What next after BBG?

DavidHowell

Dave H - Blues Padawan
As background, I am a first time poster and very much a guitar noob. I picked up the guitar for the first time at age 50 about a year ago.

I am coming towards the end of BBG (though bar chords will likely take a month or two more!) and am wondering if I should go onto BGU or Strumming and Rhythm Mastery? I would not say I have mastered BBG but I can have a reasonable go at most of the songs.

However, I struggle with counting while playing other than at a very slow tempo. My plan had been BGU but based on my poor counting I thought maybe I should go for the SRM course.

Any advice.
 

jmin

Student Of The Blues
Hi David! Congrats on completing BBG! You’re ahead of the game if you’re focusing on “timing.” I think that’s the one thing that Griff emphasizes above everything else. I’ve done BGU (1.0), but not S&RM. It sounds like a really good choice for you to continue working on your timing before jumping into BGU. It never hurts to improve timing...you can count on it! ;)
 

Silicon Valley Tom

It makes me happpy to play The Blues!
Question? What do you want to do with your guitar? What is your goal? Griff's courses are designed for Blues - electric, acoustic, and rock.

We have three basic things a guitar can be used for:

1. Bass
2. Rhythm
3. Lead (solo)


Timing is important to all three. In fact, with a good bass guitarist, you do not need a drummer (I duck in case there are any drummers in the house).

BBG is a good beginners course, and S&RM is a great next step. It does not hurt to go back over courses that you have completed, to see how well you have learned your lessons.

There are between 30 and 50 different Blues Rhythms that you can play. You do not have to learn them all. In fact as for myself, I only play what I like! ;) It is important to be able to recognize the different Blues Forms.

Soloing Without Scales – The 4 Note Solo is a good course to approach soloing before going into BGU 2.0

Keep asking questions, and you will learn a lot.

Tom
 

HotLks

Blues - it's in me and it's got to come out.
Strumming and Rhythm Mastery would be a good choice. Rhythm is squarely placed in the "timing department". No timing, no rhythm. Success in this course should put you on a sound footing with timing going forward.

Congratulations on completing BBG! Is a nice course with great material. Like Tom says, playing the material that you have completed is very helpful. You'll surprise yourself with it and end up having a lot of fun as you put the finishing touches on the parts you struggled with. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I can't remember what the problems were when I finally nail lessons that gave me trouble. It's very encouraging!

See you down the road! :thumbup:
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Hey look!!!

You already got 3 "Likes" on your very first post.:whistle:

Lots of friendly folks here who are always wiling to help.:)
 

DavidHowell

Dave H - Blues Padawan
Thanks for all the advice! I think I agree with it all and will go for S&RM next. Though I still need to do a bit more work on bar chords before I make that move.

To answer Tom’s question on what I want to play; the real answer is I don’t know. I bought the guitar thinking the answer would be classic rock but the material I seem to find most enjoyable is the blues and that is actually changing my listening habits to be more blues based also. I recently bought the Rolling Stones Blue and Lonesome and would really recommend it for anyone looking to see a great rock band playing proper blues.

I do like going back over the material I have learned already and it does make me feel like I am making progress. My real problem with that is that when I hit an arpeggiated B7 chord I end up switching songs! There seems to be one of these about 2/3 of the way through most of my favourites (Little Mary’s Lamb, Hideaway, and Full Out Blues) and I tend to enter the arpeggio from one of these and exit from the other

Thanks again for the advice!
 

Terry B

Humble student of the blues
Further to the good advice you've already received I'll add my vote for S&RM, and in fact start on it right away. You might be surprised to find bar chords not as hard after working on this for a while. :sneaky: And this is the one course Griff has said he wishes everyone would take.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
I really depends on where you are and what you want to focus on.
I have both and SRM & BGU2.
If you aren't already comfortable strumming songs, and you want to start playing & singing songs, then SRM.
If you want to have broader approach, BGU2.
BGU2 has rhythm, timing and lead elements in it, but the focus is mainly on lead soloing.
I'd recommend both,if you can afford it, so that you can switch between them and get the best of both worlds. (Especially if Griff gets a sale going)
 

mountain man

Still got the Blues!
What great timing! Griffs daily email today just talked about this very concept........ And he was advertising S&RM as a good next step. I've done it and based on my recent playing, I need to refresh........ again.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues
Another option is to start on SRM and phase on some BGU lessons as you go through it. That will give you some variety and work a bit of soloing into your playing, although the first few BGU lessons are mostly rhythm oriented.
 

ChuckNellis

Blues Newbie
Speaking of what's next... Along with S&RM, would someone please kindly opine on the difference between going with BGU2.0 versus the Acoustic BGU? Are they really equal? I appreciate your insights. Thanks!
 

TwiddleJockey

If she asks - I found it in a garage sale.....
Probably equal in the level of skill developed, but ABGU is specifically designed for that unaccompanied “playing on the porch” acoustic style, using that thumb bass and all that, rather than splitting out rhythm and lead guitar for playing with others in a band or jam as per BGU.

My own opinion - and nobody should necessarily take my opinion as based on any kind of proven skill nor experience - is that ABGU gives you a much broader skill set, sense of timing et al that makes you a much more rounded player in terms of the foundations of playing in either scenario, and the skills are transferable to electric - but that’s not necessarily true the other way around.

If fact I’d be Interested in what others think on this.
 

PapaBear

Guit Fiddlier
Probably equal in the level of skill developed, but ABGU is specifically designed for that unaccompanied “playing on the porch” acoustic style, using that thumb bass and all that, rather than splitting out rhythm and lead guitar for playing with others in a band or jam as per BGU.

My own opinion - and nobody should necessarily take my opinion as based on any kind of proven skill nor experience - is that ABGU gives you a much broader skill set, sense of timing et al that makes you a much more rounded player in terms of the foundations of playing in either scenario, and the skills are transferable to electric - but that’s not necessarily true the other way around.

If fact I’d be Interested in what others think on this.

Good points there John11, I'd be inclined to agree.
 

GOTGI

Blues Newbie
Hi there,
Wasn't there some kind of "road map" with all courses and in which order you should learn them?
Tried different search options but couldn't find it. Anyone here with a link to the file?
Thanks.
 

Elio

Student Of The Blues

GOTGI

Blues Newbie
GOTGI.......the 2 links you posted above are excellent.

However, I started the following linked thread last May 2017 (subsequent to your 2 linked threads above) and this may change some of the ordering of courses.........http://bluesguitarunleashed.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-order-of-things.20264/

Somehow I missed that thread. So we have 3 links now that provide a guideline on how to proceed with the different courses that Griff offers. Might be useful for some of the users here.
 

david moon

Attempting the Blues
If you've only been playing a year, S&RM will be a great "foundation" course. As others have said,you could also delve into BGU, nothing says you can only work on one course at a time.
 
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