Josh Smith Blues Fusion Guitar Masterclass

Featured in Guitarist 431

[fisch]

10 mins ago I didn't know who this guy was. Now he's one of my favorites. :)

[davestarns]

I tried to be the “old guy” in this story once. When my son was in his mid-teens, the guitar player in his band was a really talented kid who had the pentatonic stuff down, but that was it. So I showed him the most basic way to outline that augmented flat-9 transition between the I and the IV (“lightbulb #1”), which is to simply move the pentatonic box up a fret during the last bar of I before the IV. I remembered that lightbulb feeling I had when a Sax player had shown that to me years before. He listened to it and played it and said, “Nah. That sounds too much like jazz.” So much for my career as a lightbulb salesman.

[justryanreally]

I'm a Music Theory teacher, and been a jazz student for a couple of years now. NEVER have I been given so many light bulbs in such a short time. Bloody kudos, to Josh, and to you folks who put it together. Holy shit.

[Celtics-xw]

For anyone who may want to know..

He’s playing an A blues.. replacing A7 with C#m7flat5.. Which is basically A7, minus the root A, but with the 9 added on, which is that B note..

Then he does the half step slide from D#7 to the IV, which is D7..

The first lick he plays is over D#7 heading directly into D7.. he just plays a D#7 (Mixolydian) scale.. then he lands on the 5 of D7, which is that A note..

[pallhe]

Josh is a natural, fun teacher as well as an outstanding player.

[Niksa]

0:58 Shuffle in A
1:23 Arpeggio
2:09 Diminished
2:49 Four Minor
3:18 2-5-1 Turnaround
4:35 Robben Ford
5:17 Focus on Blues
6:38 Hybrid Picking
6:58 Hybrid Picking Blues

[cgavin]

Can we please have more of this level of stuff? This kind of thing is what guitarists want - we're so underfed.

[jerrymckenzie]

When talent, ambition and hard work collide.

[foodtrucktime]

Josh is an amazing underrated player of our time, Someone get this guy some

[craigmadz]

This guy is MAGNIFICENT! With everything he plays... and he's bloody humble! He's GREAT!

[JeromiusRex]

Beautifully simple explanation! Josh has become one of my favorite sources of insight into guitar playing.

[rjdaigle]

Quite possibly the greatest blues guitar lesson on YouTube in less than 8 min!

[bbensoy]

The idea at 5:46, that's why Josh is so joyful to listen to I think. He is not saturating with too much ideas as most guitarists do

[GraffitiPhysical]

Refreshing and enjoyable to listen to. Josh and a group of guitarists he's been associated with in recent times have lifted the benchmark and will make the guitar interesting to listen to again. Not just rehashed solos.

[hisham]

I use this video as a milestone. The day I understand everything in it is a day I won't forget!

[jessewolbert]

You found your voice. I can't get your sound out of my head. I haven't felt like that from listening to guitar since the first time I heard Hendrix. It opened my mind in the same way. Thanks for the gift. Keep playin man!

[deegz]

Every time he said “I get I didn’t get it. I need more practice:D

[Lboogey]

By far one of the most informative videos I've seen on YouTube. I know so many of those scales but didn't know how to use them.

[IamKrisJones]

What an amazing player and down to earth dude!

[MrMikenstein]

I felt really dumb as I watched this video. I had a classical guitar in my hand and all I needed was to listen to you describe the arpegiatted and single notes over chords and I was playing leads I wouldn't have . I'm a 40 year+ blues performer who has played a lot of jazz standards and you helped me realize that the single notes I've been playing over chords were something I hadn't thought about, something I just did. You've given me a new vocabulary and I thank you..