Ask several people to define what makes a blues song a blues song and their answers are bound to vary — for some it’s the chord progressions, for others the instruments the musicians use or what they sing about, for still others a certain "feeling" to the music they can’t describe.

In this spirit, Year of the Blues proudly presents these "Blues Riff" lessons intended to help you find your own definition of the blues by learning to play them. Although the lessons are guitar-based, the concepts they present can be applied to any instrument, from banjos and violins to amplified harmonicas and electric pianos, all of which have been used to play the blues.

Year of the Blues wishes to thank our educational partners — Fender Players Club, Guitar Axis, Hal Leonard, and Riff Interactive — for generously providing these lessons.

Fender Players Club

These lessons are excerpted from A Guide to Blues/Rock Guitar Soloing, by David Grissom, published by Cherry Lane/Hal Leonard.

Each track is a lesson in MP3 format. The PDF file contains tablature and standard notation for these lessons. You will need the Adobe Acrobat reader to view the PDF file.

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Blues Scale in A

Blues Riff in A

12-bar blues solo