MARC makes it doable... more direct to the point than other "teachers" on RU-vid. Lesson 1 is a good example of how to play... he gives more of a "professional" sound for us "wanna bees."
Finally it looks like a great lesson on RU-vid where you actually can play and feel you are starting to learn blues, I know its hard to pitch what's easy for some and hard for others but I can tell this lesson and others to come will really suit many beginners. Many thanks 😊
Thank you! Yes, originally this was just supposed to be one lesson, but so difficult to know what level to pitch it at, so I thought I'd make it a series and start right from the beginning. Many thanks for your kind comment
I like the video series idea. Blues is one of the most complex and intuitive styles of music there is. Jazz is the most, by far. But the blues sound is very specific, and can tend to give many of people some trouble when trying to nail that sound down. (Pay attention to your thirds, people)
271 / 5000 Hello Marc. I am Brazilian, 42 years old and I am in my 4th month of guitar learning. The trick of focusing on the root notes is something that no teacher had ever shown me, and it's really awesome. I really liked the video, congratulations on the work! Won another subscriber!
Tapping the foot, vibrato, listen to the backing track. Marc, you're my hero. I'm a newbie but I love the blues and the Am pentatonic scale position is comfortable for me.
Oh wow Marc, I've watched L1 and L2 and this series is going to be responsible for a whole pile of people being thrilled with what they are able to do after following your easy-going and thorough instructions. Here's hoping that you carry on with this excellent series. If you carry on at this pace you're going to make a lot of people happy. Go Marc go!
Just came across your channel Marc and I’ve watched loads of other blues for beginners and yours is the most intuitive by far, you have simplified the art of playing the blues. All I want to do at my stage is to jam over a backing track and after finding your channel I feel that is very achievable, thank you Marc 👏👏👏👍
As a fellow beginner from downunder,I suggest that you download a metronome whenever you are practising, it seems to fall together more easily as you practice it becomes automatic
I totally agree. Alternatively, a drum machine program or any kind of rhythm track will help. I prefer a drum beat because it helps me find my musical groove, but a metronome is also good. The most important thing is to feel that beat, that pulse as we play
Yes, lesson 1 is a straight 4/4 over one chord so was always going lean more rock than blues. Subsequent lessons add a shuffle and 12 bar and so get a lot more bluesy
@@MarcGuitarVideos Me too. Reds fan since I was a kid in the 70s! YNWA Really good lesson Marc, more than happy to be a new subscriber . Going to watch part 2 now. 😀✊
"Don't tap your foot and play random notes". Best advice this year. 😃 . 😆 🤣 😂. Gonna try it with a couple of A minor blues jamalong tracks. Once again, thanks Marc.
Yeh, that is such fun. Just stick to one position and see how many different combinations you can do. I also wandered into position 2 and 4 quite easily, surprised myself!! Got in a few nice slides as well as a few bends. Luvin it.
Thanks Arthur! You comment about tapping foot really made me laugh. Yes, sounds pretty obvious doesn't it?! If you already know other box positions, then yes, definitely work them in! Thanks for the really great comment
Hi Keith - Yes I completely agree. This series starts with the basics and builds from there, playing in time and in tune is basic but we need it on order to build everything else on
I made a ton of mistakes (hitting the wrong strings) but after four play throughs it almost sounded “not too terribly bad”. Thanks so much for giving back to the beginning guitar player, Marc. Cheers from 🇨🇦
As usual great lesson - probably a bit basic for my current level of playing but still really enjoyed jamming with backing track - can't wait till the next installment
Thanks Steve. It does get more challenging, but we are building slowly because different people are starting from different levels. You shouldn't have to wait long though as these lessons are going to come out far more frequently than my usual lessons.
Excellent. I have always wanted to be able to play some soulful blues and this first lesson has put me on the right path. You licks are easy to copy. Do you have a video on how to develop a decent vibrato (or shake as you call it)?
Hey Marc I hope you're doing well. Thanks so much for taking your time and effort to bring these lessons to us. I've been gone for a bit, but now I'm back and as always your lessons are awesome as Mike T. said your a very easy going teacher and can't wait to dive in more with this series and all your others. Thanks so very much.
A great start Marc, I'm looking forward to getting into this right from the start. Sadly I gave my index finger on my fretting hand a decent gash with a knife while cutting broccoli from the garden , so no playing for me for a little while. But I'm so keen to get started!! Thanks for this series Marc...it's going to be so helpful to me :)
Been looking forward to this Marc and I liked the backing track. Was able to string a few licks together and resolve (like you said) to the root note. Also slipped in a double stop at the 5th fret on the B and E with a little vibrato.
Love your lessons I've learned more from you than anybody else I like how you break it down look for lick and show the tabs I am also learning How to move the pentatonic scales up and down the neck learn where pentatonic scale position each position and where to use them on the neck thank you so much
I took the 2 e strings off and the d. Tuned the a to d the g to a and the b to d. Marked off the notes with gaffa tape on the fret board. Can't hit a wrong note. Scouse power.
Marc, Could you please list the blues series starting from how to improvise blues #1 thru the end of your series ? I noticed that after #8 they are not numbered in order , I don't want to get confused which one is next after I complete each one. Thanks JP
Hi Marc great lesson series idea. I was wondering if you have ever thought of a group page so people could share their progress etc like posting vids of how they use these lessons to improvise. Just an idea. Cheers
Hi Nathan - that is a fantastic idea. I have asked previously if people will share their results with me, and for Patreon supporters, I make the offer that if they want to share results with me, I'll give them personalised feedback. Unfortunately, it's pretty rare that anyone does that. So, I would love it, but I'm not sure if anyone would contribute. Though I would love it if we could. I don't have a website or anything, and have stopped doing Facebook, so not sure what the right forum would be. If you have some ideas, I'd love to hear them
Hey Marc. Love your lessons. This one is intriguing. But I have to tell you I don't have any instinct for crafting riffs. Wish I did. But if I tried to play along with the backing track it wouldn't sound anything like yours. Tabs would help
I'm not planning on doing tabs. I have plenty of other lessons with tabs and licks. I'd suggest trying to jam over the backing track and see how you get on. Even if it doesn't sound great the first time, it'll get better the more you try. I'd encourage you to stick with this series, as future topics are going to build on this and at least one lesson will include learning some licks to throw into an improvisation, and yes, that lesson will include tabs
I know what you mean about creating riffs, so I'm using several of Marcs, but as he says this is about learning to improvise, so I need to be having a go. What really comes home to me is the importance of phrasing, which Marc does brilliantly and I now realise I need to start doing in order to try and make my riffs sound more interesting. It's like me playing a B B King 3 note riff as just 3 notes - it sounds nothing. But when he does it, it's just something else. Well, I'm never going to be a great blues player, but Marcs teaching method is the best I've come across and I finally feel as though I'm starting to progress!☺
I'm trying to learn blues improvising. I have zero information about improvising , if improvising using A minor blues scale, must the Backing Track be in A minor too? Or is it fine to improvise using any scale on any Backing Track?
General rule, is that we improvise in the key of the backing track, so if the backing track is in the key of Am we should improvise using the scale of Am. If the backing track is G major, then use G major scale
Hi! Over the D chord (IV chord) avoid using the A MAJOR pentatonic scale. Just use A MINOR pentatonic instead. The A Major include the note C# but not the notes C or D. The chord of D7 includes both a C and a D, but not a C#, therefore the C# in A major pentatonic will clash. Therefore, over the D chord, only play A minor pentatonic scale. I hope that helps.
Mark, I'm really struggling with improvisation and this popped up in my RU-vid feed so I'm really interested in having a crack at this. Could you let me know what settings you had on the Blackstar amp when you ran the lesson? I'd like to aim for the tone that you have. Many thanks.
Hi Andy. The Blackstar is a great amp. It's got quite a lot of gain on tap. I have it set on the edge of break up so that when I hit the strings hard, it really sounds dirty, but when I ease off, it cleans up a bit. Tone controls are set pretty close to half way, maybe tweaked a little, but not very much. The amp has an ISF control which basically sweeps the voicing from a fender-y tone through to a marshall-y sound. I have it set almost all the way over to the Marshall tone. I hope that helps
If I remember correctly, it's just the guitar (Epiphone Les Paul) into the dirty channel of the amp (Blackstar HT5R). The amp is set almost fully over to the Marshall sound on its ISF control. The EQ is set fairly even, nothing special or extreme going on with it.
Hi Marc, Great lesson. Timing has always been my problem, i can play along but with timing that,s another story 🙄 ! I know it,s not the way to count but in my mind or ears i get like,,,,,, 1 and 2 3 4 / 5 6 7 then i get 1 2 3 4 /and 5 6 7 . Hope you get whats in my head 1and234,567 then 1234,and567... Yes Embarrassing but i have to ask, what are you actually counting ?
Unfortunately not. I'm not planning on doing tabs. I have plenty of other lessons with tabs and licks. The fun is in just playing your own thing anyway.
@@MarcGuitarVideos I don't mind sharing her. I share her with quite a few people actually lol. Thanks for the lesson btw. I should have mentioned that first!
