Three years. That is how long Colin spent putting this thing together — not because blues guitar is that complicated, but because he refused to leave anything out. If you want a real foundation in blues guitar scales, chords, rhythms, and soloing, this course covers all of it in a way most courses do not come close to touching.

Below is a short interview we recorded where Colin walks through exactly what is inside each of the four stages. Worth watching before you decide where to start.

Four Stages, One Complete Foundation

The course is broken into four stages, and the order matters. Colin built them to build on each other deliberately. You can jump in anywhere, but you will get the most out of each stage if you have worked through the one before it.

Stage 1 — Chords. Not just strumming shapes. There are over 400 chords in this stage, with a system for learning them so you understand how they fit together in any key, anywhere on the fretboard. Chord substitution, songwriting applications, the whole picture.

Stage 2 — Scales. Specifically the blues scales and their modifications. There is enough classical theory woven in that it maps to any theory book, but the focus is practical: how to cover the whole fretboard and move creatively between positions. The goal is not to memorize a bunch of patterns — it is to understand how to use them.

Stage 3 Is Where It Gets Real

Rhythms and progressions is the biggest stage in the course, and Colin will tell you it is the most important. Here is why: he recorded six original backing tracks, just playing the way he heard it in his head. Then he went back and analyzed every bar — what he did, why it works, how each chord choice came from the concepts in stages one and two. You get to watch creativity get reverse-engineered.

If you have ever wondered how great blues players make everything sound connected rather than like separate licks strung together, stage three is where that clicks. It pairs naturally with understanding the flatted fifth — the interval that is at the heart of the blues sound.

Stage 4: Your Voice as a Blues Player

Soloing is the final stage, and Colin calls it your voice as a guitarist. If you are not a singer, your solo is the only place you get to speak. Across those same six songs, he walks through at least one — usually two or three — complete 12-bar solos, bar by bar, at whatever speed you need. The point is not to learn his solos note for note. It is to understand how the riffs fit the progressions so you can start building your own.

Want to hear how Colin approaches blues licks in that style? The BB King licks lesson gives you a taste of the kind of phrasing stage four is built around.

What You Walk Away With

Once you are through all four stages, you will be ready to sit in at a jam session, back a singer, or just play something that sounds like music rather than exercises. The course leans heavily blues, but the foundation carries over to country, rock, rockabilly, and classic rock. The only styles it does not really touch are classical and flamenco.

Ready to start? Stage 1 is available now at the RiffNinja Academy — and that is the right place to begin.