Better Groove, Better Blues

What if, on any song, you could trust your hands not to stumble, stay relaxed, and remember what comes next? What if you understood why you were playing the things you play, and could retain more of what you practice and learn?

I've been teaching my Fingerstyle Five method for the past five years, and have seen it work for every level of player. It addresses the whole picture – groove, repertoire, technique, improvisation. And it can help you learn complete songs, understand music better, and play better guitar.

Fingerstyle guitar has a lot of moving parts, so a big part of getting better involves identifying those various parts and isolating them so you can iron them out.  Isolate the bass to learn the form and the chord progression. Isolate the melody and you'll understand the phrasing of a tune. And isolate the right hand rhythms, and you'll finally get control over your thumb and fingers.

When you combine musical understanding of a tune with right hand control, you get a reliable groove. And with a reliable groove, you can make everything – even the simplest ideas – sound great.

I learned much of this the hard way, banging my head against a wall – or a metronome – trying to figure out how to improve my time, play more "in the pocket" and make sure my thumb and fingers were doing all the right things. Nothing is more frustrating than encountering problems in your own playing, and having no path for how to fix them. Especially something as vague as "groove," "good time" or "the pocket."

It was only when I figured out how to isolate my problems – to identify and then work on one aspect of my playing at a time – that I was finally able to sharpen my sense of time and gain control over my groove.

Granted, blues is a visceral, emotive and somewhat intuitive music, so all this talk about working on one thing at a time, examining each aspect of your playing, may sound a bit sterile or counterintuitive. Shouldn't we all just be able to feel it?

Maybe so, but if you really think about it, even the most legendary blues musicians served long apprenticeships, learning whatever they could, wherever they could, honing their skills and putting in their hours before finally becoming known. In short, while they might not have worked every morning with a Youtube playlist and a metronome app, the Howlin' Wolfs (wolves?) and B.B. Kings of this world practiced as much if not more as anyone else to be able to play the way they did.

Musical skills and awareness allow you to channel your feelings through your instrument. If you're willing to take the time, and to work in a thoughtful, incremental way, grooving and improvising are no less attainable than learning scales and chord shapes or memorizing a song from tab.