Basic Blues Chords
These chords are the basic power chords that you will use for the blues in E. Usually, you should use your second finger to play the black notes on the grid for E5 and A5, but in this case, I suggest that you use your first finger, so that you'll be able to alternate between your first and third finger for the following exercises.
E Blues Chord Chart
Exercise #1
This first exercise is a basic blues riff played on the measures of E in the blues form above. The pattern starts with a power chord that you play with your first finger on the second fret and alternate with your third finger every second and fourth beat.
E Blues Rhythm #1
Exercise #2
This second exercise is the same pattern, but starting on the fifth string (A string) for all the measures during which you will play an A. You alternate between your first finger and your third finger.
A Blues Rhythm #1
Exercise #3
This third exercise is simply a power chord of B on the A string that you usually play for only one measure during a blues form, but in this case it's just for practice, so you'll be playing two measures.
B Blues Rhythm #1
Blues Form using Exercise #1, 2, 3
Now that you know what to play for every measure, you can try to play every measure of E with the pattern from E Blues Rhythm #1, every measure of A should be played with the pattern from A Blues Rhythm #1 and every measure of B with the B Blues Rhythm #1. You can try it several times to get good at it. If the recording is too fast, practice it slower than the song, then try it again later with the audio file.
E Blues Form
Blues Rhythm Variations
Exercise #4
This exercise is a variation of the E Blues Rhythm #1. You simply will add your 4th finger on the 5th fret on every third beat. If you don't have enough dexterity to reach with your pinky, you can also slide to the 5th fret with you third finger.
E Blues Rhythm #2
Exercise #5
This exercise is a variation of the A blues #1. Just like with the exercise #4, you simply have to add your pinky finger on the 5th fret on every third beat.
A Blues Rhythm #2
Exercise #6
This variation of B Blues Rhythm #1 is not easy, it requires a lot of flexibility. You will need to play your power chord of B with your first and second finger, so that you can manage to stretch to the 6th fret with your pinky finger.
B Blues Rhythm #2
Exercise #7
This exercise is a variation of E Blues Rhythm #2. You simply play the original exercise, but you palm mute every note. To palm mute, you simply need to put the palm of your picking hand on the bridge of your guitar to mute the sound of it. You have to be aware that if your hand touches the strings too much, you won't get any sound and if your hand is too far on the bridge, then you won't get any muffling of the sound that you're looking for.
E Blues Rhythm #2 Palm Muting
Blues form using Exercise #4, 5, 6, 7
Now that you have practiced all the variations of the blues rhythms, you can try to put them all together in one form of blues just like in the E Blues Form #1 exercise. If the audio file is too fast for you, then practice without it until you can build up the speed to play with the song. All the blues forms are played swing.
Full Chords Blues
E Blues Chord Chart #2
Above are the full chords of E, A and a bigger version of our original B power chord. These chords are used to replace the guitar rhythms that we were using for the previous exercises. In this blues form, we use full chords strumming down only on the beats as shown on the examples below.
E Blues Chord Form #1
E Blues Chord Form #1A
E Blues Chord Form #1B
Below are the chords for the E Blues Chord Form #2. It's the same thing as with E Blues Chord Form #1, but this time you will play every eight note with a down, then up stroke.
E Blues Chord Form #2
E Blues Chord Form #2A
E Blues Chord Form #2B
Finally here is the last exercise of this lesson. It is a bit harder than the other ones. You have to play the same chord progression as the E Blues Chord Form #2, but you only play the upbeats and the first beat of every measure.
E Blues Chord Form #3
E Blues Chord Form #3A
E Blues Chord Form #3B
To finish this lesson, here are 2 forms of a blues in E without the guitar, so that you can practice the different variations of the blues that you learned in this lesson.
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