In this guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play an easy blues shuffle in the key of G using basic open chords. This is a great blues rhythm guitar lesson for country and bluegrass players who want to add a little bluesy feel to their rhythm playing. We’ll keep things fairly simple and focus on getting a classic shuffle groove using easy chord shapes.
The blues shuffle is most commonly played in the keys if E and A, but today we’re playing it in the key of G. If you’re newer to blues guitar, this is a great place to start because you can get that traditional blues shuffle sound without having to learn a bunch of complicated chord shapes or move all over the guitar neck. You do have to mute certain strings here and there, but I’ll show you exactly how I mute the unwanted strings to make things easy.
If you enjoy this style of playing, be sure to check out my 12 Bar Blues with a Country Twang lesson where we take a blues progression in G and add some country and bluegrass-style guitar licks, triplets, and crosspicking. You can also work through my Classic Country and Bluegrass Strumming Course for more practice with open chords, alternating bass notes, and classic country and bluegrass rhythm guitar techniques.
Grab your guitar and let’s work on this easy blues shuffle! Focus on keeping your picking hand relaxed and try to lock into the shuffle rhythm. Once you have the basic groove down, you’ll have a useful blues rhythm that you can take to your next jam.
After you’re done here