Learning to Lead - Blues & Rock Guitar

David Isaacs teaches lead tactics, scale foundation and techniques for blues and rock.

Great players have the touch, tone, and vocabulary to make a guitar speak and sing. This course is a beginner introduction to lead guitar, and the approach and tools you can use to become a confident, melodic player. Yes, you will learn scales and patterns, but good lead play is about phrasing, tone, and feel. Learn how to make a powerful statement with just a few notes, or lay the groundwork for a full-on attack. If you have always wanted to soar like your heroes, this course is for you.

Suited for guitarists of all skill levels, learn the vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of backing tracks. Learn more or start the course with membership

Course Details
39 Lessons
11 Hour+ Runtime
Tabs (gpx, pdf)
Playalong Tracks
HD+ Video
90 day guarantee
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Stream online, plus all other courses with membership.

The JamPlay Learning System

Like every JamPlay course, Learning to Lead Blues and Rock features world-class instruction and a dynamic learning system to help you succeed quickly.

It's not just videos, and not just downloads. You'll get:

  • Interactive tabs, notation, and fretboard
  • JamTracks for play along practice
  • Ask-a-teacher functionality
  • Speed up, slow down and loop the video
  • Bookmark exact moments in the lesson
  • Note-taking feature
  • 4k video with multiple camera angles
  • Track progress with the progress report
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Meet David Isaacs

Dave Isaacs has earned a reputation as one of the best: not simply a guitar and piano teacher but as a musical mentor to performing artists, songwriters, and performers as well as beginners, weekend warriors, and perpetual beginners.

Dave's approach to teaching develops not only guitar playing but the whole musician, building real skills, confidence, and musical knowledge.

A dynamic performing artist himself, he played in venues across the US from small clubs to festivals and concert halls. He has jammed with Les Paul on a Manhattan nightclub stage, rocked in the mud at Yasgur's Farm, harmonized in Greenwich Village folk clubs, and chicken-picked hot licks on Nashville's Lower Broadway. His ten independent CD releases run a wide stylistic range, from eclectic singer-songwriter to swampy groove-blues, bright country-rock, Southern soul, and lyrical jazz and classical guitar.

On the formal academic side, Dave is an award-winning graduate of New York's venerable Manhattan School of Music, with a Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance. He was a full-time instructor of music and music technology at Tennessee State University from 2009-2013, and taught music theory and listening skills in the audio production program at the Art Institute of Tennessee-Nashville from 2008-2016.

With his combined experience as a working musician and artist and nearly thirty years of teaching private lessons, workshops, clinics, and college courses, Dave Isaacs has a rare and exceptionally wide perspective as an educator.

Susan Tucker Artist Development Manager

"You’re like a combination of music instructor, life coach, and historian. No one else does what you do."

Allie Beers Vanderbilt University

"Other guitar teachers I’ve had teach you to play songs. Dave teaches you to play guitar."

Steve Ekblad Audiogrid.com

"Dave Isaacs is one of the most talented guitarists and performers on the planet."

Hannah Rose vocalist

"I was blown away by his incredible talent; his musicianship is of the highest quality and he has the patience and intelligence to share it with all his students."

35 Years of Planning for 39 Lessons

David Isaacs cemets your understanding of scale basics and lead ideas with a proven, step-by-step approach.

A great guitar hook or solo can be the emotional peak of a song, especially for a guitar player! Great players have the touch, tone, and vocabulary to make a guitar speak and sing. Learn the basic vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of working with backing tracks. This course offers 39 lessons covering 11+ hours of material in step-by-step, digestible presentation.

Lessons in this Course
1

Learning to Lead: Series Introduction

Dave introduces us to his course, Learning to Lead, where we will learn things like the basic vocabulary and musical concepts behind rock and blues lead guitar, and how to make the most of working with backing tracks.

4:38 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

2

Rhythm: The Pulse

Simply put, phrasing is learning to organize your ideas in time. When fleshing out this concept, learning how to play various note groupings, rhythmic subdivisions, and rhythm 'cells' is key. In this lesson, Dave starts us out by showing us how to execute rhythms on a single note in time against a track.

9:18 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

3

Vocabulary: Pentatonic Patterns Part 1

What is a pentatonic scale, and why does it work so well in so much of the music we play? The answer to these and other questions are found in this lesson, as Dave shows us how to execute pentatonic fragments in time against a track.

9:35 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

4

Phrasing: Shape and Line

Phrasing sometimes involves the shaping of intervallic contours in a line or scale. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the rising and falling of intervals and the steps or jumps in scale degrees.

8:20 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

5

Vocabulary: Pentatonic Patterns Part 2

Now we take a look at a new pentatonic formation, and how to duplicate melodic figures in different positions.

12:50 Runtime

0.0 Difficulty

6

Phrasing: Call and Response

When it comes to phrasing, the call and response technique is certainly foundational. In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the technique, specifically at how it is used in blues playing.

12:44 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

7

Phrasing: Call and Response Part 2

Let's take that same call and response technique and use it across different positions. This helps create contrast in your lines, and an overall variety in your playing!

11:35 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

8

Vocabulary: The Major Pentatonic

The major pentatonic is where we're headed now. Dave will show us two different ways to find this scale, as well as some variations between major and minor 'flavors'.

16:32 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

9

Vocabulary: Pentatonic Patterns 3

And now yet another pentatonic pattern! This lesson will focus on moving up the neck with more E minor pentatonic fragments.

11:15 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

10

Improvising with E Minor Pentatonic

When learning to improvise, it's wise to learn to use fragments of scales in multiple positions. This gives you the most options when traversing the neck.

7:36 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

11

Practical Theory: Chord Tones from Pentatonics

Don't let the word 'theory' scare you away! This lesson is a simple, practical, useful way to learn how to relate chords to scales, and it will serve you well down the road!

33:56 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

12

The 12 Bar Blues: Slow Change

In this lesson, Dave introduces us to the 12 bar blues. This 'slow change' pattern can be used in many situations. The 1-4-5, bass riffs, and offbeat shuffle are some of the concepts that we'll cover in this lesson.

19:23 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

13

The 12 Bar Blues: Quick Change

Now Dave shows us some moveable chord voicings that we can use in this 'quick change' 12 bar blues.

23:36 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

14

Vocabulary: C Major Scale

Let's move to our first major scale. In this lesson we will learn the C major scale and concept of key, and the intervallic contruction of the scale. As we walk through the fingerings and patterns, we'll see that this scale give us more options for tension and release.

24:48 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

15

Phrasing: Melodic Sequences

What is a melodic sequence? Dave explores this concept by looking closely at note groupings, and using repetitive sequences to organize melodic ideas.

15:20 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

View this Lesson
16

Vocabulary: Melodic Sequences Over Chord Changes

Now let's apply what we learned about melodic sequences and use it over chord changes. We'll find that the opportunity to use chord tones and tension tones will add another dimension to our sequencing.

18:02 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

17

Vocabulary: Chord Tones in the Blues

In this lesson, Dave takes a look at the chord tones found in blues music. We use the slow change blues track again to learn our 7th chord arpeggios.

18:30 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

18

Vocabulary: Major Scales 2

The ultimate goal is to learn all of our scales in any position. That means 6 forms and variations, with multiple fingerings from any bass note. Whew! This may seem daunting, but Dave gets us going in this direction with this exercise where we will learn to climb the neck in the key of F.

11:04 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

19

Vocabulary: Scale Practice for Ear Training

Dave shows us how to map the neck by identifying scale degrees within each fingering. This helps us to use the scales in a practical way, improving our ear.

17:45 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

20

Vocabulary: More Chord Tones and Transposition

With the availability of more chord tones with different fingerings, this now allows us to explore transposing. We start with transposing the exercise from lesson 17.

20:24 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

21

Vocabulary: The Blue Note

The 'blue note' is a classic tonal variation that allows for great tension in a line, or use as a passing note. In this lesson, Dave shows us where this note is located, and how to use it best.

21:23 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

22

Vocabulary: The G Major Scale

Now it's time to look at the G major scale. Dave explains the concept of forming a cycle up the neck of the guitar, as well as using 3 scale forms from a single bass note.

19:25 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

23

Vocabulary: Chord Tones and Arpeggios

Chord tones can be played as arpeggios derived from the scale. Dave shows us how to map out the arpeggio fingerings, and how to use the arpeggios in a melodic way.

26:52 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

24

Melodies from Chord Tones

In this lesson, Dave shows us how to derive melodies from chord tones by identifying the connecting notes. Then we wrap up the lesson learning a melodic use of those chord tones.

17:56 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

25

Phrasing: Tension and Release

Tones found outside a given chord or scale can help create tension, and subsequently release when resolved. This can help create more interesting movement in our phrases and lines.

24:21 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

26

Articulation: Slides and Slurs

Articulation techniques add nuance and dynamics to our guitar playing. In this lesson, Dave gets us started with some key articulation movements: slides and slurs.

29:08 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

27

Vocabulary: Natural Minor Scale

Dave takes a look at the natural minor scale, it's fingerings and it's parallel and relative relationships.

26:51 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

28

Vocabulary: The Minor Blues

By combining pentatonics and the natural minor scale, we arrive at the minor blues. Dave shows us the minor blues progression, and how to add these scale combinations to get a great, classic sound.

24:07 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

29

Articulation: String Bending

The next step in our articulation development is string bending. Acclimating our ear to quarter, half and whole step bends is key to mastering this technique.

32:14 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

30

Vocabulary: The Harmonic Minor Scale

The harmonic minor scale can be easily played by slightly altering the natural minor scale. In this lesson Dave shows us that alteration, as well as some practical uses for this scale.

18:42 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

31

Playing Over 1 and 5 in Minor

Now let's take the harmonic minor scale and apply it to chords. We'll identify key chord tones, then learn how to place it properly in our backing track.

17:16 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

32

Vocabulary: The Dorian Mode

It's time now to explore the modes! Dave starts us with the Dorian mode. We look at two different ways to dervive the modes as well as analyzing some practical ways to improvise over Dorian.

12:39 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

33

Vocabulary: The Mixolydian Mode

Next up is the Mixolydian mode. Derived from dominant 5th degree of the scale, Dave shows us how to access this scale and the best ways to use it in our improvisation.

14:26 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

34

Vocabulary: D Major Mixed Modes

Dave now shows us a very cool way to mix Dorian and Mixolydian, creating unique tonal opportunities!

7:48 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

35

Playing Changes

In this lesson, Dave shows us yet more melodic ways to use chord tones. Arpeggios are the key in this lesson!

31:24 Runtime

3.5 Difficulty

36

Vocabulary: Jazz up the Blues with Chromatics

Chromatics work great as passing tones and connectors in our playing. They also lend themselves to creating a 'jazzier' sound in our improvisation!

29:53 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

37

Using the Abacus Concept to Change Keys

In this lesson, Dave teaches us the 'Abacus Concept' of changing keys.

10:19 Runtime

2.5 Difficulty

38

Building a Solo

A good solo tells a story as ideas unfold. We can use the scales and concepts that we've learned in previous lessons, but it's HOW we put them together that ultimately decide how good the solo will be! In this lesson we will learn to use rhythm, texture and dynamics, as well as a number of the melodic concepts we've learned in the series to create a cool solo!

14:58 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty

39

Free Improvisation

Free Improvisation is just that - you are free to move around the neck and the rhythmic universe without constraints. Learn how to organize your ideas through rhythm, dynamics and texture to create something that is uniquely yours!

9:12 Runtime

3.0 Difficulty