Blues is my favourite music and I am looking at getting lessons as this would enhance my skills on the guitar and I am the sought of person that would benefit from lessons.

My dilemma is that I really like blues but I like anything that sounds good on guitar ranging from Rolling Stones type music, Creedence, Nirvana and I really want to be able to play chord progressions aswell.

Should I go to a guitar school or should I get a teacher who teaches blues and learn that for a few years?

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Chords and scales are at the root of playing most any style,.
Getting proficient at them first will help with picking up the types of music you want to play later..

Knowing chord shapes, progressions and assembling chords
Practicing scales, modes, and keys
Boring topics but gets your fingers to learn where they should be going, sometimes without you

I've been badly ignoring practicing chords for a long time and now am having "issues" playing simple rhythm/folk type songs. so lots of practicing happening now on very simple songs like the Edmund Fitzgerald, 4 chords over and over and over.

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Keep on Truckin, Going full speed ahead down the highway to hades.

Just play what you love, play regularly and always try at least some things that are "too difficult".

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Learn everything you can. You end up using even the things you weren't so crazy to learn about down the road. And if you like blues it's especially important to learn other styles as well. B.B. King said to listen to a bunch of different music and take a little bit from each one, so the idea was his, not mine.

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not at all. learn whatever you feel like learning. you would be surprized at how learning different styles of music can enhance your playing abilities.

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"I don't care how good you are, how fast you are. You ain't good enough no lessin' you got the soul." -Hubert Sumlin

Dont ever limit yourself to that way of thinking as the guitar is an infinite instrument that has no end. You love the blues and that is a great big plus as you journey on down you will see that most of the rock you listed as loving use the same scales to solo with and make riffs out of. The blues is a great musical direction as it leads to many styles and by delving into the blues you are also learning rock and hard rock though you might not know it yet. One day it will just all click like someone turning on a light switch. I would just say learn as much as you can and try to play with people who are much better at this point in time than you. Blues is basicly just three chords but it is amazing what the better players can do over those three chords as they know how to mix up there scales and throw in arpeggios and having note selection that is outside the box. Most people think the blues is easy music but it can be as difficult as anything out there. Check out Larry Carlton or Robin Ford and you will see what I mean.

Should an artist paint with only one color? Some do, but not many.

A painter puts his work on paper or a surface of some sort, a musician puts his work on silence.

Variety is the spice of life.....and music.

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!

Variety makes you a better player, even in your favored style.

I don't think it's even possible to only learn one style. There is significant overlap between many styles. one man's rock is another man's blues, is another man's country...

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

+2 for me but yeah learn as much as you can and then create your own style.

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It's good to learn as much as possible while you have the opportunity... you can always go back to not knowing much! Nothing "extra" you learn is going to harm your Blues credentials.

The way I see it, blues lies at the heart of electric guitar music. Most of us will have spent some time with it at some stage in our lives; for some, it's a gateway to other music, while for others it may be a constant source of inspiration or a testing ground for concepts picked up elsewhere. There are any number of ways to get around those three chords.

Everybody has their own approach: I've been playing since 1986, and for the past year or so I've played blues stuff and not much else. I wouldn't be able to listen through an album of blues, though, or probably even more than one song. Blues is home for me, and I'll always return. About once a day I fluke a line that makes me smile, never to be repeated... heh. I've caught myself sneaking jazz and flamenco concepts in there that I'd forgotten I ever knew... pretty much anything you learn can go back into the blues melting pot one way or another.

If you can find a teacher who plays jazz, they will be able to show you blues stuff and what to do with it next. If you try your hand at some fingerstyle jazzy blues with chord substitutions and a walking bass in Bb or G, you'll have plenty of material to be going on with. And somewhere interesting to come back to twenty years later!

Having started playing only about 2 years ago myself now I think that you'll find a few things happen to you. Since you're a blues fan already you're in good shape since a lot of rock has blues roots. What happened to me though is that music that I didn't even appreciate 15 years ago is now so good to listen to. Playing has opened my eyes to so many cool artists, it's awesome. Have fun and take some lessons to at least have the basics in place. Nothing is cooler than learning your first song. Have fun!

I think learning the "blues" is a great place to start, it leads to so many other avenues. Learn the chords, and scales and in no time you'll be expanding into different things
Good Luck

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Keep your mind open to all styles of music. The more you know the more you show. But really, You can always learn from other styles and it only makes you a better player.

Focus on one type--sure, but don't limit yourself.

Many of the top blues players borrowed ideas from non-blues styles--and that's part of what made them one the "Greats"

Even lesser players have done that and been better for it.

this is also applicable to rock guitarists, jazz guitarists, country guitarists, classical guitarist, etc, etc.

Focus most of your time & playing on one style for a time--sure, but don't shut out other stuff.

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It wasn't Willy-Nilly, it was at crows.

Music can be more or less tonal without becoming completely atonal, however. Music that does not stray at all from its key is called diatonic.

Many Western children's songs, folk songs, and pop songs are in this category. But composers often add some notes or even whole sections of music that are from a different key, to make the music a little more complex and interesting.

Something I do when teaching is to have the students improvise or compose music in C major and in one of the pentatonic scales.

Then have the students find the correct notes to a familiar diatonic tune in C major. How many of the seven notes of the scale are used? If they had to play the tune using only five notes, which would they leave out, and how would the tune sound?

Interesting thread!

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Being able to play and enjoy music is a gift that's often taken for granted.

Don't leave home without it!