These 7 free guitar lessons are from Corey Congilio’s Solo Factory: Texas Blues. Grab your guitar right now because you won’t be spending any time learning tedious theory or practicing boring exercises — you will play your way through the course right from the start. Corey’s curriculum is the quintessential hands-on, contextual learning experience.
In the first section of the course, you’ll learn ten licks that can be used over the I chord, ten licks for the IV chord, ten licks for the V chord and ten licks that can be played anywhere over a 12-bar blues. Corey teaches you the lick and points out why that lick works harmonically over the prevailing chord. All in all, you’ll stoke up your vocabulary with 40 new Texas Blues licks, along with a solid understanding for where that lick works best in a 12-bar Texas blues progression.
In the second section, you’ll learn ten full 12-bar solos that constructed solely from the licks that you learned in the first section. Corey will show how to connect the I, IV, V and anywhere licks into seamless solos over a 12-bar Texas blues format. This is where you’ll have your ‘aha’ moment!
In the last section of the course, Corey steps you through a series of playalongs where you will mix and match your lick vocabulary to your hearts delight and put your new solo constructions skills to good work. This is where you’ll have your second ‘aha’ moment — any and all of the licks you already have in your bag (including ALL of the licks from any of Corey’s 50 Licks You MUST Know courses!) can be connected in the same manner. Corey Congilio’s Solo Factory: Texas Blues is your gateway to blues soloing bliss.
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #4: Signature Spot
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
I gave this lick its name because it encompasses all of the tried and true blues bends and phrasing we’ve come to love from blues playing. Signature Spot not only is familiar to the ear, it’s also (after learning bends, etc.) familiar to the hand. The lick is entirely pentatonic and does not include any outside notes. We’ll get to those later but for now – bend away with this one!
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #26: Classic Chromatic
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
If we’ve listened to Texas blues players, no doubt you’ve heard this idea before. The first two bars are almost identical except for the last note in each measure. This is intentional. The idea here is to start building repetitive themes that grab the listener’s ear. We round out the lick with a classic chromatic walk up. We end on the V chord E9, but approach it a half step away via an F9. Like I said, you’ll hear this a lot.
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #36: Effective
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
Simple but effective indeed here. I’d love to make another course about playing really simply over the 12 bar form. I’d like that because most players early on (including myself even now) play too much too soon. Take your time and play this lick over the entire form. Maybe finish it up with another lick in the batch and voíla, a cool solo. This lick has some very traditional phrasing and is one that you should certainly latch onto immediately. We are jumping between patterns 1 and 2 in a very usable manner. Check this out and use it right away!
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #45: Solos Overview
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
Here we go! Time to put all of this stuff together and start seeing the forest for the trees! Everything we’ve worked on will pay off now! You’ll see. Let’s do it!
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #46: Solo #1 Performance
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
This first shuffle solo starts out with the I chord lick we call Signature Spot. I wanted to jump in headfirst with these solos so I thought why not go for broke here! I play this over the first 4 bars of the progression and then I choose the anywhere lick entitled Effective. After the first 4 bars of crazy bending I wanted to put the brakes on a little and dial back the intensity. Effective helps do that. I really like the V chord lick Classic Chromatic. This lick is a great little melodic idea that ties the whole thing together. The last bar is a must know and I wanted to put this into play right away. You can too. Now have at it!
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #47: Solo #1 Summary
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
Lick for I chord is Signature Spot. Lick for IV Is Effective. Lick for V chord is Classic Chromatic. I explain how these licks work well together over the respective chord changes.
Solo Factory: Texas Blues Guitar Lesson #69: Playalong
Download the tab & notation for this guitar lesson.
Lick for I chord is Signature Spot. Lick for IV Is Effective. Lick for V chord is Classic Chromatic. I explain how these licks work well together over the respective chord changes.
Dig these Texas Blues lessons? Download Corey Congilio’s Solo Factory: Texas Blues for much more including tab, notation, and jam tracks!