Beginning Blues

Beginner Guitar Course from Mark Brennan

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New to guitar and love the blues? This course is perfect for you!

29 Lessons

Complete course with step-by-step lessons and practice examples.

Multi-Camera

Course filmed with 6 cameras for the perfect angles.

90% Appoval

1459 of 1533 of our members have given this their approval.

Tabs & Info

Download tabs, helpers, JamTracks and docs included with lessons.

Included

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Full Course Breakdown

Mark will teach you the basics of your guitar and other electric gear. After you know your gear and what it does, it's time to rock. Mark will begin with basic right and left hand exercises and will eventually have you playing chords and learning your first scale.

Begin the Course
1

Series Intro - Guitar Parts and Tuning

Mark introduces his Phase 1 series and covers some fundamental electric guitar basics.

30:12 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

View this Lesson
2

Amplification

Mark provides a detailed overview of amplification. This lesson has some great info for any electric player.

33:55 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

3

Using Tablature and Learning the Fretboard

Before we start rocking, Mark goes over some tools and training necessary to every beginning guitarist.

12:52 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

4

Right Hand Technique

It's time to get some sound out of your guitar. Mark begins with picking hand technique.

31:34 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

5

Left Hand Technique

Mark explains proper left hand technique from the ground up.

10:36 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

6

Natural Notes in the 1st Position

Mark teaches you all of the natural notes played in first position. He uses two classic melodies to supplement this information.

25:42 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

7

The C Major Scale - 1st Position

It's time to learn your first scale - the C major scale in first position. Mark also explains how the major scale is constructed.

21:31 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

8

Chords in C major - Part 1

Mark covers 7 basic chords in the key of C major.

35:14 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

9

Chords in C major - Part 2

Mark expands on chords in C major by showing full forms of the chords you learned in Part 1. He also teaches you the chord progression to a familiar tune.

25:00 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

10

Power Chord Primer

It's time to start making some noise by using power chords and palm muting. Mark gives you the framework to start rocking with the 12 bar blues progression.

36:43 Runtime

0.5 Difficulty

11

Open Position Minor Pentatonic

Take your knowledge of the notes in the first position and start jamming on a simple pentatonic riff.

14:34 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

12

Blues Scale Basics with Hammer-ons, Pull-offs, and Vibrato

Let's build on lesson 11 with an extended discussion of the pentatonic scale. For lesson 12, we'll simply add one note to the minor pentatonic scale to give us the famous minor blues scale. We'll also discuss new techniques to interject into your playing, including hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, and vibrato.

36:27 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

13

Movable Power Chords

Mark explains how to finger power chords and how they can be moved anywhere on the fretboard. He also shows an exercise that will help you remember the name of each power chord.

16:28 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

14

Rhythmic Notation Part 1

Mark Brennan explains rhythmic notation, tempos, time signatures, note values, and more in this lesson.

32:14 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

15

The Key of G Major

Mark explores the key of G major in this lesson. He covers the first position pattern of the scale and explains how it can be harmonized in thirds.

33:22 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

16

Chords of G Major

Mark teaches the basic chords of G major as well as some other exercises to get you acquainted with this key.

34:28 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

17

The Key of D Major

Mark explains the basics of D major.

25:00 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

18

Chords in D Major

Mark takes you through the chords of D major and explains some new ones that you haven't encountered yet.

35:00 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

19

More Movable Power Chords & the Circle of Fifths

Mark continues his discussion of power chords. This time around, he explains the circle of 5ths and demonstrates some power chord progressions that illustrate this concept.

33:18 Runtime

1.5 Difficulty

20

The Movable Minor Pentatonic Scale

Mark teaches the 1st box of the minor pentatonic scale.

32:31 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

21

The Minor Blues Scale Transposed to A

Mark explains how you can transpose the pentatonic pattern covered in lesson 20 to the key of A minor. He also shows the "lower extension box" and "home plate box."

26:09 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

22

Blues Boogie Shuffle

Mark teaches the difference between straight eighth notes and the shuffle feel.

42:33 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

23

Amplification Part Two

In response to member requests, Mark added another amplification lesson to his growing phase 1 series. In this lesson, he compares 3 classes of amps from entry level models all the way to a Mesa Mark V.

40:45 Runtime

0.5 Difficulty

24

Introduction To Improvisation

In this lesson, Mark teaches some blues licks that can be used when improvising over a 12 bar blues progression.

24:01 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

25

The Key of A Minor

Mark covers the key of A minor.

29:36 Runtime

2.0 Difficulty

26

Two Movable Major Chord Forms

Mark teaches two movable major chord forms and gives many examples of how to practice playing them.

26:10 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

27

I-IV-V Progression Revisited

Mark Brennan shows you how to apply the chord forms learned in lesson 26 to a I-IV-V progression.

21:52 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

28

Movable Dominant 7th Chord Forms

Mark Brennan continues his teachings on movable chord forms. In this lesson he shows the dominant 7th chords and how to use them in a 12 bar blues progression.

19:49 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

29

Movable Minor and Minor 7th Chord Forms

Mark Brennan teaches these minor chord forms and how they are movable up and down the fretboard. He also shows how to use these chords in common progressions.

21:29 Runtime

1.0 Difficulty

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Mark Brennan

1,459
  • Akron, OH
  • Playing since 1974
  • 53 lessons at JamPlay
Begin Course
Mark Brennan, born August 12th, 1954 in Cleveland, Ohio, began playing guitar at the age of 10. His first influences were from the Ventures and the British Invasion, especially the Beatles and Rolling Stones. Shortly afterwards he was playing in rock bands with his brother on drums, developing his ear by learning songs straight from records. Playing in a band became a passion.

In high school, he grew to love acoustic and classical guitar. He spent time playing acoustic music, influenced by The Eagles, CSN, Dan Folgelberg, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, etc. In the 70's, he headed a very popular Cleveland band, The Brennan-Cosma Band, which played a variety of acoustic and rock music, along with originals. He also took up classicalguitar, and began developing his fingerstyle technique.

Mark is a graduate of Cleveland State University (1980), with a Bachelor of Music in Classical guitar performance. He also studied Music Composition, and took many Music Education classes. After graduation, he began his private teaching career, teaching electric, acoustic, and classical guitar, along with music theory. He taught in various studios and guitar shops throughout his career, and currently has a private practice at his home in Fairview Park, Ohio.

In the 80's Mark took an affection to Progressive rock. With his band Polyphony, he was influenced by the music of Yes, Genesis, Kansas, ELP, Styx, along with a set of prog rock originals.

Currently, Mark is in the regionally successful Pink Floyd tribute band Wish You Were Here. The band performs faithful renderings of the Floyd classics spanning their entire catalog, along with a strong visual stage show. Here, Mark displays his command of the David Gilmour style.

Mark is excited to be part of JamPlay.com's fine roster of teachers. He's looking forward to extending his 35 years of performing and teaching experience to the JamPlay members. His philosophy is about developing a passion for guitar and being the best musician you can be; being true to yourself and developing a personal style, and truly expressing your heart through your music.
Reviews & Feedback 90/100 with 1533 ratings
Phoboss

100 times better than guitartricks. It really is!

CraigMR76

All of the above answers were true for me.

ANDIGITAL

Good teacher

ollimac73

Amazing learning.

prowd

Appreciate the way the lessons are starting to build and I can see my skills improving

blueskates

Spot on for beginers like me

WhiteRhino23

Been playing for years. Never got that before. Thanks a mil. Walker

fint

Clear lessons, chill disposition. Enjoying the lecture.

reverb2020x

Cool tones! Boogie sounds good.

wgp2

easy to understand

Torbenlj

Easy to understand, very good info.

rbuist00

I like the comments about making it musical........or play it smoothly...;;;make is sound pretty

JPANYC

Excellent I

lewis1975

Excellent presentation and easy to understand.

johnnyj_1960

excellent teacher... ty mark

MadManMaxDog

Exercise to memorize fretboard was good

RockinR

Explained and demonstrated very well for the newbie, great job dude!

Weinerman

One of my favorite teachers for far. I like his teaching style. Very articulated and explained so well.

kentejosh

Good method of practice

Simms84

Thanks, Mark! I have a whole new love and appreciation for my strat. I was thinking of it in terms of a kid with a learners permit and a brand new vette that he really did not know what to do with. The lesson put some basic techniques into per

Tonycashero

Good stuff for me to work on. Want to control my picking on each string where needed. Thanks

chris0000a

good teacher, easy understand a

rgelhorn

Good teaching style and material was presented well. Teaching by example was very good.

RICHARDCROSS

will this way of playing single notes work.how much time a day ?

Glenn0

great and relaxing takes his time easy to understand.

EclecticElectricTele

I picked up a few tips here in spite of playing guitar for over ten years.

strusstrus

Great lesson. Finally I have understood (and memorized) where are the notes :) Also playing legato: this is something I will spend a lot of time practicing. :) Thanks Mark

Martijn

Great song

RidetheLightning1982

Great Start for someone that has no clue on what they are doing. The tuner section was very informative, I was tuning wrong this whole time.

Ashah

great teacher very easy to understand

JuanitaPinks

Great teacher!

rkolodij

great teaching easy to understand now need to practice practice and practice

Wien999

Having reviewed some of the other teachers, I really like Mark. I especially like the animated fretboard view of what he's doing. I'm a long-time player with lots of holes in my knowledge and this is helping tremendously.

rickcaruso

He is quite easy to understand doesn't add a bunch of unneeded information keeping it simple straight foward.

mixedink4

He made I t easy to understand.

DigitalDarrell

He showed me a method to actually learn the notes. I have never tried this before and I am surprised to say that it works great. In an hour or so, I memorized all the E notes on the entire fretboard and am going to work on learning the rest of

Guitar Tracks

He's very good, and clear at explaining the information of every note name up and down the neck of the guitar.

jamsk

Helped me correct something my inperson teacher didn't even talk about.

Oldtimerrockman68

Hi Mark, in the lesson you are recommended tapping your feet which I'm sure is a good thing to do. I have a question do you have any advice for someone that is paralyzed from the waist down. I have played guitar since 1984 had an accident in 20

MissAmyB

How do I save this so I know how to get back to him?

dlelio01

I agree with all of the above

deloresdowling62

I am not sure if this is just what I need right now, however I a learning more. I just have to practice more and become more sure of myself.

gedgeck

I appreciate tip that isn't really necessary to strum upstrokes on all string of chord. 3-4 notes are okay as well. This knowledge should help me to progress. Thanks.

Jammin John

I have been on Mark's lesson series for 4 years and am just finishing Lesson 24. I have enjoyed learning these riffs over the last 5 months. Only 5 more to go. Mark is the reason I joined Jamplay. After the trial month with his lessons I realiz