Texas Blues Alley - Mini-Courses - Complete Box-Set

Texas Blues Alley is a place where blues guitar players can learn, improve, and be inspired. Fine blues guitar lessons, gear videos, and blues backing tracks.

You'll get:

Slow Blues Rhythms - Volume 1

If you think it’s boring, you’re probably doing it wrong.

Soloing over slow blues is fun, and easy to get excited about. Slow Blues rhythm, on the other hand, can be boring - but only if you think it’s easy. The truth is, playing good rhythm for slow blues isn’t easy. It’s so easy to disrupt the song, play too loudly, play too much, leave too much space, or fill too much space.

In this course, late-beginner and early-intermediate players can learn 5 distinct slow blues rhythm patterns. The notes are simple, but playing the rhythm correctly requires discipline and a good ear.

Rock & Roll Quick Fix #1

You know that new sound you've been looking for? Well, listen to this!

My earliest memory of wanting to play guitar came from watching Marty McFly play Johnny B. Goode in the movie Back To The Future. That rock’n’roll sound struck a nerve with me, and it’s still one of my favorite styles of music.

This isn’t a traditional course. There’s no teaching. Instead, I’ve taken an entire rock’n’roll performance, chopped it into pieces, and given it the same fancy editing as my full courses. Perfect for the self-learner, this course moves fast, and is incredibly efficient.

The Wind Cries Mary Song Guide

Learn The Sound And Feel Of This Classic Hendrix Tune

You hear Jimi’s signature sound right from the opening chords of this song. Although it isn’t among his most technically difficult performances, it is challenging for different reasons. There’s a certain “feel” to the rhythm and soloing that requires more polish than power.

That’s what this course is all about. I’ll show you how to capture that feel. You’ll take a tour of the song’s structure and progressions, learn plenty of chord options, and I’ll also teach you the three key soloing elements he used to in The Wind Cries Mary.

Heavy Swings Blues Rhythms - Volume One

Add some weight to your Texas Blues rhythm chops

So Excited, Cold Shot and Change It from SRV, Born With A Broken Heart, Somehow, Somewhere, Someway by KWS… these songs all have a common thread. They have a heavy, guitar-driven rhythm with a swing beat.

That heavy swing rhythm feel is what you’ll learn in this course. I’ve created 5 rhythms in that style, each with a different sound. You’ll also learn some muting techniques necessary to play them cleanly.

Voodoo Child(Slight Return) Song Guide

The first step towards learning Voodoo Child (Slight Return)

When SRV recorded his cover of this song, he created a masterpiece. Learning the song note-for-note is…. well, frustrating. So, if you’re like me, you just play along and try not to get lost. But it just goes on, and on, and on….

How did he do that? How did Stevie take a song that’s mostly just one chord, and stretch it to 8 minutes without losing a bit of intensity? Well, that’s kind of why I made this course. We’re going to take apart the song and figure out what’s in there. Get ready for a tour of one of SRV’s best recordings.

Funk Blues Rhythm - Volume One

5 Ways To Funk Up Your Blues While You Get Down

Rhythm guitar skills are like muscles: you don’t realize how under-developed they are until you try to use them for something different. Well, this course is different.

If you’ve only ever studied swing, or straight ahead rockin’ blues rhythm, this course will befuddle your brain. Playing on the off-beats is not something most of us are born being able to do, but if you slow it down, you can start working those rhythm muscles with a little bit of funk.

The Thrill is Gone Song Guide

Minor Blues With A Sophisticated Twist

While B.B. King was known for his sweet mix of major and minor, one of his most famous songs had no mix at all. The Thrill Is Gone is a minor blues song, and one that you’ll probably end up playing with other people at some point in your life.

This course will prepare you for that day, helping you to understand the sound and feel of this classic song. You’ll understand where “that sound” comes from, and how to capture it in your rhythm playing and your soloing.

Bending Brushup

Improve Your Bending Technique In One Hour

Bending can make or break your playing. Good bending is captivating, bad bending is irritating. But bad bending can be fixed.

This Mini-Course will review bending basics, introduce some advanced topics, and challenge you to take your bending to the next level.

La Grange Song Guide

The first step towards learning La Grange.

If you had to pick a song to represent Texas Blues, you probably couldn’t pick just one. But the song La Grange should be on that list. From the first few notes, to the last lick, this song oozes that thick Texas boogie rhythm.

Capturing the feel of this song isn’t a walk in the park. That’s what this course is about - understanding the song, knowing how to capture that feel, and learning enough of its tricks to sound authentic. If you think you might want to learn the song La Grange some day, this is probably the best place to start.

Thanksgiving Ballad 2014

One last time…

The Thanksgiving Ballad was an annual tradition at StevieSnacks, and we’re doing it one more time for 2014 at Texas Blues Alley.

This year we’re adding a full soloing lesson, teaching the full performance recorded last year, as well as a great new breakdown video showing the performance from 3 angles simultaneously along with a box breakdown.
•75 minute chording and rhythm lesson
•Full soloing lesson
•Solo breakdown video
•Full solo tablature
•Backing track MP3 and GarageBand project

Texas Flood Album Box Breakdowns

Hear the album like you've never seen before

It’s one thing to learn how to play a lick. But learning to ìhearî exactly where that lick is played - that’s an entirely different thing.

Box Breakdown videos train your ears by showing you what shape or pattern is being used as you listen to the corresponding song. You’ll develop an association between what you hear and where that thing is played on the fretboard.

Simple Ballads Guitar Chords & Progressions

The best music you can make when it's just you and your guitar.

What can you play that sounds beautiful? What can you play that requires no accompaniment, uses just a few chords, and sounds great every time?

If you only learn blues guitar, you’ll be at a loss for notes when the situation requires something softer. In this Mini-Course I’ll teach you how to use 5 chord forms, 6 chords and 20+ progressions to make beautiful music that requires only you and your guitar.

My goal is to make you a more well-rounded player. The blues goes a long way, but where the blues can’t go, ballads can.

6 Influential Blues Rhythms

Don't Just Learn The Rhythm, Understand It.

Don’t be the guy at the blues jam who always has to solo because he doesn’t know any rhythm parts.

In this Mini-Course I teach you 6 of the most common, influential blues rhythms. In each lesson I show you the basic rhythm, some embellishments, and most importantly how to play them in several keys.

My goal is to help you be able to play each rhythm in any key but also understand what options are available to you as you navigate the 12-bar progression.

Texas Flood Song Guide

The first step towards learning Texas Flood.

So… you want to learn Texas Flood, but you’re not quite able to “just sit down and learn it”. Where should you start?

When I travel to a new place for the first time, I prepare by studying the map. I learn to visualize the city, to understand it from above, before I have to navigate it from the streets.

The Texas Flood Song Guide will help you do the same. To visualize Texas Flood, to understand it as a song, before you start trying to navigate through it note-by-note. If you want to learn to play Texas Flood, this is a great place to start.


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