Fingerstyle Blues Guitar: Book 1: An In-Depth Study of the 12-Bar Blues in the Key of E Major Paperback – September 30, 2025

Imagine ripping a blues solo on stage with your band – the drummer and bassist providing a comfortable soundscape on which your tasty guitar lines can float. Now imagine that you’re alone on your front porch with only an acoustic guitar – wouldn’t you like to jam on the blues all by yourself? Well, ladies and gentlemen, you CAN! There is a long tradition of fingerstyle blues harkening back to the early 20th century with players like Robert Johnson. Although much fingerstyle blues music is mixed with vocals, solo instrumental tunes can be so much fun!The first priority of this book is to quickly get you playing a solo instrumental 12-bar blues, and then to build on it until you can freely improvise or “jam.” You should be up and running by the end of the third chapter, and each following chapter will add icing on the cake.I have organized the book so that the concepts and exercises progress logically, thoroughly, and with a smooth difficulty progression. I take care to explain how to immediately apply each concept to your playing. The book is suitable for players of all skill levels. Beginner players who work through the first few chapters will be able to improvise a satisfying fingerstyle blues solo. Intermediate and advanced players will quickly learn to apply the skills they already have, and they will learn inspiring new concepts that give them the freedom to put on a convincing performance (whether on the front porch or the stage).Throughout the book, you will work to gain freedom within the structure of the 12-bar blues. You will:Learn to maintain the 12-bar form (the structure),Build the technical facility so that your fingers can play the notes that you want to play, andAcquire the knowledge of what notes you could or should play.*****We will focus on playing the blues over a monotonic bassline. This approach provides maximum melodic freedom with minimal effort. I think that you should eventually explore “Travis style” or alternating basslines in your blues playing (see Chapter 16 of Book 2), but not before spending some serious time with monotonic basslines.So, I’m not here to teach you every authentic Robert Johnson lick and every subgenre of fingerstyle blues. You won’t learn and memorize a bunch of new tunes. However, I will clearly lay out how to create a solo fingerstyle guitar performance in which you improvise over the 12-bar blues structure. You will master ONE platform through which you can channel endless creativity.Book 1 presents the foundational material for playing solid fingerstyle blues. Book 2 digs deeper into higher level (technically and theoretically difficult) concepts that will elevate your playing to new levels.Highlights from the Index:Chapter 1: The 12-Bar Form1A) Be the Bass PlayerChapter 2: Adding Melody Above the Bass LineChapter 3: Eighth Notes and SyncopationChapter 4: Stylistic Considerations4A) Bends4B) Slides4C) Hammer-Ons and Pull-Offs4D) Vibrato4E) All New Stylistic TechniquesChapter 5: Bassline EnhancementsChapter 6: Incorporate Chord VoicingsChapter 7: Mix and Match Melody and Rhythm SectionAppendix A: Essential General Music TheoryAppendix B: Music Theory Specific to Fingerstyle Blues Read more