Originally Posted by: Joseph-DAfter a few lessons I realized that playing the licks up to speed is impossible for me at this time.[/quote]

Every guitar learner hits a wall at some point. I know that doesn't stop your frustration! But it might help to know that it is a very common experience. It takes a lot of repetitious practice in a very focused manner to play fast single note lines.

You have to work at playing very efficient, minimal motions in a relaxed manner. Try working on some of these pentatonic licks. They are the kind of physical motions using pentatonic scales that form the basis of a lot of rock & blues style licks.

https://www.guitartricks.com/search.php?search=%22Connecting+pentatonic+patterns%22

You might also get a lot from these pentatonic exercises.

Pentatonic Major Exercises

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=722

Pentatonic Minor Exercises

https://www.guitartricks.com/tutorial.php?input=185

Go slow at first! Play it right first, then gradually speed up using the video speed control when necessary.

[quote=Joseph-D]Feeling frustrated and discouraged I finally started searching for lessons on picking speed and discovered Christopher Schlegel's “Building Speed” lessons and pulled myself away from the Blues lessons to concentrate on my picking speed which is also quite a challenge.

Yikes! That's a challenging tutorial if you are brand new to fast playing. :) If you got something out of it, then good for you. But I'd recommend trying the above tutorials to get started on relaxed, efficient, minimal motions for playing blues licks.

Also have a look at this collection of tutorials aimed at basic blues lead ideas & skills.

https://www.guitartricks.com/collection/Bread-and-Butter-Butter-Blues-Licks

Be patient with yourself! Best of success!