Blues Guitar for Acoustic Players

[LNW]

I've been looking at getting the "Complete Guide to Playing Blues Guitar" books from Joseph Alexander. I'm not so much interested at this time in learning fingerstyle blues, but moreso blues by playing with a standard flat pick on the acoustic.

My question is: is this sort of book/subject material much better suited for an electric player, or will the acoustic still be fine and mostly doable for this sort of endeavor? [Maybe just not as good with the soloing, for example?]

I've just always been an acoustic-guitar person, but I want to have realistic expectations and learn from those with more experience in these matters if maybe the acoustic just won't be as suited to the track I'm thinking of going on with this book about blues guitar. Thanks!

[reeve21]

LNW,

Not really responsive to your question, but for flatpicking acoustic blues you may want to check out a guy named Griff Hamlin. He is all blues, mostly electric, so he doesn't get much play on the AGF, but I think he is a very good teacher (video or DVD). He has a course called Acoustic Blues Unlimited that you might want to check out.

Another guy who has a number of flatpicked blues lessons on acoustic as well as electric is Brian Sherrill-- Activemelody.com.

He has both free and upgraded paid subscription versions of all of his lessons.

While I'm more of a book/CD learner, these guys have very high production values on their videos and they go pretty slowly. I recommend checking them out.

Good luck!

[KDepew]

The active melody site is really good for acoustic blues. I love the acoustic guitar too and you can do a lot of cool stuff in the blues arena on the acoustic. That is where it all started after all......

[Guitar Slim II]

I presume a book calling itself a "Complete Guide" to blues guitar would address acoustic as well as electric. But if you're specifically interested in acoustic blues, why not find a book explicitly devoted to acoustic blues guitar?

A couple comments about "Complete Guides" and method books in general. Methods, exercises and studies should be supplemental to your repertoire (the tunes you're actually playing.) To get the most out of these books, they should relate to real music you're playing. Either that or you need to seek out tunes and licks that relate to what you're doing. The best books of this kind make lots of references to real-world artists and standard tunes. Make sure you listen to and study those artists, and actually learn the licks. And learn to play the whole song.

Finally, keep in mind that most comprehensive books of this kind are not necessarily intended for self-teaching. Most are intended as resources for teachers to use with their students -- teachers who can recommend tunes and listening examples, etc. That's not to say that an experienced player exploring new areas can't get a lot out of this kind of book. But for beginners and the inexperienced -- you'll get a lot more out the books if worked on with a competent teacher.

[Clallam]

The people who wrote the Flatpicking Essentials books have a book called "Flatpicking the Blues". I have not used it since I don't play blues but I have eight of their other books and find them useful. I think that they are designed for self-study since they include the things that an instructor would explain or demonstrate. That makes the text portions pretty long. I really like that since I'm working alone and I like to understand why I'm being asked to do something. Other people will find them too long-winded. YMMV.

As Guitar Slim suggested, the books recommend songs and artists I wouldn't have found on my own and I have certainly learned from the old recordings I've found.

They are at www.flatpick.com.