School of the Blues Lesson Series

The School of the Blues Lesson Series is a comprehensive series of educational material for guitar, harmonica, organ/keyboard, bass and drums. Whether you're a rank beginner or a fairly seasoned player looking to learn more about the blues, this series is for you. Each book is accompanied by a CD recording demonstrating all of the examples in the book. If you would like to purchase any of these books please click on the price link next to each book.

Blues Harmonica Method, Level 1 BK/CD - Purchase

The Tongue Block Method
Order#: 21053BCD
Page Count: 32 Pages

Blues Harmonica Level 1, within the School of the Blues® Lesson Series, is an exciting beginning blues harmonica course. The ideas presented are solid in the blues tradition with great sounding bluesy licks to play, even at the beginning level! Phrasing Concepts (how small pieces of music, called licks, are organized to create a pleasing solo), 12 Bar Blues Theory, Vibrato, Shakes and Tongue Blocking are covered. Recording includes all harmonica parts notated in the book with accompaniment music. This book and its recording use a “C” and “A” major diatonic harmonica.

Blues Harmonica Method, Level 2 BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21054BCD
Page Count: 36 Pages

Blues Harmonica Level 2, within the School of the Blues® Lesson Series, is an exiting intermediate Blues harmonica course in the tongue block style. The ideas presented are solid in the Blues tradition with great sounding exercises and songs to play! Bending and advanced Tongue Blocking are covered along with three full-length song studies. Recording includes all harmonica parts notated in the book with accompaniment music. This book and its recording use the “C” and “A” major diatonic harmonica.

Blues Harmonica Play-Along Trax BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21055BCD
Page Count: 24 Pages

Blues Harmonica Play-Along Trax, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting play-along that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today. Notated examples for the ten hole diatonic harmonica are provided as well to give you an idea of how you can approach accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist. Along with the 15 jam tracks, the book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author David Barrett) along with the background music.

Improvising Blues Harmonica BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 20943BCD
Page Count: 80 Pages

Improvising Blues Harmonica, by authors David Barrett and John Garcia, is a groundbreaking method explaining the mysterious world of improvising. This book and recording cover: chorus forms; what licks, riffs, melodies and phrases are made of; scale and chord theory; concepts for soloing (focus notes); phrase shaping; accompaniment playing; hooks, heads and bridges; elements that add unity to an instrumental; instrumental song analysis; learning solos note for note and retaining licks. Concepts in this material have been proven over a decade of private lessons and workshops held around the world. If you are looking to go the next step in your soloing skills, this material will take you there. For intermediate and advanced blues harmonica players. Recording uses “C” and “A” major diatonic harmonicas. Examples presented in the book are played by the authors. Full-length study songs are also included. 80 pages in length with one CD recording.

Blues Harmonica Accompaniment Playing BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21385BCD
Page Count: 48 Pages

Rock Harmonica BK/2CD - Purchase

Order#: 21979BCD
Page Count: 68 Pages

The blanket term 'rock' is used to describe a musical genre that covers over six decades of musical diversity. The question for this book is, ""What does rock mean to harmonica players?"" This book is for harmonica players who have a basic grasp of the instrument and are looking to study the rock style in greater detail. You'll learn greater control of bends; speed licks; high-end licks; how to play bluesy notes and textures; how to play and construct hooks; how to deal with and play over the common chord progressions used in rock; and, music theory relative to playing rock harmonica. Concepts are presented through original tunes as well as staples of rock harmonica repertoire such as Magic Dick's ""Whammer Jammer!"".

Blues Guitar Method, Level 1 BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21057BCD
Page Count: 48 Pages

Blues Guitar Level 1, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is about learning the art of playing rhythm guitar and its various grooves pertaining to the blues. Areas covered are: major scales, chord construction, Chicago-type shuffles, uptown swing & jump, cut time, slow blues, rhumba, funky blues, rock beat, boogie beat, eight-bar blues; openings, breaks and endings. This book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author John Garcia) along with the background music. For all skill level players.

Blues Guitar Method, Level 2 BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21058BCD
Page Count: 40 Pages

Blues Guitar Method Level 2, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series®, is about learning the art of improvising. Areas covered are: Tools for Improvising (Scales and Arpeggios); Soloing Concepts (Question & Answer Phrasing and Chord Tone Approach Construction); Pickups, Intros, Turnarounds & Endings; and Bar Solo & Analysis. This is an essential study for all players of the blues.

Blues Guitar Play-Along Trax BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21059BCD
Page Count: 24 Pages

Blues Guitar Play-Along Trax, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting play-along that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today. Notated examples are also provided to give you an idea of how you can approach accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist. Along with the 12 jam tracks, the book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author John Garcia) along with the background music.

Blues Keyboard Method, Level 1 BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21060BCD
Page Count: 48 Pages

Blues Keyboard Level 1, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting journey into blues piano and organ for the novice player. Book contains: Review of piano and theory basics; two-handed exercises in the 12 bar Blues form; development of musical ideas in the right hand over the 12 Bar Blues Progression; Blues openings, breaks and endings when performing with other musicians; and Blues as it’s played on the Hammond organ. This series is designed for students of other instruments to play together. If you have friends that play harmonica, guitar, bass or drums, tell them about this series so that you can play together. This book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Steve Czarnecki).

Blues Keyboard Method, Level 2 BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21061BCD
Page Count: 40 Pages

Blues Keyboard Method Level 2, within the School of the Bluesr Lesson Series, is an exciting journey into Blues piano and organ for the intermediate player. Book contains: music theory relative to the Blues; accompaniment playing; full-length study songs; right and left hand material for improvising; and Blues as it's played on the Hammond organ.This series is designed for students of other instruments to play together. If you have friends that play harmonica, guitar, bass or drums, tell them about this series so that you can play together. This book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Steve Czarnecki).

Blues Keyboard Play-Along Trax BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21062BCD
Page Count: 24 Pages

Blues Keyboard Play-Along Trax, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting play-along that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today. Not only is this a play-along to work on your piano and organ improvising skills, but notated examples are also provided to give you an idea of how you can approach accompanying a vocalist or instrumentalist. This series is designed for students of other instruments to play together. If you have friends that play harmonica, guitar, bass or drums, tell them about this series so that you can play together. Along with the 14 jam tracks, the book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Steve Czarnecki) along with the background music.

Blues Bass Method BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21063BCD
Page Count: 40 Pages

Blues Bass Level 1, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting method that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today. Areas covered are: Tuning, Achieving Good Tone, Major & Minor Scales & Movable Scale Forms, 12 Bar Blues Progression, Major Blues Bass Lines, Jump Blues, Swing Blues, Box Patterns, Slow Blues, Chicago Shuffles, Two Beat, Rumba Beat, Tramp Beat, Minor Blues, Introductions, Turnarounds & Endings. This series is designed for students of other instruments to play together. If you have friends that play harmonica, guitar, keyboard or drums, tell them about this series so that you can play together. Book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Frank De Rose) along with the background music. For the beginning to intermediate bass player.

Essential Blues Bass Grooves BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21065BCD
Page Count: 32 Pages

Essential Blues Bass Grooves, within the School of the Blues® Lesson Series, presents 46 bass patterns essential to the gigging Blues bass player. Material is presented in standard music notation and TAB. This book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Frank De Rose) along with the background music. This method is for all skill level players.

Blues Bass Play-Along Trax BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21064BCD
Page Count: 24 Pages

Welcome to the School of the Blues Lesson Series! This book and recording were created to help give you context to all the music you worked so hard to learn. The recorded Play-Along Trax have no bass. This gives you the opportunity to work on your blues bass patterns. I have used several different keys and tempos throughout these Play-Along Trax. These Play-Along Trax give you a very realistic example of how you would play live with a band. Music examples are kept fairly simple to make sure this book is accessible to bass players just above the beginning level. For best understanding of these techniques refer to Mel Bay’s Blues Bass, Level 1 (21063BCD). Lastly, all the references in this book are written for a right-handed four string electric bass. If you play a 5 string bass you just need to extend the examples to include your B string. If you play left-handed then you need to reverse any references to the left and right hands. We will use standard music notation along with bass tablature (TAB) for this book.

Blues Drums Method BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21066BCD
Page Count: 56 Pages

Blues Drums, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, contains over 250 examples of blues drum patterns and technique-building exercises! Subjects covered in this book are: The History of Blues Drumming; Choosing Your Instrument and Getting Your Sound; Exercises for Development of Technique (Sticking and foot patterns specific to playing blues); Blues Shuffles & Swing Beats, Slow Blues, Ballads and the Triplet Groove (12/8 Time); Blues Rhumba, Calypso Beats and Samba Feel; Two-Beat/Cut Time; Early Rock ‘n’ Roll and Surf Beats; New Orleans, Soul and Funk Influences; and Build-ups & Fills. This book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples played on the drums with the backing of the School of the Blues All-Star Band. It is recommended that you also purchase Blues Drums Play-Along Trax (21067BCD) to have full-length play-along trax for you to apply what you learn in this book.

Blues Drums Play-Along Trax BK/CD - Purchase

Order#: 21067BCD
Page Count: 24 Pages

Blues Drums Play-Along Trax, within the School of the Blues Lesson Series, is an exciting play-along that contains the most common grooves used in blues bands today. All of the examples are minus the drums. You can place in whichever drum pattern you feel is appropriate or use the recommended notated example in the book. Along with the 15 jam tracks, the book is accompanied by a CD recording of all examples (played by author Kevin Coggins) along with the background music.