Truefire Marko Karhu's Melodic Blues Soloing Guidebook

Singer, songwriter, bandleader, and blues guitar virtuoso, Matt Schofield “continues to push the frontiers and reshape the boundaries of the British Blues tradition.” Recognized three years in a row as British Blues Awards Guitarist of the Year, inducted into the British Blues Hall of Fame, and cited as one of only two living British artists to achieve the maximum four-star rating by the Penguin Book of Blues Recordings - Matt’s impact as one of the most distinctive guitarists of his generation is unquestionable.

We’re thrilled to welcome Matt to the family with his first TrueFire course, Blues Speak! You will likewise be thrilled when you grab your guitar and play your way through Matt’s extraordinarily illuminating electric blues guitar learning experience.

”Playing the blues is the ultimate form of expression for myself… and the guitar is the perfect vehicle for that expression. I use the term “blues speak” to describe how we communicate through the instrument to articulate our feelings, emotions, and tell our stories.

In this course, I’m excited to share the core principles of my own playing and hope this will inspire your own musicality – whatever level player you happen to be. I hope you’ll find the material liberating so you can speak the blues more freely yourself.”

Matt organized the course into two sections. In the first section, Matt presents a series of 12 ear-opening techniques and concepts with lesson segments for each on the concept, approach, performance demos, and playalongs:

Rhythm as a Springboard, Simple, Not Easy!, Death by Slow Blues Workout, Playing Across the Neck, How to Approach Blues Changes, More Outside Changes, Integrating Your Influences, Integrating Your Influences, Playful Phrasing, More Advanced Blues Harmony, Tone and Tone Production, and The Gear & The Hands.

”In the first section of the course, we're going to be looking at the most important concepts that form the core of how I approach playing blues guitar, and music as a whole. While there may be certain technical elements to master, the focus here is on my overall approach and philosophy to blues guitar playing, as well as providing musical foundations that will serve you well. Regardless of your current vocabulary or level of proficiency, I hope working through this course will help you speak the language of the blues more freely, and better than ever!”

In the second section, Matt will perform and break down 7 soloing performance studies over a variety of blues feels and different keys to illustrate how he approaches ‘speaking’ the blues. ”We’ll play slow blues, shuffles, west coast swing, rhumba feel, and even a New Orleans second line groove.”

Matt performs the solos over backing tracks and then breaks them down emphasizing the concepts and techniques being applied.

West Side 12/8 Blues
”I love playing this over this 12/8 groove in G. It's somewhere between a shuffle and slow blues, and give you plenty of space to work in. You can really build the solo, with dynamics and pacing. Let's play through a couple of choruses and then I'll break down what I did for you.”

Bigly Rhumba
”This is a B minor rhumba type groove, with a G7 change. You can choose to stay with the Bm blues scale over that G7 or have a go at bringing out more of the G7 flavor. Here's a couple of choruses, and then I'll talk about what I did.”

Funky Schtuff
”Let's get funky with a James Brown type of groove in the key of D! Aside from soloing on it, I find it as much fun just to groove along with rhythm parts on tracks like this. I'll give it a couple of passes and then we'll talk about what happened.”

Shuffleupagus
”A cool mid-tempo shuffle in A. This is a favorite feel of mine to play over. There's pretty much limitless ways to approach this classic blues. I'll give it go, and then we'll break it down.”

Slow Blues
”My very favorite thing to play, a slow blues, in the key of C. You really have the time and space to express yourself freely on the instrument. It feels great to do that. Let's close our eyes and really speak some blues on this one!”

Tippin' Swing
”This is quite an up-tempo swinging shuffle in Bb. The real secret to playing over these faster swing tempos is staying relaxed. Let's have a go at playing through a couple choruses and then I'll break down what I did.”

The New Orleans One
”I love New Orleans and the music that comes from there! It's really a beautiful combination of jazz, blues, funk, and all the great American music forms. Here's what you might call a "second line" groove to get stuck into, in the key of A. You can have a lot of fun playing with your phrasing and time over such a rhythmic groove. Check out what I come up with, and then we'll break it down.”

Matt will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for the soloing performance studies and key demonstrations. Plus, Matt includes all of the backing tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let’s speak some blues with Matt Schofield!