Free Lesson Friday

Here are eight short lessons to help you learn how to bend notes like Albert King & Stevie Ray Vaughan. These lessons are from the 1-Minute Blues “Shorts” series. If you’re serious about learning to play like Stevie Ray Vaughan or Albert King, check out the related courses below.

I picked up this lick from a Smokin’ Joe Kubek song, and it reminded me of something Jimi Hendrix played over the V chord in Red House. In this lesson I’ll show you where this pattern comes from and how to use it over the V and the IV chord during the last 4 bars of a 12-bar blues solo.

Here’s how to play that signature ascending lick from SRV’s song “Tell Me” off of his debut album “Texas Flood”. I taught this lick incorrectly a few years ago, and it’s actually simpler than I thought.

Michael Palmisano turned me on to a video of Prince playing his song “Cream” on acoustic guitar, and there’s an awesome blues lick right in the middle that jumped out at me as soon as he played it. The Original Video Michael Palmisano Prince Reaction Video Guitargate.com

Despite my best efforts to copy everything Stevie did, I somehow missed his downward vibrato technique. Later, when I noticed something was different, I just assumed there was no difference in sound between pulling and pushing the string. But in this lesson I’ll show you a few things about his downward vibrato technique that actually do make it sound different, and as a result, more like him.