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KWS Blues Rock Experience preview

Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Blues Rock Experience

Blues Through the Lens of a Song

Playing the blues isn’t about knowing a bunch of licks. That is just a small part of it. The picture doesn’t fully come into focus until people can feel what you are playing. The emotional connection is what grabs people, draws them in, and leaves them wanting more. So how do we get people to emotionally connect with what we are playing?

For over 30 years, Kenny Wayne Shepherd has mastered the art of connecting with an audience, and now he wants to show you.

  • 30Performances to Learn
  • 9+Hours of Content
  • TABPlus Guitar Pro Files
  • 2Mixes of Every Track

Sound Familiar?

Same Licks. Same Box. Still Stuck.

The Notes Are Right. The Feel Isn’t.

You’ve put in the hours. You know your pentatonic boxes and a pocketful of go-to licks. But when a real song or the band kicks in, your playing still comes out feeling stiff and rehearsed; it sounds nothing like the records you love.

It’s the lick trap: the idea that the blues is three chords and a bag of phrases to memorize. Stay in that trap, and you’ll keep hitting the same wall, playing the same licks in the same box and wondering why your playing still doesn’t feel alive or sound the way you want to hear it.

The blues is the most honest music there is; it’s raw and dynamic, there’s attitude and swagger, and it’s gut-wrenching and moving; you can’t fake your way through it. The bottom line is, it’s not just “the what,” but “the why” you play something. If it’s not adding to the story of the song, it’s just useless memorized phrases with no context. Emotion and context are everything!

“All you need to do is figure out how to channel your feelings, good and bad, and just put it through your instrument. Make it go from your heart to your hands and out to the people so that they can feel it too.”

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

A Better Way

Not a Thousand Licks. Blues Through the Lens of a song

Instead of memorizing phrases with nowhere to go, you’ll learn blues rock through the lens of real songs, the way Kenny learned it playing on stages and in studios for the past thirty years. Let someone with real world experience and success show you exactly how it’s done.

Know when to

Hold Back

Know when to

Let Loose

Know when to

Leave Space

Know when to

Say More

I learned, as I made albums and as I performed over the last 30 years, when to hold back, when to let loose, when space really matters, and when more is actually necessary.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd
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The Foundation

Learn From the Masters, Then Make It Your Own

Plenty of players learn one I, IV, V progression and figure they’ve got the blues figured out. You’ve got to dig way deeper than that. You have to cut your teeth on the blues masters. In this course Kenny starts off with his influences and the players you need to know to dial in your playing. These are the players and guitar fundamentals that helped shape his sound. This is where learning the blues really starts.

First, you’ll take inspiration from early blues masters like Jimmy Reed, Albert Collins, Albert King and B.B. King, the pioneers who helped forge the sound of the electric blues. Then you’ll move on to the players and bands who went beyond the blues, adding other styles like rock and funk: Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, ZZ Top, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton and James Brown’s guitarists. Kenny will guide you through all the essential vocabulary and blues rock fundamentals, with techniques like picking, hand control, bending, vibrato, rhythm, timing, feel, and right and left hand muting. Then you can build from there so you’re ready for whatever a song calls for.

Step One

Essential Vocabulary

Build your blues vocabulary from the ground up. Whether it’s rhythm or leads, let the masters show you the way to a solid foundation.

Step Two

Dialing It In

Now that you have the vocabulary, it’s time to dial it in. Learn everything from right hand techniques to making the guitar sing with bending and vibrato.

Step Three

Beyond Just the Blues

Add the rock and the funk that push the blues forward, a sound Kenny soaked up from James Brown’s guitar players, Stevie Ray and Jimi Hendrix.

Everything Starts With a Solid Foundation

The Songs

Build Your Sound on the Songs That Built His

Kenny grew up in a radio family, so he was exposed to all styles of music, whether it was rock, blues, funk, or country, and he learned at a young age what songs would get radio airplay. As he developed as an artist and songwriter, he was able to write his own songs that would get played on the radio (11 Top Ten hits), and to this day, his songs are played worldwide. Now you get to learn those songs from him. You’ll get to dig in deep, from his very first album to one of his most recent.

Each one teaches you different aspects of blues rock guitar, timing, feel and phrasing you can carry into your own playing, and together through his songs, he will show you a complete picture of how it’s done. Blues rock guitar through the lens of a song.

KWS BandSet List

  1. Deja VoodooLedbetter Heights · 1995
  2. True LiesTrouble Is... · 1997
  3. Slow RideTrouble Is... · 1997
  4. Woman Like YouThe Traveler · 2019
  5. Sweet & LowDirt On My Diamonds Vol. 1 · 2023

plus lessons, breakdowns and interviews

Your Seat in the Band

Know What It Feels Like to Play in Kenny’s Band

Every track in the course comes straight from Kenny’s albums or tracks he created in the studio. No drum loops and no imitations. You lock in with the same world class players you hear on the records.

  • DrumsChris “Whipper” LaytonFounding member of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, and part of the KWS family since the original Ledbetter Heights sessions. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
  • KeysReese WynansStevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
  • BassKevin McCormickHas played with everyone from Melissa Etheridge and Jackson Browne to Crosby, Stills and Nash.
  • GuitarYouWith Kenny in the mix, or out front on your own.

Kenny’s Guitar: In

Play Along With Kenny

Keep Kenny’s guitar in the mix and play right alongside him and the band.

Kenny’s Guitar: Out

Take the Spotlight

Mute Kenny and play it yourself, so it’s just you featured with these killer musicians.

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Kenny Wayne Shepherd on stage with his white Fender Stratocaster
Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Your Guide

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

Kenny knows what it’s like to have the power of music grab hold of you, because it happened to him. As a seven year old, sitting at the side of the stage, he watched Stevie Ray Vaughan play with so much passion, intensity and raw emotion that it changed his life forever. This started a musical journey that led to being signed by legendary music executive Irving Azoff at just 16 years old and recording his debut album while still in high school.

Three decades later, he has six GRAMMY nominations, multiple gold and platinum records and his own Fender signature Stratocaster. He’s shared stages with Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Van Halen, The Rolling Stones, Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd, just to name a few. This is the first guitar course to feature him, built to hand you what all those years on stage have taught him.

6GRAMMY Nominations
2Billboard Music Awards
20Straight Weeks at No. 1, Billboard Blues Chart
11Top Ten Singles
  • 1995Ledbetter Heights goes platinum and spends 10 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart.
  • 1997Trouble Is... sells over a million copies and holds No. 1 on the Billboard Blues chart for 20 straight weeks, while “Blue On Black” tops Billboard’s Mainstream Rock chart.
  • 1999Live On is certified Gold.
  • 200710 Days Out: Blues From The Backroads, a DVD/CD made alongside B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin and Pinetop Perkins, earns two GRAMMY nominations and is certified Platinum.
  • 2013Forms the blues rock band The Rides with Stephen Stills and Barry Goldberg.
  • 2026Marks 30 years with Ledbetter Heights (The 30th Anniversary Sessions) and a 30th anniversary tour.

In His Own Words

A Word From Kenny

In this course, we’re going to cover a variety of things that I think will be invaluable for you to know about playing the blues.

Over the course of my career, I’ve learned that it’s not about how many notes you play. Sometimes, it’s about the space that you leave in the song that speaks the most. It’s not so much about the licks as it is about figuring out how to communicate your emotion to your audience through your instrument. That’s what I want to show you in this course.

In order to do this, we’re going to start at the beginning. We’re going to focus on the fundamentals of playing a blues shuffle, the Jimmy Reed, the Albert Collins, and the right hand, and then we will progress from there.

In this course, we’re going to focus on some of my biggest and most primary influences: Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, B.B. King, and Jimi Hendrix. We’re going to focus on the fundamental components of my sound and the people who had the biggest influence on what I do when I pick up the guitar. Most importantly, what I want to show you is how to take what you like about those influences and make it entirely your own.

There is definitely a standard vocabulary. There are licks that everyone plays, but what I’m going to show you in this course is how to take those standard licks and put your own spin on them so that you begin to develop your own identity.

All you need to do is figure out how to channel your feelings, good and bad, and just put it through your instrument. Make it go from your heart to your hands and out to the people so that they can feel it too.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd

For the True Fan

The Stories Behind the Songs

This course isn’t only about what Kenny plays. It’s also about where it all came from. You’ll hear the stories behind the songs, what life has been like on the road and how a 30-year career really unfolded, told by the man who lived it.

Consider it your backstage pass to three decades of Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Everything You Get

9+ Hours of Course Content

Kenny’s First Guitar Course

Learn straight from Kenny in the first guitar course to feature him, built from three decades as a performer and recording artist.

30 Performances

Thirty full performances to learn, with backing tracks, TAB, Guitar Pro files and scale charts.

Real Album Tracks

Play over the actual tracks from Kenny’s albums, featuring world class players, with or without his guitar in the mix.

Lessons, Breakdowns and Interviews

See the thinking behind the playing through Kenny’s lessons, detailed breakdowns and interviews.

Kenny’s Gear, Tips and Tricks

Get a look at the gear behind Kenny’s sound, plus the tips and tricks he’s picked up over thirty years on stage.

Standard TAB and Guitar Pro

No guesswork. Every performance is tabbed out, and you can slow anything down in Guitar Pro until it’s under your fingers.

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How It Works

Three Steps to Your Seat in the Band

Go from lick collector to blues player, one song at a time.

  • Step OneEnroll today. Get access to every lesson, performance and album track in the course.
  • Step TwoLearn the songs with Kenny. Lock in the feels first, then work through each performance with TAB and Guitar Pro files you can slow down to your own speed.
  • Step ThreePlay with the band. Keep Kenny in the mix or take the spotlight yourself, and hear the blues come out of your guitar the way you’ve always heard it in your head.

What You’re Going to Walk Away With

  • Play With Real Feel

    Make people feel what you’re playing instead of just hearing the notes.

  • Play Kenny’s Songs

    Learn Deja Voodoo, True Lies, Slow Ride and more, taught by Kenny himself.

  • Build a Pro Shuffle

    Build a shuffle that swings, rooted in Jimmy Reed and Stevie Ray Vaughan.

  • Hit Harder and Get Funky

    Dig in with a heavy right hand and add the funk that pushes the blues forward.

  • Bend With Authority

    Control all of your bends, big and small, and develop a vibrato that sounds like you.

  • Know What to Play and When

    Hold back, let loose, leave space and say more at the right moments.

  • Lock In With a Real Band

    Let Kenny and his band show you what it’s like to play with a world class rhythm section.

  • Find Your Own Voice

    Take what you love from your heroes and make it entirely your own.

Stop collecting licks. Start playing blues people can feel. Your seat in the band is waiting.

Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Blues Rock Experience Blues Through the Lens of a Song
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