This Texas style player is an absolute master of the pinch and bend technique. Listen to the track titled My Heads in Mississippi, from the 1994 album Recycler. Some masterful examples of pinch harmonics technique can be found within this piece.

Pinch Harmonics

I can’t think of a single technique that is harder to get down than pinch harmonics. Even after years of playing you will still mess up one every so often. The real problem with a fluffed pinch harmonic is that there is often no way to hide it, unlike a dropped note of a miss pick.

So how do we make our guitar screech like a tomcat on the prowl?

Almost every other guitar technique can be built up slowly. This is not the case with pinch harmonics.

You either get it right, or you do not get the required sound. So lets jump straight into the deep end with a little technical analysis of harmonics.

• Strings vibrate and create natural harmonics.
• If you pick an open string, the natural harmonics would sound on the 5th, 7th and 12th frets
• Play the open string then gently damped the 5th fret with your fingertip, congratulations you just played a natural harmonic

Now, if you were to fret the E string on the 3rd fret and play the string, the harmonic positions would move up the neck to the 8th, 10th and 15th fret. Are you with me so far?

You now know how to locate the position of those harmonics just waiting to be unleashed.

Next we move on to actually encouraging them, there are a lot of ways to accomplish this.

I do it with an up-pick, and pinch off the string with my index finger after the pick has played the string, think of it as dampening immediately after the pick, by using the finger as it follows the pick.

By performing this right had technique at the correct place on the neck for the current note you are fingering, you will be rewarded by one of the finest sounds known to mankind.

Practice Makes Perfect

The best way to learn to play pinch harmonics is by accident.

Learn the theory and then play around with it until you accidentally produce a pinch harmonic. Once you have done it a single time, it will fall in to place.

Then begins the long road to being able to produce punch harmonics flawlessly every time, something that is a lot more difficult than it sounds. Don’t give up, keep trying and you will eventually get the hang of it.

I love the blues, and consider it my primary style. One of the things I enjoy doing with students is giving them a list of listening material to introduce different techniques.

Hammer-ons and pull-offs are one of my favorites, as I get to recommend Albert Collins, a veritable master of this killer technique. If you want to learn to play blues guitar, I suggest you pick up some of his recordings, as nobody manages this technique better. The combination of his slightly over driven telecaster, and cranked up treble just add to the phenomenon.

Just What is a Hammer-On?

A simple definition would be a note played without picking, a left hand only technique that sees a sustained note being cut off and replaced with a new note, by hammering down another finger higher up the neck on the same string.

Sounds simple doesn’t it?

Well quite frankly it is, most people only need to be shown the technique once to get it down. As A quick tip, make sure you pick strongly on the preceding note, the hammer-on is going to slightly dampen the string as you perform it, so you need plenty of sustain.

Finger strength comes into play here, a good player with strong fingers can perform a hammer-on without even picking, just the force of the finger hitting the fret board will cause the string to vibrate.

How to Pull Off a Pull-off

A pull-off is the exact opposite of a hammer-on; the note will be changed by removing a finger from the fret board, whilst another finger is in place behind it further down the neck.

The cool thing about a well executed pull-off is that you do not necessarily need to pick the preceding note strongly.

By slightly bending the string with the finger that is being pulled-off, kind of pinging the string like an elastic band, you will be able to sustain or even increase the vibration in the string.

Hammer-on + Pull-off = Trill

By repeatedly hammering-on and pulling-off notes quickly, you will create what we call a trill, usually just a basic two note trill, but more advanced players can play a whole passage without once using their right hand.

These two techniques are a staple of the blues player’s bag of tricks and need to be mastered by anyone who wishes to learn to play blues guitar. The uses of these two techniques are quite endless, especially during improvisation, when the creative juices are flowing.

Next time you are listening to your favorite blues recordings, try and listen out for hammer-ons and pull-offs, you will be surprised at how many are played, did you really think that a guitar player actually picks every note?

Personally I play a huge amount of these, I’m a lazy picker, my right hand has never been as fast as I wished it was, so my left hand technique makes up for this shortcoming.

Over 50 delta blues, bottleneck blues , ragtime blues, and Texas blues guitar solos are packed into this amazing 2 CD set. Each song is written in both standard notation and guitar tab. This set is definitely recommended for anyone that loves playing blues guitar.

Amazon User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Excellent Blues Guitar Course

I haven’t played guitar for about ten years and I got this book as a re-introduction. It’s brilliant and I can’t put it down. I’m actually learning the pieces! This set is highly recommended, but it is not for a complete beginner.

5 Stars Huge collection of great blues guitar music

This is a great book for learning blues guitar style, which up until now was almost totally unknown to me . Most of the songs in this set are pre-war acoustic “country” (as opposed to “city”) blues. All of the songs are very cool and very playable if you have any experience playing blues guitar. Recommended.

5 Stars A Treasure Trove of Country Blues Guitar Styles

Stefan Grossman has been the world authority on finger style blues guitar for years and this book is the biggest compendium of his work as a blues guitar teacher..

He tabs out fifty-seven great blues songs  in a variety of styles and tunings. The sheer volume of songs in this book is enough to keep any student busy for a year or more.

This isn’t so much a method book, though I taught myself to play country blues from it, as a large tab compendium with helpful tips about each song.

Each song has at least one fully-transcribed verse. Many have intros and outros, and some are complete arrangements.

Most of the songs come from the alternating bass and ragtime traditions of the Memphis and Piedmont blues, but there are 7 Delta Blues tunes. There is also an excellent seven-song chapter on Texas blues and even some bottleneck tunes.

Most of the songs are old standards (“Crow Jane”,”Vestapol”,”Hard Time Killin’ Floor”) taken from the original recordings by artists like Reverend Gary Davis, Mance Liscomb, and Blind Blake.

The “handwritten” tab is large and easy to read–you’ll never be able to go back to that tiny Hal Leonard/Guitar Player tab after this.

There are a lot of photos of the old bluesmen, as well as atmospheric old-South pictures from the Library of Congress collection.

The CD’s feature Grossman playing the arrangements from the set, as well as original Blind Lemon Jefferson tracks. They’re listenable in their own right, even if you aren’t learning the blues guitar!

If you’re interested in pre-war blues guitar, and you already known how to play five or six chords (remember, this book teaches country blues, not guitar), this is easily the best bang for your music buying buck.

4 Stars Overall, a Great Blues Guitar Book

The Complete Country Blues Guitar Book has tabs for a wide variety of blues styles, including Delta, Rag, Texas, and bottleneck. The one point that keeps me from rating it 5 stars is the CD’s, one of which was defective. I contacted Mel Bay Publishing by e-mail, advised them of the problem, and they promptly sent me a replacement along with a nice apology. That issue aside, I am very pleased with the overall collection. Get this if blues is your thang…

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The 12 bar blues is the backbone for a large range of modern musical styles including rock, pop and jazz. This fantastic book and CD set is devoted to providing the new blues guitarist with all the theory and practical knowledge  needed to play the 12 bar blues with style and authority.

This set is packed with 24 full band tracks covering styles as diverse as shuffle, swing, riff, boogie and jazzy blues progressions; Chicago, minor, bebop, slow, and other blues styles; soloing, intros, turnarounds, accompanying keyboards and more.

All of the tunes are clearly written in both standard notation and guitar tablature.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Must have set for any blues guitarist

This set is a must have for any intermediate blues guitarist, especially anyone that wants to play blues with a band.

It’s great for anyone who has played for more than a year, mastered the basic guitar chords and the pentatonic scales.

There are chord progressions and riffs for every type of blues playing, as well as a brief section on turnarounds and intros.

The majority of the examples are movable. This makes them extremely useful for changing between keys. I’m well on my way to memorizing the whole book. Well worth the money and well worth the time.

5 Stars Good intro to  blues guitar playing

Excellent book introducing the fundamentals of blues chords and basic 12-bar progressions. It is on the beginner side, and while it provides a great basic course on blues styles and chords, it doesn’t pay too much attention to rhythm patterns, and theory is given out in small doses.

The book has progressions in different keys to get you going with a variety of styles, including your basic slow blues, shuffle rhythms, swing & boogie, riff blues and some cool jazz stuff, etc. Most examples are movable chords, so it gets you playing all over the neck. The explanations are low key but pretty good, pointing out info on the sounds and tonality of the different chords, and some advice on getting a good sound.

There are also sections including some generic but cool turnarounds and intros, and a couple pages about soloing.

Don’t think you’ll be blazing open mic night after this book, but you will have a good foundation in chords and 12-bar progressions.

4 Stars Great for Blues Riff Building

If you want to play in a blues band, you will need to know these riffs.

You should even go so far as to memorize the entire book so you can play it in your sleep. There isn’t a lot of fancy stuff in here, but it is a solid foundation in blues guitar playing.

Before I found this book I had been playing for years and I thought I was pretty good, but I always fell apart when I tried to play with others. That’s because I did not have these basic building blocks.

5 Stars A fantastic book for blues fundamentals

I am a beginning blues guitarist and this book has been a huge help.

I just wanted to say that the thing that makes this book so valuable is the fact that after you learn one of the lessons you will find that you are now armed with a technique that allows you to play many different songs.

After I got fairly comfortable with that I found that I could play born under a bad sign, sunshine of your love etc. There are many songs that use that same combination of notes just varied in timing and order a little. That seems to be the case with chord progressions as well. If you are a beginner like me, remember to play chords that are easy at first then progressively try to play the more difficult ones. Eventually you will be able to play the same chords the pros use. Also as a beginner you probably use open chords. You won’t really see how the chords work until you use bar chords so start incorporating those into your playing. I would recommend the F bar chord and the B minor bar chord as there are really no good open chord versions of those. Also learn the A D E bar chord combination at the 5th and 7th frets.

I used to think that the more guitar books I owned the better guitarist I will be. That has not proven to be true. I probably have 30 or so guitar books on the shelf and of those 30 I only use maybe 5, one of which is this 12 bar blues book, the other being Progressive guitar chords.

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Guitar Licks of the Texas Blues-Rock Heroes details the guitar playing of all the Texan guitar greats.

The set comes complete with over 100 licks in the authentic playing styles of Billy Gibbons, T-Bone Walker,Stevie Ray Vaughan, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Freddie King, Johnny Winter, Jimmie Vaughan, Eric Johnson, and lots more.

Every lick is played by the author at half and full tempo on the accompanying CD, which is split into easy to follow mini lessons.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Best Blues Guitar Book yet…..

This book is excellent. Ideal for intermediate level. A bit challenging for a beginner but I’d buy it anyway; if you have it at the right time in your growth it’ll be invaluable to you. The Amazon description says that it plays at half tempo and at full tempo but I believe that’s wrong, the riffs are only played once and at full tempo.

But the description of how to play each example is so detailed you won’t need to hear it slower. He even tells you the song you can find the lick in. So when you’re listening to your own CD’s, you’ll identify the licks you’ve learned, which also helps you learn how to apply them. Out of all the books I’ve tried this one was by FAR the best.

5 Stars BLUEStastic!!

I love this book!

A really good mix..I love that they were hip enough to include Hopkins a very important early player who is so often overlooked. The CD and tab are wonderful. I will say that this will be difficult if you haven’t been playing very long but I would still get it. I really wish they had books like this when I started playing in the early 70’s…I would have been miles ahead!

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User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Everyone needs one of these books

This book is worth its weight in gold… It is an awesome resource for those who think they know it all and those who hardly know anything at all, like myself.

5 Stars Best Guitar Book I’ve Ever Seen

I was amazed from the time I first opened the cover. The author’s introduction pretty much says all that I would emphasize… truly designed well and tied together with easy-to-understand logic. I’ve been playing guitar for 40+ years and have never seen a better chord book than this one. Whether you are just learning or think you know it all… this book can help you learn more. I’m giving 3 copies as gifts this Christmas to family and friends. Get it; you won’t be disappointed.

4 Stars Lives up to its name.

This has a huge variety of chords, and lives up to its name well. If you are in the market for a good book of guitar chords, check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

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Concert-worthy riffs and licks are laid out in sequence over every chord change in the standard 12-bar blues form.

This set covers scales, chord voicing, guitar chord progressions and rhythm figures. In addition it has section on all regional blues styles.

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4 Stars

Blues Factory is a great instruction book and CD for building riffs. You might have heard other guitarists play some of these riffs, but now you can tweak and link them into your own as part of your solos. The CD includes mp3 examples that you can link together into your own blues solos. It’s a great way to spend practice days.

4 Stars Break Out of the Box

This is a great book if you’re looking to break out of the proverbial pentatonic minor box position and make your soloing more melodic. Essentially, the book is a collection of licks that highlight “target” tones for the I, IV and V chords in the blues progression.

This set is packed with information, and the CD is a welcome addition that was notably lacking in Gress’s previous book.

You will need some discipline to work through this, but it will definitely help take the advanced beginner to the intermediate level.

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This comprehensive follow-up to the brilliant Blues You Can Use is designed to help players develop their lead guitar and rhythm techniques.

This set covers everything from pentatonic scales, chord substitutions, single-note tremolo, double-string bends, 6th and 9th chords, reverse bends, shuffle rhythms, boogie patterns, vibrato techniques, chord accents, voice leading, arpeggios, rakes, blues runs and more!

All of the examples are in standard notation and guitar tab, and the CD includes 23 full-band tracks.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Useful Companion to the original “Blues You Can Use”

If you’re a beginning/intermediate blues guitarist, going through this book and it’s easier companion “Blues You Can Use” is the quickest way to learn the instrument.

In many artists’ compilation CDs, you’ll see “Essential such and such”, well there are essential topics that need to be covered in blues guitar playing also.  Both of these books do a good job covering the essentials of blues guitar.

If you spend a year working on both of these books, and you’ll be playing most styles with inpunity with the steady increase in speed gained here.Now compare that to spending few fruitless years with a guitar instructor.

Every song is written to illustrate specific structure and technique. As you work through the book you will be learning lots of useful information.

In my opinion this is the most economic way to master the essentials of blues guitar playing. Some people may not like the style of blues guitar presented in this book as it’s bit of blues/rock style mixed in, but to get the basics down I can’t recommend a better set of books.

5 Stars Blues you can use. New melodic ways through the blues scales

I found the lead breaks simplistic, easy and well composed. Good to start out on. For the intermediate to advanced player new ideals / knowledge is offered. The lessons increase in difficulty as you learn more about the use of technique and the scale relationships up the neck. Don’t be fooled by the simple. This book will reveal new ways around and through the blues. I’m an intermediate to advanced player and I have learned from these lessons. Plus I enjoyed it.

3 Stars Can’t Quite Recommend

This is a pretty good extension to John Ganapes first tutorial on the Blues, “Blues You Can Use”. The songs are interesting and, as does the first book in the series, it contains well thought-out instruction on playing the Blues. However, it has a serious drawback. There are no backing tracks for songs on CD. Also, since it does not provide the tempo (in beats per minute), one has to spend valuable practice time building one’s own backing tracks (unless you have your own band handy).

The book claims one can adjust the channel selection in order to hear only the rhythm guitar. I did not find this to work very well. These days, there are plenty of tutorials that include backing tracks, as part of the package. For this reason, I cannot quite recommend it.

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Do you want to play your favorite blues guitar music?

Even if you are not able to read music, playing blues guitar is not difficult with Blues Guitar for Dummies. This hands-on guide, you’ll pick up the fundamentals instantly and start jamming like your favorite blues artists!

Blues Guitar for Dummies covers all aspects of blues guitar, showing you how to play scales, chords, progressions, riffs, solos, and more! It’s packed with musical examples, chords charts, and photos that let you explore the genre and play the songs of the great blues musicians. This accessible guide will give you the skills you need to:

• Choose the right guitar, equipment, and strings
• Hold, tune, and get situated with your guitar
• Play barre chords and strum to the rhythm
• Recognize the structure of a blues song
• Tackle musical riffs
• Master melodies and solos
• Make your guitar sing, cry, and wail
• Jam to any type of blues

In addition to this must-have book, a bonus CD is included so that you can listen to famous songs, practice your riffs and chords, and develop your style as a blues musician. It also features a quick guide to musical notation and suggestions on albums, artists, and guitars for further enjoyment. With Blues Guitar for Dummies, you can re-create the masterpieces of the blues legend without the expensive lessons!

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Blues Book

This book is informative and pretty much just what I expected. It is a little hard to traverse and comprehend if you don’t go page by page.

5 Stars All around great resource

This book is great even for guitarists who play well and want to expand into the blues style. Information is presented clearly for both guitarists who read music notation and those who do not. Well worth the price–enough material to learn to keep you busy for months.

5 Stars Great method book

Don’t let the “Dummies” title fool you. This is an excellent book for learning to play blues guitar.

At almost 400 pages of instruction and information, this book will give you a solid foundation for exploring blues guitar. It covers everything — from rhythm and lead guitar, basic to advanced chords, scales, and has great information about blues artists and blues history.

There’s also information about equipment. The author really has taken the time to create a solid method course that’s never dull. Lessons build on each other, staring from basic chords and rhythm patterns, to more advanced scales and lead and rhythm playing.

To get the most out of this book, don’t skip around — take your time. This book should give you months of instruction if you’re a beginner or beginning intermediate player. The CD that comes with it is invaluable for hearing how stuff should sound.

2 Stars For Dummies for sure

It is a really basic book. The main and most disappointing problem is that the none of the tracks on the CD ever sound like any real blues lick that you’ve ever heard on a blues album. Many of them I played like recorded and directed, only to “hear” it played correctly on a blues song.

It does not teach you the essence of the blues, just technical basic skills.

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