Pick up an instrument
Two courses, guitar and harmonica, built the same way: short lessons that take you from holding the instrument for the first time to bending a note, finding the shuffle, and playing a small blues phrase that's genuinely yours. No music-school jargon, no promise you'll master anything by tonight.
Not sure which one? Guitar if you want chords and a shuffle under your hands. Harmonica if you'd rather carry your whole instrument in a pocket. Either way, we start with one shared lesson on what actually makes a blues a blues.
Guitar
Chords, the 12-bar, shuffle, slide, bending — up to your first blues phrase.
Harmonica
Hold, single notes, cross harp, bending, tone — up to your first blues phrase.
Playing guitar is like telling the truth.
B.B. King
Play what you feel, not what you think you're supposed to.
My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not.
Muddy Waters
Simple isn't the same as easy. Start there anyway.
- Count 12 bars before you chase chord shapes.
- You don't need to wait for "the right mood." Just sit down.
- Let the last note ring. That's where the blues lives.