According to author Griff Hamlin: “Playing
Through The Blues - Guide For The Lead Guitar Player“, is the most
comprehensive and easiest method to learn Blues Lead Guitar… You will
learn every amazing lick, scale, technique, and cool trick that you’ll
ever need to know… You’ll learn how guys like Eric Clapton, BB King
Buddy Guy, SRV, Angus Young, Jimi Hendrix, Freddie King, Robert Cray and
so many more have amazed audiences around the world”.
About The Author:
Mr. Hamlin is a 20 year veteran of teaching guitar and performing
gigs all over the world. He has also been formally trained in music at
the USC Thorton School of Music. Currently he has released 2 albums and
has played on recordings of several other artists.
Who Will Benefit Most From
Playing
Through The Blues?
This blues guitar course is not for absolute beginners
especially if they have never touched a guitar. However, you don’t need
a lot of experience to succeed either. An experienced beginner that has
not necessarily mastered the following skills but, has at least been
introduced to them should succeed: barre chords, the notes of at least
one Major scale, hammer-ons, pull-offs, bending strings, sliding and an
understanding of how to read a music staff, tabs and chord diagrams.
Are These Lessons Designed For Electric or Acoustic Guitar Players?
While you need to learn and understand many of the same basic
fundamentals for acoustic and electric blues this course has a major
focus on the electric side.
The Format of This Blues Course
This course is a video and audio enhanced ebook. As you read through
the ebook there are illustrations with numbers telling you which video
or audio lessons and examples to find and play.
What Is Included With This Blues Course
Playing Through The Blues splits the lessons into 2 broad groups:
1.
Chords and Rhythm
2.
Playing Lead with creating your own blues solos.
Each of these sections comes with a 50+ page lesson book accompanied
by corresponding videos and audio examples. High quality Jam Tracks are
also available for practicing solos on the fly while playing with a
pre-recorded band. These jam tracks cover many different sub-styles of
blues music including: Jazz Blues, Rock blues, Country Blues, Shuffle
and more.
Bonus materials include: Bonus Jam Tracks, Finding Notes Lesson,
Chord Substitutions and Blues Shapes.
The Negatives
First the format is that of an ebook that you must download from the
internet then read from your computer or print out on paper. I much
prefer the continuity of an all-video dvd lesson program instead of an
ebook that is enhanced with video snippets.
Secondly, the way the these lessons are delivered, as internet
downloads, is inconvenient and time consuming (although there is a cost
saving of $50 to $75 USD as compared to courses burned on physical dvds).
You have a choice of 2 types of video files to download. The MP4 video
file type took about 3 hours to download on a cable TV broadband
connection. The WMV files took almost 7 hours.
Another slight problem is that the videos are a little fuzzy and do
not always present clear detail.
The Positives
Griff Hamlin is an excellent guitar teacher and has an incredible
amount of real world practical tips for playing blues lead guitar in
many styles. His relaxed demeanor and organized style makes the lessons
easy to understand.
Many dvd courses that offer blues guitar training of this high
caliber sell for $50 to $75 more.
This is a complete course and not just a list of blues licks to be
memorized.
The play along Jam Tracks are recorded using a full band and well
done.
Support and Guarantee
There is a 60 Day Money Back Guarantee, an email address for
questions, and a blog for frequently asked questions. (I sent a question
to the email address during a busy holiday weekend and received a
response in only 24 hours).
Price
The price is $47 USD with no shipping costs because this course is
100% downloaded from the internet.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is if you can only spend $47 on a blues course and
don’t mind the inconvenience of downloading process, then buy the
Playing
Through The Blues program and you won’t be disappointed. If you can
afford $100 for a full video dvd course then you might be better served
to initially buy Learn and Master Blues Spotlight by Steve Krenz (click
here for a review of Learn and Master Blues).
It is worth noting that when acquiring advanced or specialty guitar
lessons like this one it is almost always beneficial to be exposed to
the teachings of many different master instructors. Mr Hamlin offers
many transcendent tips and advice that are not necessarily available
anywhere else. So for these reasons I recommend “Playing Through The
Blues” guitar lessons by Griff Hamlin as either a high quality / low
cost first option or as an important secondary resource for your Blues
Guitar Lessons library.
For addition information, sample video lessons, student testimonials,
a complete list of lesson topics or to buy Playing Through The Blues
Guitar Lessons
click
here.
