I know how much you guys love learning riffs, so here’s another lesson for you to scratch the itch 
I love this blues guitar riff, and although in the lesson I teach it in the Open E position, the fact is, I use these thirds time and time again, regardless of what key I’m in. That’s why its so important to see this riff as coming out of the scale – that way you learn how to apply it in any key.
Don’t look at this as something you can only do in open E… yeah, it sounds terrific in E, but these thirds work anywhere. The thirds interval is a great one to familiarize yourself with, there’s just so much you can do with it. I’ll probably do a whole lesson on that soon.
The riff I’m showing you here is suspiciously similar to the one in Mary Had a Little Lamb (Buddy Guy or SRV style) and one of the variations was used in Pride and Joy… so you can see that this riff is definitely a good one for your blues arsenal!
Watch the Blues Guitar Riff on Youtube
[...] Blues Guitar Riff on 3rds [...]
Hey J , that did not work your fingers were the way to see where you are playin…and what about your picking hand…
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Bad angle with the camera.
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hi mate good lesson icould see it all fine
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Brilliant, love it, if only the Steve were still around, just what would he be doing now I wonder?
Easy to follow, nice and clear thanks Jon.
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Very cool! As to the last chord, did you just bump your middle and ring fingers up a string? Gives us an Asus2, right?
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Thanks, very cool!
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Nice clear lesson, sounds really cool, how can we use this principle for other keys and chords?
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Great sound from the guitar. What guitar effect are you using?
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Jonathan Reply:
March 17th, 2011 at 8:00 am
I don’t use any pedals or anything, that’s just through my Peavey Classic 50W. A bit of reverb, plus the crunch channel.
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