Acoustic Blues

Hi Anders or who ever can help me.

I am 55 and have been learning guitar for a couple of years. I have just started your Blues Level 1. I only have an acoustic guitar and you are teaching with an electric guitar which has very different sound quality and playability. I am trying my best to keep up. Do you have any suggestions for me.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by: sachin_karne

Hi Anders or who ever can help me.

I am 55 and have been learning guitar for a couple of years. I have just started your Blues Level 1. I only have an acoustic guitar and you are teaching with an electric guitar which has very different sound quality and playability. I am trying my best to keep up. Do you have any suggestions for me.

Thanks.

Hey Sachin,

I think you'd run into a lot of trouble trying to do everything that is taught on electric in the Blues courses if you only have an acoustic. There's a lot of electric bending and upper fret positions / lead stuff that could maybe be worked around somehow, but you're better off picking up a cheap electric guitar. It's much more oriented towards lead playing.

BUT we do have a 2-level Acoustic Guitar Course as well, with a ton of great stuff in it, focused on just acoustic.

-Carl.

Thank you Carl for this information. I love the percussive sound of acoustic Blues. I know there will be lot of hard work and don't know when I will be able to buy an electric guitar.

I will check out the lessons you have suggested for me.

Hey Carl

Thank you for your suggestion. I am doing Acoustic Guitar lessons by Anders and I am enjoying it.

But my main focus is acoustic Blues and once I learnt the technique of acoustic guitar at the course, I would love to pursue the acoustic Blues.

Thank you once again.

I'm with you. I love the 1930s Mississippi Delta blues sound on an acoustic. I've been working most of the lessons here on a variety of guitars including acoustic. There are a few tricks like lowering string gauge or downtuning that can make full bends easier on acoustic but it's always going to be a challenge.

Personally I make alterations to some of Anders' licks based on the guitar I'm using. Instead of a 1.5 bend I'll slide up or choose an alternate tone voicing. I find this gives more of an authentic acoustic blues sound anyway as you don't hear crazy bends or scorching hammer-ons, etc much in this particular genre.

The other advantage is this helps me unchain myself from only playing the licks rigidly as he wrote them which is giving me a better understanding of the overall construction and the ability to improvise or apply my own style to his music. I've appreciated how Anders encourages us to improvise and find our own sounds.

Hope this helps.

Chris

Thank you Chris for your inputs.

I'll keep in mind your suggestions about lowering string gauges and using alternate voicing while playing acoustic Blues.

At the moment I am enjoying thoroughly Anders's acoustic guitar lessons and hoping to improve my skill levels.

Thanks again for your advice.