If you’re a blues guitarist, you know that a good turnaround can give real flavor to your song, lift up the entire piece and make it stand out, so that’s what we’re going to do today!

A turnaround is a short musical phrase that leads back to the beginning of a song or progression and typically starts on the last two bars (or measures) of a 12-bar blues shuffle or 12-bar blues progression.

So if you’re playing a blues tune and you want to incorporate a turnaround, start by counting out the 12 bars of the progression, and then begin the turnaround on the 11th and 12th bars.

While turnarounds are often used to signal the end of a chorus or verse, and set up the next one, today’s heavenly blues turnarounds are only used at the end of a blues progression to finish the song with some raw and soulful blues elegance.

Add these two heavenly blues turnarounds to your repertoire and you’re good to go.

Remember, the key to mastering these turnarounds is practice, so be sure to spend plenty of time working on them. Grab your guitar, watch the video lesson and get started!

Happy playing!

TABLATURE

If you want more turnarounds you can also check out the Robert Johnson Style Turnarounds or 6 Cool Guitar Blues Turnarounds.

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Video Lesson

Mix Chords, Licks and Melody

Learning to combine chords and licks is a skill that has to be trained and practiced. It’s a different technique that requires you to anticipate your next move where your fingers have to jump from chords to single notes lines.

Tips

• Practice and memorize then entire tune from beginning to end
• Practice the chord strumming slowly
• Practice the licks / fills slowly
• Practice the chord strumming and fills slowly
• Hear me: When I say slowly, I mean slowly
• Make sure each notes sounds clean and clear
• Gradually increase your speed when you a bit comfortable
• Learn how to practice faster
• Practice daily

Tablature

If you want more of this check out:
Combine Chords and Melody | G – C – D |
Chord Melody Guitar | C – F – G – Am – Dm |

Video Lesson

Combining Chords with Melody

You can play this sweet little melody between the chords of G – C and D, but once you got those comfortable under your fingers you can also use others chord derived from the G major scale like: G – Am- Bm – C – D – Em – F#dim – G. Okay F#dim will be your least favorite, but the others chords will sound great around the melody.

Enjoy experimenting and have fun!

Tabs

Ending G – G6sus4 – G

If you like the lesson subscribe to the Youtube channel for more!

Today I’m going to teach you one of my favorite songs “To Love Somebody” by The Bee Gees. This song is covered by lots of people including Janis Joplin, Michael Bolton and my favorite cover version by Damien Rice & Ray La Montagne.

To Love Somebody – Guitar Lesson

I’ll teach you the most simplified version of this song, so it’s going to be in the key of D. The chords for this song are D – G – Em – C – A.

I will teach you two different strumming patterns, a very common strumming pattern for this type of song and a simplified strumming pattern for beginners.

common strumming pattern: ↓↓↑↑↓↓↓↑ = down – down – up – up – down – down – down – up 

Simple strumming pattern: ↓↓↑↑↓↓ = down – down – up – up – down – down  

Watch the video guitar lesson below to learn this amazing song. This is a must-learn-song! ;)

Please share your feedback in the comments below or on Youtube. I read and reply to everyone of them. I’d love to hear from you! 

Hi lovely people, I’ve got a 12 Bar Blues Progression for you today with a basic strumming pattern, a basic turnaround and some extra fancy triplet turnarounds to spice things up.

Basic 12 Bar Blues Progression

This 12 Bar Blues shuffle is in the key of E and moves through the following 12 bar chord progression:

/ E7 / E7 / E7 / E7 / A7 / A7 / E7 / E7 / B7 / A7 / E7 / B7 /

 The last four bars of the progression function as the turnaround. You can play this by strumming through the pattern / B7 / A7 / E7 / B7 / or finish it with a more enhanced turnaround that makes the progression sound really cool. Eventually you want to learn both. If you’re a beginner just start with the basic turnaround.

Basic 12 Bar Blues Strumming Pattern

For the strumming pattern we play: ↓↓↑↑↓↑ “down-down-up-up-down-up” for each bar / measure throughout the entire progression.

Below there’s a video lesson where I explain the entire 12 bar blues with the strumming patten and different blues turnarounds.

Enjoy!

Hi folks, today we have an easy and basic 12 Bar Blues Shuffle for beginners. This blues shuffle is the ground work for everything that follows. Once you know how to play this shuffle you’ve got the backbone of blues rhythm guitar and you can work your way up to more sophisticated blues shuffles and rhythm techniques.

Basic 12 Bar Blues Shuffle

This 12 Bar Blues shuffle is in the key of A and moves through the following 12 bar chord progression:

/ A / A / A / A / D / D / A / A / E / D / A / E / 

You can play this blues shuffle as a rhythm guitar player or record it as a jam track and play a blues solo over it.

Blues Shuffle Strumming Techniques

You can apply different rhythm techniques to the blues shuffle like basic down strumming and muted strum variations to make the shuffle even more dynamic all of which I will explain in the video lesson.

Below you can find the tablature and video lesson for the Basic 12 Bar Blues Shuffle:

Go get ‘m!

Today I’m going to teach you how to play one of the greatest classics “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for” by U2 from the album “Joshua Tree”.

This is one of the easiest songs for beginners. It is a simplified version of the song, but really fun to play. The song contains 3 open chords and a basic popular strumming pattern that you can use for many others songs as well.

How to Play “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For”

The song contains 3 chords: C – Fmaj7 – G

C = x32010

Fmaj7 = xx3210

G = 320003

Here is strumming pattern you can use to play the song:

↓↓↑↑↓↑ = down – down – up – up – down – up 

Watch the video guitar lesson below to learn this beautiful song.

Please share your feedback in the comments below or on Youtube. I read and reply to everyone of them. I’d love to hear from you! 

Hi Folks, today I’m going to teach you how to play “A horse with no name” by America. It was the bands first single and also their most popular one.

It’s a delightful song to play in all its simplicity. Once you get the hang of the strumming pattern you really get into the flow and the vibe of the song. You’ll love it.

A Horse with No Name – Easy 2 Chord Song

“A horse with no name” is an easy song that is a must song for beginner guitar players. The song contains 2 chords: Em and D6-9/F#. While the D6-9/F# chord name sounds complicated the chord itself is really easy to play.

Em = 022000

D6-9/F# = 2×0200

Here’s how to read chord diagrams and other chord notation like the one above.

A horse with no name – strumming pattern:

The song has two easy to follow strumming patterns:

Em = ↓↓↑↓↓↑

D6-9/F# = ↓↑↓↑↓↑↓↑

Watch the video guitar lesson below to learn the entire song step by step. 

Enjoy!

Please share your feedback in the comments below or on Youtube. I read and reply to everyone of them. I’d love to hear from you! 

It’s a simplified and easy version, using open chords which is perfect for beginners and people who like things easy :)

The sound and technique is pretty much the same. You’ll learn how to pluck several strings simultaneously while playing chords with the other hand. It’s a really nice guitar tune to practice, play and sing along to.

The song is split up in two parts (part I and II) to keep the whole thing clear and understandable. Both parts are in the video. Again everything is explained slowly and in close up.

Enjoy!

Tips:
– First practice the chords thoroughly
– Memorize the chords and the chord progression
– Then practice the plucking technique
– Start slowly, don’t rush
– Make sure your chords sound clean and clear
– Practice a few moments throughout the day
– Practice daily

Have a beautiful day! :)

Please share your comments below. I appreciate it.

I hope you enjoyed Basic Strumming Patterns for Beginners Part I from last week. If you got those strumming patterns down and you’re ready for Part II then grab your guitar out of the stand and let’s get your skills to the next level.

Today I will show you another five important strumming patterns in 4/4, 3/4 and 2/4 time. Mastering the patterns of Part I & II will get you by playing most common pop, country and rock songs. These are the fundamentals for guitar strumming.
 
Enjoy!

Tips:
– Take your time to practice each pattern thoroughly
– Practice the patterns with the chord progression
– First practice slow and then gradually build up speed
– Listen to your favorite songs and figure out the appropriate strumming pattern.
– Practice the patterns daily!

“Knowledge is a treasure, but practice is the key to it.” ~ Lao Tzu