Hey Blues Fans,
I’m starting a new feature here on LBL called “In the Blue Sportlight.” Every now and then I listen to a blues player – some famous, some not so famous – that really inspires me to grab the guitar and start practicing. I hope it inspires you as well.

I thought I’d start with a not so well known British player named Matt Schofield. When I hear Schofield’s guitar playing, I hear all kinds of influences, especially Robben Ford. His playing is very fluid and melodic. However, you can hear all the othe influences, including B. B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Gibbons, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimmie Vaughan.

I’ve added a track from his award-winng blues album, “Head’s, Tails and Aces.” There are tons of great licks in this tune, and maybe you’ll be able to pick out a few. Just click on the player below the picture. I Please comment and tell me what you think.

Listen to “I Told Ya” from the album Heads, Tails and Aces:

Have you ever wanted to loop a section of a guitar lick AND slow it down without changing the pitch? I have found a nice FREEware utility that does just that.

Hey Blues Fans,
I came across a cool utility that allows you to slow down or speed up flash videos, such as the ones on this site or YouTube. The utility is called “Enounce MySpeed”. You can download a demo here. I was just playing with it and it works great with the videos here at www.learnblueslicks.com. I tested it on Firefox and Chrome and everything worked fine. I’m using WinXP.

The utility sits in your system tray and when it detects that you’re playing an FLV file, a slider bar pops up that allows you to slow or speed up the video. The nice part is that the audio stays at the same pitch, so if I lick is in A, it’s still in A when slowed down.

I am not affiliated with this company in any way. I came across it while I was researching something else and though it would be a nice addition to your blues-learning toolbox. Try listening to one of my lessons while at 3x speed…it’s pretty funny. If you do try it, leave a comment here an let the other readers know how it works.

I hope this helps.