Firstly, I have to say that I actually got this video years ago from My Music Masterclass. Although I did watch it then (and learned from it), I recently rewatched this video and realize now that it is a literal goldmine of great musical ideas. You know that saying, “when the student is ready the teacher appears”? Well that’s how I feel now, except that the teacher is in the form of an old video that I haven’t watched in years.
In this video, Scott Henderson teaches his approach to improvising on the blues. In the first half, he explains each of his scale choices for a jazz blues. This is interesting as he shows HIS specific choices and then proceeds to improvise using the sounds that he choose.
In the second half, he goes into a regular blues and shows how he takes the scales in the first half to take the blues more outside. So much of what Scott shares is in the details of the nuances of what notes sounds the best to express the harmony. One important concept he demonstrates is how to use jazzy sounds in a subtle way to make the solo more interesting but not sound like jazz.
The best part are his demonstrations of these concepts. It’s one thing to intellectually understand something but to really hear a master play these ideas makes it easier to digest.
All in all, this is a great video that I would strongly recommend to any guitar player who would like to get outside their typical blues sounds. Scott does a great job in this video and it is certainly one of the best ones I’ve seen teaching how to do this well. I might also review the second part of this video, but we’ll see if I manage to find time for that. If/when I do, I’ll link the video in this post too.
Pros: Great teaching, wonderful examples from a master guitarist and educator.
Cons: There are no transcriptions of the lines he plays in the video. That would have been cool! However there is a more recent book from Guitar Vivo that adapts this video into a book form which might be the answer to this.
TLDR: If you wanna play blues, but get a bit more outside sounding ideas, this video might be for you!
Get it here: https://www.mymusicmasterclass.com/premiumvideos/scott-henderson-blues-guitar-lesson-1/
[Submissions for Review Consideration]
- Are you an author who wrote a jazz, guitar or music book?
- Have you created a DVD or an online video course or subscription based website?
- Would you like me to review your book/course?
Please send me a message at azsamad3 at gmail.com with:
For courses: a link to the course/video/product + access info etc.
For books: a link to the book (Dropbox) or PDF attachment (if it’s small) for review consideration.
Depending on whether I dig the book/course, I’ll let you know if I do plan to review it!
I cannot guarantee a review for every submission & if I’m not too into it, I may opt not to review it. I mean, it’s better to get a good review that for me to write a bad review just because it’s not a match for the kind of stuff I dig right? :p
NOTE: All reviews reflect my honest personal opinion so be aware that I will point out both cool Pros and Cons that I see in the work. You dig?