Petite Blues By Marc Bélanger

The variety of styles and genres gives me great pleasure in teaching guitar at this time in history. Petite Blues by Marc Bélanger allows a beginning classical guitarist the ideal introduction to the blues genre. The piece employs enough chromaticism to keep the player’s interest alive. Furthermore, a listening audience enjoys the deviation from the classical guitar norm.

Purchasing Petite Blues Sheet Music

I know of only two publications to find Petite Blues. Firstly, Piecettes by Marc Bélanger (Les Productions d’OZ), contains many of Bélanger’s other works for guitar. Many of which will open the aspiring guitarist to simple pieces that help expand their understanding of harmony and exposes them to new genres and sounds. As a result, understanding other compositions from the same composer give the student and listener much more insight into their musical landscape.

Secondly, Preparatory Guitar Repertoire and Etudes (The Royal Conservatory), falls at the very beginning of the level work following The Royal Conservatory’s level system. Certainly, most who already know this work found it through this particular series of books.

Having taught this piece to young players, I can say it is a big hit with adults and youth alike. Many will sit down for their lessons and warm up with this piece above all others. It gives them that sense of touching the blues especially when played with swing (as I always suggest). Being a classically trained player does not mean you cannot have fun or even become proficient in another genre. The music might change but your technique allows for it easily.

Chadwick Becks

I have two degrees in guitar performance and was privileged to study under Aaron Shearer, Tom Kikta, David Skantar, Ken Karsh, Tim Bedner, and currently Christopher Berg. Outside my editorial work on this blog, I teach full-time across many genres including classical, jazz, blues, rock, funk, and metal.