In the past 46 days, I've published 46 lessons via my new series "1-Minute Blues". I have to admit, the questions I'm getting in response to these lessons are giving me major deja vu. You see, back in 2007, when I published my first lessons, most of my viewers had no idea what I meant by "Box 1," "Box 3," etc.
Those early questions prompted me to create The 5 Essential Blues Boxes course, 5 Boxes Essential Licks, and several years later, Essential Fretboard. Those three courses cleared up any confusion about what I was teaching. They are (combined) the most watched, most purchased, and most studied courses I've ever created.
Fast-forward a decade, and I assumed that everyone understood these concepts because there's so much information available for free. I haven't pushed these courses in years because I believed that they might not be necessary anymore.
How wrong I was.
The new viewers I'm reaching today have the EXACT same questions as my first viewers did 18 years ago. They still feel lost on the fretboard, they still aren't sure what "the boxes" are, and they are hungry to learn.
So, I'm dusting off those courses today and explaining them again, both in terms of what they are and who they are for.
Created in 2010, this course was designed for players who slept through or never had basic music theory in school. It covers fundamental topics like
- What are notes?
- Sharps and Flats
- Octaves
- Basic Scales
- What Are Chords?
- What Are Chord Progressions?
Created in 2009, Essential Fretboard lays out a simple fretboard navigation system that's usable for blues and most rock. You'll learn how to map out the chords over an octave range. You'll learn basic chords and an overview of the soloing shapes I call "The 5 Essential Blues Boxes."
This is the OG, my first course from 2008. It's rough around the edges, but the information is pure gold. In this course, I explain how a slight modification to the standard pentatonic soloing shapes helps you to mix major and minor automatically.
This course is mainly responsible for my entire career as a teacher.
This was my follow-up course to the 5 Boxes course, released one year after I started teaching lessons online. It was a massive collection of 150+ licks, mapped to the shapes taught in the previous course.
This course got a significant update in 2019, hence the "2nd Edition"
All of these courses are available to purchase (and download) individually or to stream online as part of a TXBA Locals membership. The TXBA Locals program gives you access to my entire library of courses (80+) and a custom online course player that is packed with feature to help you study as efficiently as possible. Learn more about the TXBA Locals here...