The Blues Guitar Program:

As all indigenous American music comes from the Blues what I teach all beginners is the Blues Guitar Program.

       An accelerated, graduated program where you will learn ten songs beginning with Hendrix's Red House (which you will learn to play the first hour) as well as material by Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Albert King, T-Bone Walker and others. Each song is carefully graded for increasing difficulty so that by the tenth song you can play anything you can hear. Position Playing, Alternate Stroking and The Three Fundamentals of Time are covered initially to aquire good foundational skills from the start.

The Art of Improvisation:

I teach all four levels of soloing on the guitar:

Improvisation I teaches you how to improvise using riffs, phrases and runs from the five Blues Scales in the Key of A, used in the Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll between 1954 and 1967. Also, there is an introduction to the fun stuff...the Three Principles of Improvisation. 

Improvisation II teaches you the five Major Pentatonic Scales in the key of A, as well as the intermediate techniques of bends, vibrato, phrasing and key changes.

Improvisation III is for developing speed .

 Improvisation IV is for the Modes, which are melodic materials used from 1976 to 2008.

After your have learned to play the guitar you can learn songwriting or song pulling. 

Song pulling is the art of listening to any piece of music and being able to play whatever you hear. To do either of the these things requires some understanding of theory.

Theory I

  • Intervallic theory
  • Pythagorus
  • Harmonic Generation
  • The “Interval of the Devil”
  • Harmonic Relationships
  • The Guttenberg Printing Press
  • Harmonic Progression
  • The Women of 15th Century England
  • Tonal Relationships
  • “Irrational” Black African Harmonies
  • Pulling Songs
  • The Beatles

       This course takes four two-hour sessions to complete. A working knowledge of the guitar fretboard from first to twelfth fret on the 6th and 5th strings is all that is required.

Theory II 

  • The Copyright Law of 1909
  • Blues poetry
  • Writing for young men (Big Market!)
  • Black/White cultural relationships in America
  • The Dorians and Cretes of Ancient Greece
  • Writing for young women (Bigger Market!!)
  • The Artist, Semipro and The Amateur
  • Cathartic writing
  • The chance of becoming a Rock Star
  • Writing “On Command

Theory III

  • Diatonic Linear progressions
  • The acoustical phenomenon of movement of 5ths
  • Opening, closing and circular progressions
  • Beethoven, John Cage and the musician as Hero or Servant
  • Writing for Women
  • Writing “On command II”

Remember that:

  • All lessons are guaranteed to be the best instruction available at any price...or your money back.
  • A 72 hours notice must be given to reschedule a lesson, recieve credit and avoid forfieture.
  • To inquire about studying guitar with Steve Dukes call (415) 515-5710 and Steve will return your call within 24 hours.