who have solid technique and want to move beyond pentatonic boxes into the harmonic and stylistic depth of electric blues. This suits players tackling jazz-inflected or modern blues that demands knowledge of modes, chord tones, and the historical language of the tradition.

• Study the eight-bar blues framework as a harmonic container first. Once you understand the chord progression and its typical substitutions, the scale choices and arpeggio targets become less arbitrary.
• Use the recorded examples to slow down phrases. Mark where your phrasing falls relative to the beat; blues phrasing rarely sits exactly on the grid, and understanding the intentional lag or push is central to authenticity.
• Apply myxolydian mode over dominant seventh chords specifically. Listen for how this mode creates tension and release differently than minor pentatonic alone.
• Practice arpeggio superimposition over backing tracks at slow tempos. The goal is fluency, not speed; rushing this technique undermines its effectiveness for creating melodic shape.

Assign this to advanced students pursuing independent study or specialized electives in blues or contemporary styles. It works best as a supplement to private lessons where a teacher can guide the transfer from exercises into actual performance contexts.

• Blues pentatonic and composite scale navigation across the neck
• Myxolydian mode applied to dominant seventh harmony
• Arpeggio superimposition and harmonic substitution
• Eight-bar and minor blues form understanding
• Phrasing and rhythmic displacement typical of electric blues
• Stylistic vocabulary derived from Muddy Waters and Big Bill Broonzy recordings