Cutting Edge Series: Blues Guitar: Guitar CD

Working through cutting-edge material with a full band behind you creates the sensation of real apprenticeship. The live recordings bring energy and unpredictability that studio tracks often lack, making each lick feel earned rather than downloaded.

Guitarists with solid foundational technique who want to push beyond typical blues vocabulary and understand how working players approach the style today. This demands both musical maturity and genuine curiosity about contemporary blues practice.

• Listen to the full recordings multiple times before focusing on individual licks. Your ear needs to hear how each phrase functions within the band arrangement, not in isolation.
• Study the rare photographs and artist backgrounds alongside the notation. Understanding the musicians who created these styles informs your phrasing and intent when you perform the licks yourself.
• Use the scale material as a springboard for your own improvisation over the backing tracks, rather than stopping after you've mastered the written examples.

Integrate this alongside standard blues methods in an intermediate guitar curriculum to show students that blues is evolving and remains relevant. The unusual styles and artist focus naturally encourage students to research their own influences and develop personal voice.

• Reading and playing from notation and TAB simultaneously
• Improvising blues licks over live band accompaniment
• Translating recorded guitar styles into playable techniques
• Understanding blues scales in practical melodic contexts
• Recognizing stylistic variation within the blues tradition