I’m pretty sure that everyone studying a blues guitar have pictured themselves playing and maybe singing like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Robert Johnson or whoever their idols are, but to reach that level of skill, there’s a lot of work, especially if you learn blues guitar online, by yourself, and even if talent is your middle name. So, if you don’t work with a blues guitar tutor to kick you back into shape when you’re buzzing or screeching, it’s important to learn to discover the mistakes you make to correct them.
Therefore, I’m going to point out here, a few beginner mistakes to be corrected when playing a blues guitar, but first, it’s important to know a few things about the blues.
Blues was born as a vocal form, long time ago in African-American communities in the United States, mostly like work field working chants. They were originally made of a vocal line repeated 4 times, and evolved into mixing that line with other, more complex lines. Nowadays, blues that started as a singing art form, now kinda require a guitar to accompany your voice with. But even if your voice isn’t that great and needs to be polished, you need far more guitar practice to become good at this.
Now, here are the mistakes you must try to avoid if you learn blues guitar online:
1. If practicing on blues songs, try to minimize the moving of your fingers on the frets as much as possible. It takes time to rearrange fingers, and the less you do it, the smoother and natural your notes will be. A typical newbie error is to lift all the fingers off the fretboard and relocate each finger. Of course, sometimes that is necessary,but if you can hold a finger where it is, do that.
2. Avoid keeping your fretting hand too tense. This way you may injure your fretting hand and also put a bad influence on your performance . Be as relaxed as possible. The blues itself is meant to generate a good, relaxed state of mind, starting with the player, not just for the audience. Besides, if you learn blues guitar online, from the comfort of your home, it won’t be too hard to chilland adopt a good posture for playing blues, as well.
3. Another mistake to watch for is to avoid playing the same interval all the time. Good guitar players always mix and match for effect, breaking the pattern into interesting pieces, showing their skills at the same time. Of course, this takes practice, but will help you improve.
4. When improvising on a certain piece, don’t supplement your progression with too many notes. Blues is sophisticated through its simplicity. Its simple layers must sound together like a very complex piece, that has depth and peaks interest.
These are just a few usual mistakes that any amateur blues player can make while studying blues on guitar. However, to diagnose better your practice, if you learn blues guitar online, it’s best help yourself with an online guitar guide.
The one I’ve been using has really helped me a lot, and I strongly recommend it to anyone that wants to learn blues guitar online. Check this Guitar Guide out, it really rocks!