Blues Riffs

Learning Blues haphazardly can be very frustrating—a lick here, a lick there—so having a complete system that takes you by the hand from the basic progressions and tools to advanced blues soloing can save you months of dead-end trial and error. With this course, you'll learn the notes, chords, and form that make up the blues. You'll also build a strong repertoire of ready-to-use riffs (shown in both music and TAB) that can immediately be incorporated into your playing. You'll hear exactly what to play with each session's "Hearing the Blues" ear training exercises. Explore and demonstrate your new skills with a real band in a variety of musical settings using the Jam-Along CD and DVD.

J.T. Coldfire is a Texas bluesman, based in Austin. J.T. is a long haul player, logging in nine hours for a three show night without any repeats. He opens ‘Crazy Sun’ with some Delta blues channeled through “Pistol Lead”, walks “White Collar Street Life” uptown, keeping company with some slow cooked blues riffs, keeps “No Time For Sleepin’” wide awake with caffeinated rhythms and riffs so sharp they could cut through the strongest cup of joe and high steps “Hangin’ Tree” into the next life to find some peace. J.T. Coldfire struts and slides, rapid riffs and laid back licks with a lifetimes worth of blues textures jammed into his songs.

Cult figure, rock & roll legend and music writer, Cub Koda defined Jump Blues as "an up-tempo, jazz-tinged style of blues that first came to prominence in the mid- to late '40s. Usually featuring a vocalist in front of a large, horn-driven orchestra or medium sized combo with multiple horns, the style is earmarked by a driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, and honking tenor saxophone solos - all of those very elements a precursor to rock & roll. The lyrics are almost always celebratory in nature, full of braggadocio and swagger. Jump blues was the bridge between the older styles of blues - primarily those in a small band context - and the big band jazz sound of the 1940s."