It is common knowledge amongst musicians that blues music originated in the Southern U.S. and was traditionally played on acoustic instruments. There was, however, a paradigm shift when musicians started adding electric instruments into the mix. In the cities, players started using electric guitars played through amplifiers.

In his course, Urban Blues Revolution, Robben Ford overviews this transition to modernity through soloing and rhythm examples.

Here are 5 urban blues guitar lessons from the course. For the full course, check out Robben Ford’s Urban Blues Revolution on TrueFire!

Sam’s Jam: Rhythm Overview


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In these lessons, I’m going to play rhythm over a track called “Sam’s Jam.” This is a surf beat, which is a different kind of feel in the blues.

Sam’s Jam: Rhythm Performance


Download the tab & notation for this urban blues guitar lesson

Here, I’ll demonstrate some rhythm approaches to the track.

Sam’s Jam: Rhythm Breakdown


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Now, let’s take a look at my approach to the rhythm part for “Sam’s Jam”, breaking down all the rhythm techniques I played.

Sam’s Jam: Soloing Overview


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Now that we’ve looked at some rhythm ideas for “Sam’s Jam”, now I’m going to improvise over this 12-bar progression.

Sam’s Jam: Soloing Performance


Download the tab & notation for this urban blues guitar lesson

Digging these urban blues guitar lessons from Robben Ford? Check out his full course, Urban Blues Revolution!