Blue Highways

”When most kids his age were learning to finger paint, Connecticut-born Josh Smith received his first guitar at three and was fed a fret-board feast of blues records by Muddy Waters, Albert King, and T-Bone Walker, thanks to his father’s music collection. The child prodigy’s first album at age 14 (Born Under a Blue Sign) followed eight years later. Now 38, with 15 years of experience on the LA studio scene, and eight studio albums under his belt, Smith is considered one of the most respected blues guitarists in the business.”

At 12 years old, Josh Smith was already playing out at blues jams in South Florida. At 14, he was the lead guitarist in The Rhino Cats, the house band at Club M sitting in with the likes of Jimmy Thackery, Tinsley Ellis, Kenny Neal, Lucky Peterson, Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Johnny “Clyde” Copeland, Double Trouble, and other top artists playing the venue. Today, Josh “continues to forge his legacy as one of the most vibrant, versatile, and sought-after players in all of contemporary blues.”

We’re thrilled to welcome Josh to the family with his first TrueFire course, Blue Highways. You will likewise be thrilled as you join Josh on this multi-faceted, highly engaging blues learning journey.

”I’ve been very fortunate to have had the opportunity to play and record professionally from a very young age, and to do so with so many great musicians, across so many diverse styles. These experiences helped me develop my own sound, which while rooted in the blues, is also heavily influenced by jazz, country, rock and pretty much everything in-between.”

Josh organized Blue Highways into two sections. In the first section, he passes on 11 key concepts and techniques that comprise his singular style and approach to blues guitar: The Basics, Phrasing and Time, Honoring and Disregarding Heroes, Roadmaps, Goals for Blues, Working Towards Goals, Exploring Outside The Pentatonic, Melodic Minor, Rhythm Approaches, The Right Hand, Building a Vocabulary, and Your Personal Style.

”Finding your own personal style as a soloist should be your goal early on. All of the key concepts and approaches in Blue Highways will help you find what makes you “you.” We’ll talk about the head, the hand, and the heart. These are the building blocks and basics needed for building your skill as an improviser: knowledge, technique, and soul!

I’ll show you ways to get outside the pentatonic box and start adding new ideas to your improvisations. We’ll examine phrasing and time, which I think is what separates a good player from a great player — critical elements in telling your story as an improviser.

Rhythm is the most overlooked but important aspect of music and guitar playing. It's hard to play anything if you can't play good rhythm. I’ll demonstrate a variety of versatile and economical shapes, which help make your rhythm playing sound great.”

In the second section of the Blue Highways, you’ll play your way through a series of 8 soloing performance studies, across a variety of blues feels, keys, and tempos. Josh will overview the backing track and feel, and then solo over the track. After the performance, Josh breaks down the solo emphasizing the approaches and techniques in play.

Josh will explain and demonstrate all of the key concepts and approaches along the way. You’ll get standard notation and tabs for each of the performances. Plus, Josh includes all of the backing tracks for you to work with on your own. In addition, you’ll be able to loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let’s head down the ‘highway’ with Josh Smith!