160: Fundamentals Over Flash, with John Hatcher (Blues Guitar Institute)

Today we're joined on the show by John Hatcher, the founder of Blues Guitar Institute, a website and YouTube channel devoted to teaching acoustic blues guitar with a simple straight-forward approach.

 

John was the winner of TrueFire's Next Top Guitar Instructor contest and over the last several years has been steadily growing a devoted following of keen blues guitarists. We have been struck by how John incorporates theory and ear training into his teaching and makes a genre that's often seen as very specialised and exclusive into something welcoming and accessible - so we were keen to invite him on the show to share more about learning an instrument in a balanced way, and how to explore the blues.

 

In this conversation we talk about:

 

• Why chasing flashy instrument technique can harm your development as a musician

• What the earliest blues musicians would have to say about the idea that you need to be "born with the blues" to play it

• His innovative "Microlicks" approach to breaking free from formulaic solos and being more creative when you improvise

 

Naturally this episode will be of particular interest to guitarists and blues fans but there are lots of interesting ideas here for any musician, so we hope you'll enjoy the conversation as much as we did.

 

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Full Show Notes and Transcript: Episode 160

 

Links and Resources

• Blues Guitar Institute

• Blues Guitar Institute - YouTube channel

• Microlicks tutorials

 

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