Question: What do Muddy Waters, Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen and John Mayer share in common?

Answer: besides having the distinction of being just a few of the many notable guitarists from the last 60 plus years, they also came from a Blues background or at least had a strong appreciation for the beauty of this mode of music.

Question: what do the musical styles of modern country, rock, metal and pop music share in common?                                           Blues Guitar Secrets

Answer: they represent some of the many musical genres that are often influenced by the Blues.

Besides the sheer fun of learning to play Blues Guitar it is also a highly recommended way to increase the musical tools that a student can use to write, accompany or solo with many types of music. Learning Blues Guitar can be a smart, educational progression for any guitar student with at least some proficiency with a few basic scales and barre chords.

The Purpose of the “Blues Guitar Secrets” DVD guitar lesson program is to quickly teach the student:

• 12-bar blues in multiple variations

• blues chords and progressions

• blues scales in all positions and keys

• improvising Blues Guitar Solos

What makes a great guitar lesson program?

1. A great instruction program will go beyond the limitations of just reading a book by offering clear audio   and video demonstrations of each lesson.

 

2. The program’s author should ideally possess the following credentials:

• play well themselves

• have played in a band

• toured with a band

• recorded

• must be a gifted and preferably experienced, formally educated guitar teacher.

About The Author Dan Denley:

Dan Denley fits the above definition of the ideal guitar instructor well. He has been a member of 10 bands and has played in some large venue performances. Dan is a competitive music scholar, has a college degree in music and is a guitar instructor. He is also the author of the highly rated and successful beginner through intermediate guitar lesson program called “Amazing Guitar Secrets” and a new lesson program that teaches soloing called " Lead Guitar Secrets ".

Dan has an easy to listen to voice coupled with a relaxed style of communicating. He wisely leaves in some playing mistakes while demonstrating the lessons. This is one of the reasons that makes Dan easy-to-relate-to and therefore effective in his teaching.

Who Will Benefit Most From This Program:

Although learning to play blues guitar basics does not require advanced playing ability it does help if you are comfortable with at least one of the movable major or minor scale patterns and some barre chords. However, the Blues Guitar Secrets course will walk you through the Pentatonic and Blues Scales that are the fundamental building blocks of Blues music.

Is This Blues Course For Acoustic Or Electric Guitar Players?

Both. Even though the author begins the course explaining the interesting details of his electric guitar set up, he demonstrates the lessons using a mix of both electric and acoustic guitars. One of the lesson sections is entitled “Acoustic Guitar Blues Riffs”.

The Contents of Blues Guitar Secrets:

The Physical Parts

• (2) Blues Guitar lesson DVDs

• (1) Jam Tracks* CD ( included in the Gold Edition only )

• (1) Book - DVD Companion: Here’s All The Notation, Tab and Chord Symbols That’ll Have You Playing Like A Blues Master In No Time!”

• (1) Book - “Mastering The Pentatonic and Blues Scales: Discover the Secrets To Creating Your Own Solos and Killer Blues Riffs”

• (1) Book - Complete Step By Step Guide To The Jam Tracks* CD! - Includes tabs, chord symbols, fretboard diagrams and a complete theoretical analysis of each Jam Track* ( included in the Gold Edition only ).

• (1) Progress Tracker

• (1) Intro Letter

• (1) Step by Step Guide: “How To Use Your Blues Guitar Secrets Course”

* Jam Tracks are comprised of short blues songs that create an opportunity to practice rhythm parts or improvising solos while playing with a recorded back up band.

A Partial List of The Lessons:

• Intro To Blues Guitar

• The Pentatonic Minor Movable Scale Patterns in 5 Positions

• The Blues Pentatonic Movable Scale patterns

• Blues Chord Progressions

• Using Minor 7^th, Dominant 7^th, VI Major 7^th, Dominant 9^th and Minor 9^th chords and scales as well as combination forms.

• 12-Bar Blues: Open Position Chords

• Acoustical Guitar Blues Riffs

• Classic Blues Solo Licks

• Blues Runs

• Solo Practicing Techniques

• Adding Bends

• Strumming Techniques

• Using Syncopation

• Bonus Videos

The Negatives:

Dan sometimes refers to a musical term before he defines it. A few of the author’s explanations of these terms are not crystal clear. This might occasionally frustrate the most inexperienced player but overall I didn’t find this to be a huge problem.

If you listen to the Jam track CD using only the small speakers on a laptop computer you may find that the base guitar might not be easy to hear. Using head phones or listening to the Jam Tracks on a standard CD player seemed to easily eliminate this problem.

It would be nice if this course came with a protective case or organizer to keep all of the materials together.

None of these issues are significant but rather are just minor annoyances.

The Positives:

• The author: Dan Denley is experienced at putting together effective guitar instruction courses like “Amazing Guitar Secrets”.

• The author: Dan Denley is an expert, experienced guitarist and a trained educator.

• The author: has a relaxed, organized and easy-to-relate-to style of communicating.

• This course takes the mystery out of how to improvise solos on the guitar.

• This course is easy to follow and understand

• excellent use of close ups to clarify fingering chords and scales.

• includes a Jam Track CD for developing essential skills for playing with a band.

• This course uses video, audio and the illustrated written word to appeal to all of the important senses when learning to play guitar. This is especially important if the student’s learning style requires more than reading a book alone can provide.

• This course is primarily a video course with written support materials and not the other way around. I have found that it is less effective and more difficult if you must first read an instruction manual then find a video snippet on your computer that supports the book lesson. I like the much richer experience of watching, listening then emulating a live instructor demonstrating an entire lesson. It is much more effective to use the instruction book only as a means to clarify the video lesson. Blues Guitar Secrets got this part exactly right.

The Price Analysis:

The Standard Edition is $127 USD, (as of this writing ), and includes all of the items mentioned above in the “Contents” section without the Jam Track CD or Book.

The Gold Edition is $159 USD (as of this writing ), and includes all of the items mentioned above in the “Contents” section including the Jam Track CD and Book.

Blues Guitar Secrets by Dan Denley contains the equivalent of 6 to 12 months worth of guitar lessons if you were to space them out as if you were taking weekly lessons from a local guitar instructor. A local instructor typically will charge anywhere from $20 to $50 per weekly lesson. Your minimum cost, ( not including materials ), at only $20 per lesson for 6 months would be at least $520.

The choice comes down to:

• the Blues Guitar Secrets DVD Program at $127 to $159 or

• a local instructor at $520 to $1040.

Guarantee:

Blues Guitar Secrets comes with a 90 day, unconditional, money-back guarantee.

The Bottom Line: Rated 9.5 out of 10

I can, without hesitation, recommend this Blues Guitar course for anyone that has basic guitar skills and a desire to learn the essential Blues Guitar basics including how to improvise solos. The course is well organized, priced right and most importantly it is an effective way to learn to play guitar.

Click Here For More Information Or To Buy Blues Guitar Secrets

 

Copyright 2006 John Mackinnon All rights reserved