Blues guitar progress, one problem at a time.
Play Guitar Podcast is a practical blues-guitar coaching show led by Lee, with audio episodes that go deeper than companion lesson videos. It focuses less on collecting endless licks and more on making simple ideas sound intentional, controlled, and musical.
PRESS PLAY
Play Guitar Podcast is a guitar-instruction show with a strong blues center and a clear teaching personality. Lee talks to players who know the feeling of having learned licks, scales, or chords but still not sounding the way they hoped. The show spends a lot of time on that gap. It is not only about what to play. It is about why a solo sounds cluttered, why phrases blur together, why extra strings ring out, and why rhythm work often gets ignored because lead lines feel more exciting. Episodes often begin from a specific weekly lesson topic, then use the podcast format for a deeper explanation. A video may handle the close-up playing, tab, and hands-on demonstration, while the audio episode works through the thinking behind it. That gives the show a useful rhythm: practical enough for the practice room, reflective enough for a commute. Blues phrasing comes up constantly. Lee returns to small ideas such as three-note licks, controlled bends, slides, attack, release, and the discipline of leaving space. The recurring argument is simple and useful: more notes do not automatically make better music. A player can often improve faster by developing one idea, fitting it to the song, and making each note speak clearly. The show also treats rhythm and chord progressions as essential, not secondary. The 12-bar blues, 8-bar blues, minor blues, chords, and supporting rhythm figures are presented as the structure that lets solos make sense. Mindset is another major thread. Lee talks about seasonal slumps, self-taught players choosing a path without a map, and the way confidence, consistency, and approach shape the actual sound of playing. Some episodes move into broader storytelling, using ideas like the hero's journey to frame why people start guitar, resist it, find guidance, and keep going. Community appears as part of that answer too: serious players, no ego, steady progress. Gear has a place, including discussions like the Maxon SD9 versus Ibanez TS9, but it does not take over the show. Play Guitar Podcast is strongest when it connects a small technical fix to the larger reason a player feels stuck.
Made for: For beginner and intermediate guitar players, especially self-taught blues players, who want clearer solos, stronger rhythm habits, and steadier practice momentum. It also suits players trying to simplify their phrasing and regain intention.
What sets it apart: The show separates hands-on video lessons from deeper audio coaching, using the podcast to explain the causes behind common playing problems. Its strength is connecting technique, musical restraint, and mindset without turning gear or licks into the whole story.
Have you been struggling with the guitar? You are not alone! For the past 30 years I have been helping beginner, intermediate, and advanced guitarists get out of the guitar rut and find their voice on the guitar. These FREE, FUN, and EASY guitar lessons give you the right mindset for guitar success, and keep you moving forward on the guitar. No matter if you are just starting out or have been playing for years, this is the show that will help you become the guitarist that you always wanted to be! For more lessons, or to just stop by and say hi, come on over to www.playguitarpodcast.com.
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical lesson in shaping familiar licks into a solo with movement and intent.
The Play Guitar Podcast frames soloing as arrangement work, with Lee showing how familiar licks can become a shaped musical statement through placement, repetition, register, and small variation.
Guitar talk with workshop-floor honesty.
Ukulele lessons with talk-story warmth.
Apple details, software habits, and everyday technical friction.
Records worth hearing, reasons worth arguing over.
Lee discusses the importance of mindset in guitar playing and how it affects every aspect of learning and performing.
Lee from the Play Guitar Podcast teaches guitarists how to construct a solo from existing licks.
Lee addresses guitar players who feel stuck and frustrated, offering a mindset reset instead of technical lessons.
Lee helps guitar players overcome confidence issues and imposter syndrome to become the player they want to be.
Lee from Play Guitar Academy shares his first impressions of the Line 6 HX FX multi-effects pedal, a gift from student Dustin.
Lee of Play Guitar Academy presents three chromatic drills built around five notes per string, four notes per string, and sliding.
Lee’s Play Guitar Podcast episode turns pentatonic scales into a fretboard lesson, starting with A minor pattern one at the fifth fret.
Lee from the Play Guitar Podcast explains why guitarists overplay and offers a solution using simple three-note blues licks.
This episode teaches blues guitarists how to develop and expand a single lick into a full solo, emphasizing creativity over memorization.
This episode explains why self-taught blues guitarists often have weak solos due to skipping foundational rhythm and chord work, and how fixing this makes solos coherent.
Guitar instructor Lee explains why learned licks don't sound good due to poor articulation and offers fixes.
Lee discusses the root cause of common mistakes made by beginner blues guitar players and how to fix them.
Lee argues that one strong note per chord can make blues solos sound more grounded than busy scale patterns.
The Play Guitar Podcast examines David Gilmour's bends in the solo from Pink Floyd's "Time," focusing on pitch, phrasing, and restraint.
Lee discusses the importance of mindset in guitar playing and how shifting your approach can be more powerful than talent or gear.
Lee of the Play Guitar Podcast argues that guitar progress depends less on knowing techniques than on developing the mindset to keep practicing when times get hard.
Guitar podcast discussing the seasonal slump in practice, featuring a blues lesson and a gear face-off between Maxon SD9 and Ibanez TS9 overdrive pedals.