Hello, Jerry Portnoy here. Welcome to Sonic Junction. I'm looking forward to sharing some music with you, and I'd like to give you an idea of how I teach.

As a self-taught musician, I have developed, over the years, a layman's approach to teaching blues: easy to learn, understand, and execute. For the most part, I teach songs from the repertoire of blues classics -- breaking down each song into multi-lesson series with detailed instruction on various aspects such as listening skills and ear training, tone and phrasing, skills for building interesting solos, and variations on approaches to soloing. As I have spent my life studying the masters of blues, I can show you how to get the sound of some favorite blues heroes, as well as licks from my personal arsenal.

I structure my lessons at Sonic Junction the same way I teach one-on-one, where students learn and ask questions. Learning at Sonic Junction provides you the give-and-take of my private lessons and masterclasses -- I personally answer each posted question and personally view and comment on every student video.

Each lesson will include a song/lesson overview, background listening and looping tracks. To access your lessons anywhere, use our iPhone/iPad app. You can get my personal feedback at any time by posting questions or uploading videos of your playing. I encourage you to post your work! -- it's fun and a great learning tool.

Jerry Portnoy

To get you started, please check out my free sample lesson: Hoochie Coochie Man - Opening Riff.

The signature riff from Hoochie Coochie Man. A very simple riff played in 1st position. A harp in key of A. The original had Little Walter playing behind Muddy's vocal. We'll be doing more of the song later but let's get that first lick played correctly. Besides the high register blow bends ala Jimmy Reed there is some good 1st position stuff at the low end as well. We'll be going over some basic 1st position patterns in coming lessons.