HAMMER, SLIDE AND WHAM!

You have to love John Ellis. Here is a man that went from being a film librarian and a tree surgeon to headlining with the Stranglers. The Indytute have yet to find out what prompted this career path, but if you want to learn the Blues Guitar you couldn’t get instruction from a more knowledgeable source. John formed his first band Bazooka Joe (band members included Adam Ant) in 1970 before going on to form the pioneering punk band The Vibrators. He has worked with many rock luminaries including Peter Gabriel and Peter Hammill and if you want to learn blues guitar here’s the man to inspire and fire you.

WHAT WILL I BE DOING?

Quite a lot. Common chord sequences for a 12 bar blues. How to play the Blues in the most important keys. Using hammer-ons, pull-offs, slides, whams and turnarounds. Palm muting and chugging - and that’s just for starters. The last section of the session (technical term) is entitled ‘Putting it all Together’ - playing a couple of classic Blues pieces.

HOW LONG IS THIS CLASS?

4 hrs

DO I NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING?

A bit. You should be able to play a basic scale and the following chords E, A, B7, G, C, D. You should also have your own guitar. This is still a beginners lesson, but the more you know the more you will get out of this class.

LOCATION?

East London.

DATE

The first Saturday of every month