Larry plays a Gibson Super 400 in the lesson not the classical guitar you see him playing on the cover. He says that it has a nice sound for the blues and it does but its quite an acoustic feel even though he has it amplified. He isn't using a tube screamer or anything and keeps it pretty pure. I wish I owned a Super 400!
Larry is hardly what you call a traditionalist when it comes to the blues. You can see his finger style technique and his pick technique and he uses both. Mr. Coryell is a professional guitar player and can play just about any style.
In this lesson you are shown a blues that is far more up town and approaching jazz with T-Bone Walker and Wes Montgomery and even Miles Davis applications. This is for a guitar player that wants to transition from the basic triads and dominant 7ths to the more altered chords that a more orchestral rhythmic player has learned but keep that bluesy scale thing and I iv V changes. So once again this isn't for the neophyte aspirant that doesn't know what I iv V7 is much less ii V I. On the other hand there isn't a whole lot of technique here in the sense of playing fast like Eric Clapton or SRV. So its not going to do you any harm to watch, copy and soak up his experience. There are some scales like E flat jazz minor for which you are given a diagram.
We start with a 12 bar blues in the key of A and because T-Bone's style is one which it behooves us to learn, to know and to love, we start with yee ole inner 9th chord - which is a shape used often enough for you to learn it also as a diminished moveable shape but on a higher string set.
Did I mention there was a handy pamphlet with this one? Well about this time you will be reaching for that sukka and within on the very first page you are gonna see the A9th chord chart! Hello and thank you! But its tricky as even though it targets or implies the 5th position A note on the low E string its empty and asking for direction in the form of a bass line. Spoiler alert!
There is also a pentatonic scale chart in standard notation, and bummer dude, no tab. And additionally a scale interval chart which is fairly useless if you have never heard of these concepts before, IMHO.
Anyway if you don't have the pamphlet he walks you through the chord fingering but its difficult to make out due to poor camera angle and later he walks you through the pentatonic scale on the fret board too from the middle of the fret board in the key of A for two or three octaves which is good and if its your first time thinking about the guitar neck its helpful and no doubt confusing.
Each note, depending on how many frets your guitar has, can be played in 5+ spots or octave centers and you choose which directions ascending or descending you will take the melody.
He gets into the blues scale and bends using expression as musical vibrato minimal speak which is what you are paying for. Larry emulates T-Bones style in an articulate way from a jazz perspective and with good time. Many profess to know T-Bone but I play along with his album Stormy Monday Blues (the essential collection) and he had a long career too! Larry Coryell knows how to count time I only wish he taught us that here!
Next we change our pick up position to the middle or both pickups and move on to the 3 Kings: Freddie, Albert and B.B is first with a shuffle in C7th. He whips up a cob salad of licks and chops from each and even passes over some Chet Atkins licks he figures Chet copped from Freddie in one of several examples shown us. If my father played guitar he would play like Chet.
Soon thereafter he ups the tempo to straight eights staying in the same position C. The Larry points out that the minor tonality enables a baroque counter point from a Lucille lick with three different guitar parts in 3 different registers to stay out of each others way. Words from the mouth of the prophet. The only way is to practice your scales and guitar daily. Then he says it too: "its all blues".
Next we go to jazzier Wes Montgomery or the 'next level of the blues'! The blues with a tuxedo !
The Wes Montgomery example chosen is called the D natural blues and it consists of cadences. 'Cadences are the last two bars of the 12 bar before you return to the the TONIC or root that the song is in and something that every plank spanker should practice. Cadences = the Turnaround?
At this point chaps 34:43 its starting to get jazzier and I will be back. OK I watched the rest and its jazz - mellow and blues based. If that's what you want, well, there far worse places to be.
You will see and hear octaves in action ala Wes Montgomery but that's it ... you will want more especially if you haven't practiced octaves. Octaves are the premiere way to orient yourself to the necks peculiarities There are other smarter places to start learning jazz and blues.
Love you Larry but this is for guitarists looking putting spin on their already existing or developing serve. This lessons not the perfect beginners lesson for the real blues. In my opinion, there are a few tied for 1st and 2nd place. Larry doesn't profess it to be either which means you may learn something new! I respect Larry's playing in a big way and once again he is like the hip professor whose course you want to take.
Larry doesn't play Chicago Blues. I bet he cant. Another guitar person who can play the blues but seems to have forgotten how is Robben Ford and his Blues Rhythm Lesson which jazz rhythm not blues. If you seriously want to learn jazzy guitar rhythm I recommend at least 2 such lessons Mathew Brandt's Jump Blues & Mike Dowling's Western Swing. Both kick butt! But Jody Fisher has the best Jazz method books I, II, III. His digital presence is nothing to write home about but his books shine brilliantly. Start at the beginning & you get it all. If you want to learn Chicago style blues or country blues just look at the many choices you have in the main menu.
“I believe in singing. I believe in singing together.” ― Brian Eno