Playing with feeling is a critical aspect of blues guitar soloing. Blues music is about expressing emotions; emotional playing is the best way to connect with your audience and expressively convey your feelings.

What does Keith have to say?

”A single blues phrase can express power, romance, weariness, optimism, joy, despair – the whole range of human feelings.

How do you express desire? Frustration? Maintain an interesting musical conversation? Get your point across clearly? Fill the room with energy? Handle challenging music in a direct, bluesy way? Carry blues feels into other styles?

Start with what you want the listener to feel, and then line up the techniques and vocabulary to express it. I’ll show you how to craft solos by starting with the feelings that inspire you and then working backward to develop the musical tools that you’ll need to communicate them.

I’ve prepared 10 Free Hand Blues soloing studies, each focused on a key approach for building your solos following this principle.” – Keith Wyatt 

What else do I need to know about blues guitar soloing?

One of the primary ways to play with feeling in blues soloing is to use techniques such as bending, vibrato, and sliding to add expression and emotion to your playing. For example, bending a note slightly can add a sense of longing or melancholy to a melody, while using vibrato can add a sense of intensity or passion.

Let’s look at some free lessons from Keith Wyatt’s course Free Hand Blues and learn some of these incredible blues soloing techniques firsthand!

Free Lesson: But Wait a Minute – Overview

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Free Lesson: But Wait a Minute – Performance

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Free Lesson: But Wait a Minute – Breakdown

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It is critical in blues guitar soloing to pay attention to the dynamics of your playing. Blues music is typically played with a lot of dynamics. This means you should vary the volume and intensity of your playing to convey different emotions.

To sum up, playing with feeling in blues soloing requires you to be in touch with your emotions. This means you should try to connect with the music on a deeper level and allow your feelings to guide your playing.

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