The Good Ol' Familiar Pattern

Questions & Answers

4 days ago

Hi, I don't want to be rude in any way, because Anders is great, but I'm finding difficult to follow these last lessons. The general advice seems to be trying to make some music with the notes of the Am blues scale, but I can't see the value of these lessons. To me they seem to be a collection of licks that I could learn without really understanding them fully. For instance, I tried to learn the licks of the "The Most Importart Notes" (last lesson); I managed to play the first 16 bars quite accurately, but they did not give me anything except for some dexterity, and eventually I decided to quit learning the remaining bars. And now I feel the same could happen with this lesson and the next ones. How should I approach these lessons where Anders show some lead playing? Thanks a lot

Mike Olekshy 3 days ago

Hey there - thanks so much for your question! This is a common thing for almost everyone learning to improvise. It can definitely feel like you’re just training your fingers to move without your brain actually "doing" anything. Think of these licks as the "vocabulary" of the blues. If you’re learning a new language, you don't start by memorizing grammar rules; you start by learning common phrases. The licks that Anders plays are those phrases. The goal isn't to be a tape recorder; it’s to build a "library" of sounds in your fingers. Once those moves become automatic, it frees up your brain to focus on the creative side—deciding which phrases to use and when to use them. A great way to approach these lessons is to stop trying to play the whole lick perfectly. Instead, pick out one lick that you like. Ask yourself: "Why does this sound good?" Then, mess around with the timing or the notes of it. Maybe change just the last note - or the last 2! That is where the real learning happens—it's where you start turning "licks" into your own musical choices. Challenge yourself to turn one of Anders' licks into 5 different ones! This is how you sharpen your instinct for improvisation. Hope this helps!!

10 months ago

It would be really helpful if you had tabs as part of the video to match the playing as well.

Mike Olekshy 10 months ago

Hello - thanks so much for your feedback! There are a handful of GuitarTricks tutorials that put the tab on the video, but unfortunately this tutorial is not one of them. I'll forward your request to admin to see if it would be feasible to start adding them to these videos. Thank you!