#-6&4 %/8(35,17 · Knowing how to play the blues is incredibly important to guitar players. Whether you play jazz, Whether you play jazz, rock, metal or any other number of styles;

BLUESGUITARBLUEPRINT

Nate Savage’s

Copyright © 2010 Railroad Media, Inc.

Table Of Contents The Blues....................................................................... Common Blues Chords................................................ Common Blues Progressions...................................... Standard 12 Bar Blues.......................................... Quick-Change 12 Bar Blues................................. Add In a 2-5-1....................................................... Standard Minor Blues Progression....................... The Blues Scale............................................................ The Major Scale.................................................... The Minor Pentatonic Scale.................................. The Blues Scale.................................................... Two Blues Scale Shapes.............................................. 6th String Root Note Blues Scale.......................... 5th String Root Note Blues Scale.......................... The Notes In The Blues Scale...................................... Root Notes............................................................ Blue Notes............................................................ The 4th.................................................................. The 5th.................................................................. Chord Tones In The Blues Scale................................. The 1 Chord.......................................................... The 4 Chord.......................................................... The 5 Chord.......................................................... Decorating/Passing Tones........................................... The Major 3rd........................................................ The Major 7th........................................................ The Big Picture.............................................................. Other Blues Scale Shapes........................................... Making Your Blues Playing Even Better..................... Mixolydian Scales................................................. Changing Blues Scales With Chords.................... Dominant 7th Arpeggios........................................ The Major Pentatonic Scale.................................. The Natural Minor Scale....................................... Blues Licks.................................................................... CD Track Listing............................................................ Conclusion.....................................................................

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The BluesKnowing how to play the blues is incredibly important to guitar players. Whether you play jazz, rock, metal or any other number of styles; the blues is one of the major pillars upon which most modern music is built. Take a look at some of the most popular, and probably some of your favorite, guitar players: Eric Clapton, B.B. King, Eric Johnson, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Santana, Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, John Petrucci . . . well, you get the idea, I could go on for pages. The point is that all of these great players have a solid understanding of the blues and how to express themselves through this style of music. Learning how to play the blues, and I mean really knowing what is going on, is a critical part of your foundation as a musician - especially as an improvising or soloing musician.

If you listen to most blues solos or albums, the licks and phrasing in the solos are very lyrical, almost like someone talking. That’s one of the ways that we as humans express ourselves all of the time, by talking. If you can learn how to express your own unique voice through the blues, you will have an incredible head start on your journey to learn how to be a creative and well-rounded musician.

The goal of this course is to give you an uncommonly solid foundation in the blues, instead of just teaching you how to play scale shapes and move them around the fretboard. To do this, we will focus on just two blues scale shapes. So, instead of learning a ton of shapes, we will go through each of these two shapes in great detail and learn how to use each note in the blues scale. This will help you get your musical ideas out of your head and on to the strings of your guitar.

Before we dive into the critical aspects of how to use the blues scale, we will look at a few of the most common chords found in the blues, as well as some of the more common chord progressions. This is an important place to start. You will see that if you don’t know what chords you are playing over, your abilities with the blues scale will be limited and even impaired.

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Once you have learned the common chords, chord progressions, blues scale shapes, and how to use the notes in the blues scale over chords, we will learn 41 licks to help solidify your new knowledge. All of these licks are specifically designed to help you make the most out of the blues scale, and begin to recognize how to build licks over specific chords.

The coolest thing about this blues course is that you get to apply your new wealth of knowledge, and all of your new licks, to 4 different blues play-along tracks. This is where you can woodshed the licks that you have learned, or take it one step further by really applying what you have learned and making up your own unique licks.

I am excited for you to join me on the first leg of the journey to really learning how to play the blues. You should be excited too! If you really apply yourself and learn the concepts in this course, you will be in an awesome position to start tackling any style of music that you wish.

If you don’t have much experience with the blues, you should know that most of the time the blues has a swing or shuffle feel instead of just a straight ahead feel. That just means that instead of having a song where the eighth notes are played straight or evenly, you would play them with more of a triplet feel. Don’t worry if this doesn’t make sense to you now. Once you listen to the blues and the play-alongs, the swing feel will become very obvious to you.

One very important thing that I should mention is that you should listen to a lot of blues - and I mean a lot. Listen to whatever you can get your hands on, even if it is something that you would not normally listen to. Listening to how the blues are played and building your lick vocabulary are two very important aspects of growing as a blues musician.

Let’s dive in!

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Common Blues ChordsThere are a lot of different chords that you could use, but for the purpose of this course we will stick to some of the basic dominant 7th chords. If you do not know your dominant 7th chords, we will learn a few of the basic shapes that you will need to know first. If you already know these shapes - great! You can skip ahead to the next section. The shapes we will be learning are the dominant 7th chord voicings that use the E and A bar chord shapes. Here are the diagrams of these two shapes.

It is important that you understand how dominant 7th chords are made, because they are used in the blues so often. If you are already familiar with how major chords are made, this will be a breeze for you. If not, we will go over it quickly.

Let’s use the A major scale to start learning how a major chord is made. The A major scale is spelled: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#. If you want to make an A major chord, all you have to do is use the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the major scale. Those notes are 1A, 3C#, and 5E. Easy right?!

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If you want to make any other major chord, all you have to do is take the major scale of whatever major chord you want to build, and pick out the 1rst, 3rd, and 5th notes of that major scale. For example, if you want to make a D major chord, you would take the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the D major scale and put them with one another. The D major scale is spelled: 1D 2E 3F# 4G 5A 6B 7C#. The 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the D major scale are 1D, 3F#, and 5A. Catching on?

Now that you know the basics of how to build a major chord, we need to make that major chord into a dominant 7th chord. Major chords are three note chords called triads. Dominant 7th chords are four note chords. So, what is the fourth note? It is the 7th note of the major scale. Hence the name dominant “7th” chord. There is one catch though. In a dominant 7th chord, the 7th cannot be the note that occurs naturally in the major scale of whatever major chord you are building. We have to lower the 7th note of that major scale one half-step.

Let’s look at an example to clear up this idea. Go back to your A major chord: 1A, 3C#, 5E. What is the 7th note in the A major scale? 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#. That would be G#. That is great, but we need to lower that note one half-step to make our dominant 7th chord. To do that, we take the G# and lower it one-half step to a regular G.

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When you look at an A major scale, 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#, the distance from the A to the G# is what we call a major 7th. If we lower the G# to a G, the distance from the A to the G is called a minor 7th. A minor 7th is what we need for our dominant 7th chord.

Let’s build one more dominant 7th chord. Our D major scale is spelled: 1D 2E 3F# 4G 5A 6B 7C#. The notes in our D major chord are 1D, 3F#, and 5A. Now we just have to add the 7th note of the D major scale to the major chord and lower it one half-step. The 7th note of the D major scale is C#. If we lower the C# one half-step we end up with a regular C natural. So, our D dominant 7th chord is spelled 1D 3F# 5A 7C.

Don’t worry too much about this right now. Just realize that a dominant 7th chord is made of a major chord, or triad, with a lowered 7th added to that major chord. The lowered 7th gives us that bluesy sound. Very important!

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There are certain chord progressions that pop up over and over again in the blues. For the purpose of this course we will keep it simple and stick to 4 basic progressions. Limiting our chord progressions to just a few, will help us to get a better understanding of how to use the blues scale in a musical context. We will also stick to the key of A blues for all of the examples, so that you can get really familiar with the notes in the chords in the key of A, as well as the notes in the A blues scale.

You may be familiar with this progression, but we will go over it quickly just to make sure. We will stick to the key of A for this one. The A major scale is spelled: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#. The chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression are 1, 4, and 5. Since we are in the key of A, those chords would be 1A, 4D, and 5E.

All you have to do now is memorize the order of the chords in the progression, and how many measures each chord receives. The first four measures of the 12 bars are all 1 chords. In this case you would have four measures of A. In measures five and six, play the 4, or D chord.Measures seven and eight go back to the 1A chord. Measure nine goes to the 5, or E chord. Move back to the 4D chord for measure ten. Measure eleven moves to the 1A chord, and we finish off the progression by going back to the 5E for bar twelve.

It is critical that you understand this progression and have it down cold. Many of the other blues progressions that you will encounter on your musical journeys will be based upon this simple 12 bar blues progression. A picture is worth a thousand words, so here is a simple example of the standard 12 bar blues progression. Notice that all of the chords are dominant 7th chords. This will give you that bluesy sound. Go through it over and over again and try to engrain it into your brain. The more thoroughly you memorize this progression, the easier it will be to play solos over it.

Common Blues Progressions

Standard 12 Bar Blues

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This blues progression is very similar to the standard 12 bar progression, however you throw in a 4D chord in measure two instead of just staying on the 1A chord. Here is a chord chart of the quick-change 12 bar progression.

This progression still uses the basic 12 bar blues as a foundation, however we are throwing a minor chord into the mix to keep things interesting. In measure nine you will see that there is a B minor chord. This is the 2 chord in the key of A. The 2 chord in any major key is always a minor chord.

The only other thing that is different in this progression is a chord change in measure ten. Instead of a 4D chord you have a 5E chord. Measures eleven and twelve finish just like the standard 12 bar blues progression. Here is a chart of this one.

Quick-Change 12 Bar Blues

Add In a 2-5-1

The 2-5-1 progression that you see in measures nine, ten and eleven is a very important and fundamental “mini” progression that you will see a lot in blues, jazz, and many other styles of

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The minor blues progression that we will be learning uses the same format as the standard 12 bar blues progression, however we will be in the key of A minor. Since we are in the key of A minor, we need to change all of the dominant 7th chords to minor chords. That involves getting rid of the 7th and lowering only one note in each chord one half-step.

Let’s start by making our A dominant 7th into an A minor chord. If you recall, our A dominant 7th chord was spelled: 1A 3C# 5E 7G. You can turn this chord into a minor chord by getting rid of the 7th, and lowering the 3rd note one half-step. Do that by moving the C# down to a regular C natural. Now we have 1A, 3C, and 5E. Those are the notes in an A minor chord.

Now let’s try doing the same thing for the D dominant 7th chord to make sure that you get the idea. The D dominant 7th chord is spelled: 1D 3F# 5A 7C. Throw away the 7th and lower the 3 of the chord from an F# down to a regular F natural. Now we have 1D, 3F, and 5A, the notes in a D minor chord.

Don’t worry about this too much right now. Just look at the following chord diagrams and get them under your fingers. Once you have the shapes down, you can just plug them into the standard 12 bar blues progression to make the standard minor blues progression.

Standard Minor Blues Progression

A minor D minorE minor

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The Blues ScaleNow that you are familiar with the chord progressions that we will be using, and know the chord shapes that we will be using in those progressions, it is time to learn how the blues scale is made.

If you know how to make major scales, it is easy to make your blues scales. If you do not know how to make a major scale we will cover that briefly. The major scale is the foundation of just about every scale out there. Before you can build a major scale you need to know the difference between a whole-step and a half-step.

A whole-step is when you start on one note and skip a note in either direction to the next note. You can go up or down and this will still be a whole-step. Let’s look at an example to make sure that this is clear. Put your finger on the A note on the 5th fret of your 6th string. Now move your finger up to the B note on the 7th fret. That is a whole-step. You could also move your finger from the A on the 5th fret down to the G on the 3rd fret. The G on the 3rd fret would be one whole-step lower than the A on the 5th fret.

A half-step is simply any note that is one tone away from the note that you are playing. Put your finger back on the A on the 5th fret of the 6th string. Now slide your finger up to the A# on the 6th fret of the 6th string. The distance from the 5th fret to the 6th fret is a half-step. Again, you could start on the A on the 5th fret and go down to the G# on the 4th fret and that would be a half-step too.

The Major Scale

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Now that you know what whole and half-steps are, we can learn the formula for a major scale. The formula for a major scale is simply this: whole-step, whole-step, half-step, whole-step, whole-step, whole-step, half-step. That’s it! I like to abbreviate this formula like this: WWHWWWH. It is a bit easier to remember that way.

So, if you start out on that A note on the 5th fret of the sixth string again, we can start following the major scale formula in order to build an A major scale. Play the A on the 5th fret, and then move up one whole-step to the B note on the 7th fret. Move up another whole-step to the C# on the 9th fret. Now the formula calls for a half-step so move up to the D note on the 10th fret. We need three more whole steps now, so move up to the E on the 12th fret, followed by the F# on the 14th fret and on to the G# on the 16th fret.

Finish off our major scale formula by moving up one half-step to the A on the 17th fret. That is the entire A major scale. If this is confusing for you don’t worry. The more you work on building major scales the easier it will become. Here is a graphic that might help you a bit.

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Now that you have a pretty good understanding of how the major scale is made, you need to learn how to build a minor pentatonic scale. Start off by writing out the A major scale: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#.

The first thing that we need to do in order to build an A minor pentatonic scale, is to move the A major scale into an A minor scale. All we have to do is lower the 3C#, 6F#, and 7G# notes one half-step each. The C# will become a regular C natural, the F# will become a regular F natural, and the G# will become a regular G natural. This will give us an A minor scale spelled: 1A 2B 3C 4D 5E 6F 7G.

The last thing we need to do in order to create our minor pentatonic scale, is to get rid of the 2nd and 6th notes of the scale. That’s right, just throw out the 2B and 6F notes. That would leave us with 1A 3C 4D 5E 7G, the notes in an A minor pentatonic scale. That’s five notes, hence the name “penta” tonic scale. Here is a scale diagram of the most common minor pentatonic scale shape for you to work on.

The Minor Pentatonic Scale - How It Is Made

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We have made an A major scale and turned it into an A minor scale. Once we had our A minor scale we threw a couple of notes out to make an A minor pentatonic scale. Now all you have to do to make an A blues scale is add one note to the minor pentatonic scale.

The one note that you need to add to the minor pentatonic scale is called a flat 5 or a sharp 4. The 5 of the A major scale is an E. Before adding this note to the scale, you have to lower it one half-step. Once you add that note, you end up with a six note A blues scale spelled: 1A 3C 4D flat 5Eb 5E 7G.

That’s the scoop on how the blues scale is made. Just take the minor pentatonic scale of whatever key you are in, and add a flat 5 to the scale. Here is that same common minor pentatonic scale diagram shape with the flat 5 note added to it. The Blues Scale!

The Blues Scale - How It Is Made

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Two Blues Scale ShapesFor the purposes of this course, we will only be using two shapes for the blues scale; however, we will be going over them very thoroughly. It is better to know how to play very well in just two positions, than it is to know a ton of scale shapes but not really know much about how to use them. We have already taken a look at one of the shapes for the blues scale, but let’s dig in a little deeper.

This shape for the blues scale is by far the most common and overused guitar scale shape out there. A lot of players know it but not a lot of players know how to really use it. Let’s just start off by learning the shape forwards, backwards, and memorizing where the root notes are. To the right is a diagram of the shape.

The numbers in the circles are just indicators for which finger you should be using to play that note. Practice this shape as

6th String Root Note Blues Scale

much as you need to, until you get very comfortable with it. All of the root notes are in black. In this case we are playing an A blues scale, so all of the solid black dots would be A notes (the root of the scale). Try to memorize exactly where the root notes are in this scale shape. You will notice that you have three root notes in this shape - one on the 6th string, one on the 4th string, and one on the 1st string. Memorize this so you don’t have to really think about it.

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The second blues scale shape that we will be learning has its lowest root note on the 5th string. Since we are still in the key of A, the root note on the 5th string will be on the 12th fret. Here is the diagram.

You will probably notice that there are only two root notes in this shape - one on the 5th string, and one on the 3rd string. Practice this scale up and down on a regular basis. This way, you have the shape and the location of the root notes memorized.

5th String Root Note Blues Scale

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The Notes In The Blues ScaleYou have learned the two blues scale shapes and the locations of the root notes in the scales. That’s great, but sadly that’s as far as most guitar players ever get. It is fun to just play these shapes and jam to music, however if this is as far as you ever take it, you will be limiting your expression as a guitar player.

The goal of the following sections is to educate you about how to use the notes in the blues scale over certain chords, so that you can make an educated choice about what notes to play in your solos. Emphasizing certain notes of the blues scale over certain chords can really change the sound of your playing. When I talk about emphasizing certain notes, I mean you play certain notes on purpose and perhaps more often than some of the other notes that you choose to play. Once you understand how the notes in the blues scale work over the chords in the progressions that we’ve learned, we will take that knowledge and build a ton of blues licks that you can use in your playing. The ultimate goal here is for you to understand how to start building your own blues licks.

Before we dive into the notes of the blues scale, let’s compare the notes in the A blues scale to the notes in the 1, 4, and 5 chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression.

Notes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E GNotes in the A dominant 7th chord: A C# E GNotes in the D dominant 7th chord: D F# A CNotes in the E dominant 7th chord: E G# B D

Take a minute to compare each chord to the blues scale. For example, look at the A dominant 7th chord. The notes in that chord are: A C# E G. The notes in the A blues scale are: A C D Eb E G. Do you see how the A dominant 7th chord and A blues scale have several notes in common? The A, E, and G notes occur in both the A blues scale and the A dominant 7th chord. Don’t worry about this too much right now, it is just something that you need to be aware of as you work your way through the next few sections.

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You have already learned about the root notes of the two blues scale shapes that we have covered, but we need to talk about root notes in a different way. If you are playing an A blues scale over an A dominant 7 chord, emphasizing the A root notes of the blues scale will sound great.

That’s an awesome place to start, however what happens when the chord changes? For example, what should you do when a basic 12 bar blues progression in the key of A changes to the 4 or D dominant 7th chord? Well, you could just wing it and run up and down the scale shape - or you could make a more educated decision. One of the first things that you could do is to simply emphasize the D note, the root note of the 4D dominant 7th chord. Here are two diagrams of the A blues scale shapes with the D notes in black, instead of the A notes. Try to memorize where the root notes of the 4D chord are within the two shapes.

We have covered the root notes of the 1 and 4 chords, but we still need to learn where the root notes of the 5 chord are in our two blues scale shapes. On the next page you will find our two blues scale shape diagrams with the root notes of the 5E chord in black. Play around with the scales and try to emphasize the root note of the 5E chord when it comes up in any of the blues progressions that we have learned.

Root Notes

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Emphasizing the root note of whatever chord you are playing over is a great way to start “choosing” the notes that you play, instead of just randomly running through a scale shape. When I say emphasizing the root notes, I simply mean that you play the root note of whatever chord is being played purposefully, and more often.

Take this time to go through some of the play-along songs. Play just the root notes of the chords as they change. For example, if you are playing the standard 12 bar blues progression, you would just play A notes for the first four measures. When the progression changes to the D chord, try playing all of the D notes in the A blues scale. When the E chord comes around, play just the E notes in the A blues scale.

Blue notes are the notes in the blues scale that really give the scale its distinct “Blues” sound. These notes include the lowered 3rd, the lowered 5th, and the lowered 7th. Here is a brief description of each note.

Flat 3rd – The flat 3rd note in our A blues scale is the C note. This note is one of the notes that makes the blues so unique sounding. If you will notice, the notes in an A major chord are A, C#, and E; not A, C and E. A, C, and E are the notes in an A minor chord. Playing a scale with a flat 3rd (the blues scale), over a chord with a regular 3rd, is one of the things that give us the strange, yet beautifully unique sound that is found in the blues. On the following page, you will find the two blues scale shapes with flat 3rd notes in black.

Blue Notes

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Again, here is a listing of the A blues scale and the chords that occur in the 12 bar blues progression in the key of A.

Notes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E GNotes in the A dominant 7th chord: A C# E GNotes in the D dominant 7th chord: D F# A CNotes in the E dominant 7th chord: E G# B D

Notice that the flat C, or flat 3rd, only occurs in one of the chords; the D dominant 7th chord. Just make a note of that for now. We will talk more about the flat 3rd and regular 3rd later. For now, just play the flat 3rd over each chord in the standard blues progression while listening to how it sounds and behaves.

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Flat 5th – The flat 5 is considered to be “The” blues note. It is one of the most distinct sounding notes in the blues scale, and it’s arguably the most responsible for the “Blues” sound.

In our ongoing example of the A blues scale, you will see that the flat 5 is an Eb note. The flat 5 note is very distinct and is usually used as more of a passing tone because it can be rather harsh sounding or dissonant. In some types of music a dissonant sound can be bad, but in the blues it can be exactly what you are looking for.

There are times when you might want to handle the flat 5 note with care. I just mean that you might want to use it less or use it as more of a passing note. This is not always true though. There will be some times you might want to emphasize it quite heavily to bring out that soulful, grinding, bluesy sound.

Here are our two blues scale diagrams with the flat 5 notes in black. Try to memorize where the flat 5 notes are in the blues scale shapes. Play around with the flat 5 note and see how it sounds over each individual chord in the 12 bar blues progression.

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Flat 7th – Recall that the notes in our A blues scale are: 1A 3C 4D flat 5Eb 5E 7G. The G note, or flat 7th, is one of the notes that gives the blues scale its signature “blues” sound. Check out the notes in an A Dominant 7th chord, they are: 1A, 3C#, 5E, and G. Remember that we had to lower the 7G# note in the A major scale down to a G, in order to make our A dominant 7th chord. Here are our two blues scale diagrams with just the flat 7th in black.

Play the flat 7th notes over each chord change in the standard 12 bar blues progression. Pay attention to how the lowered 7th sounds over each chord.

The 4th of the blues scale is the weakest note of them all, meaning that it is the most unstable. Some say that it’s the least pleasant sounding note in the blues scale. Most players treat the 4th as a passing note. Check the next page to see the diagrams of the two blues scales with the 4th in black.

Play all of the 4th’s in each shape over the chord changes in the standard 12 bar blues progression. Pay attention to how this note sounds over each chord. Try to memorize that sound so you can recognize it at the drop of a hat.

The 4th

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The 5th of the blues scale is a very strong and stable sounding note. This means that the 5th sounds pretty good throughout the standard 12 bar blues progression. It is a pretty safe note to start or end a lick with. Here are two diagrams of our blues scales with the 5th in black.

Play these notes over the 12 bar blues progression and listen to how they sound over each chord change. Try to memorize that sound.

The 5th

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Chord Tones In The Blues ScaleBefore diving into this next section, it is important for you to be familiar with how each note in the blues scale sounds over the standard 12 bar blues progression. For example, do you know how the lowered 7th sounds over the 12 bar blues progression or how the lowered 5th sounds? If you have memorized these sounds, great! If you haven’t, you may want to go back through each note of the blues scale and become more familiar with them.

Now that you have learned about how the individual notes in the blues scale work, and have a firm grasp of how each note sounds, it is time to look at the individual notes that occur in the 1, 4, and 5 chords. To do this, we will compare the notes in each of the chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression, to the notes in the A blues scale.

One simple way to make sure that your solos sound great, and not just like you are playing randomly through a scale shape, is to emphasize the chord tones of the chords over which you are playing. When I talk about chord tones, I am just talking about the notes that occur in each chord. Let’s look at all three chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression, starting with the 1 chord.

The 1 Chord – The 1 chord in our standard 12 bar blues progression is an A dominant 7th chord. Check out the notes in the A dominant 7th chord, compared to the notes in the A blues scale.

Notes in the A dominant 7th chord: A C# E GNotes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E G

If you will notice, the A dominant 7th chord and the A blues scale have three notes in common; the A, E, and G. These notes are the 1st, 5th, and 7th of both the A dominant 7th chord and the A blues scale. If you emphasize these notes when you are playing the blues scale over a 1 chord, in this case an A dominant 7th chord, you will really help the listener to lock into the sound of that A dominant 7th chord. You will also sound like you really know what you’re doing and not just running up and down a scale.

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Try it! Put on one of the play-along tracks and try to emphasize the 1, 5, and 7 of the blues scale when the A dominant 7th chord is being played. Here are a couple of blues scale diagrams with just the 1st, 5th, and 7th notes in black.

Of course, these are not the only notes that you will want to play - it is just nice to emphasize these notes in licks and runs that you play over the 1 chord. Don’t forget about all of the other notes that you have learned about so far. If you feel like hearing a flat 5 note, go ahead and play that.

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The 4 Chord – Now let’s look at the notes in the 4 chord and compare them to the notes in the A blues scale. If you recall, the 4 chord in our standard 12 bar blues progression in the key of A is a D dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the D dominant 7th chord: D F# A CNotes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E G

The notes that occur in both the D dominant 7th chord and the A blues scale are D, A, and C. Notice that these notes are the 1st, 5th, and 7th of the D dominant 7th chord. Again, emphasizing these notes when the D dominant 7th chord is being played is a great way to make your playing more cohesive.

Here are a couple of diagrams with just the 1st, 5th, and 7th of the 4 chord in black. Try playing these notes over the 4 chords in the play-alongs.

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The 5 Chord – The last chord in the standard 12 bar blues progression is the 5 chord. In the key of A blues, the 5 chord is an E dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the E dominant 7th chord: E G# B DNotes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E G

The notes that occur in both the E dominant 7th chord and the A blues scale are E and D. The E is the root of the E dominant 7th chord and the D is the 7th of the E dominant 7th chord.

Try emphasizing these notes when you come to an E dominant 7th chord in the standard 12 bar blues progression, in the key of A. Here are two diagrams of the A blues scale shapes that we have been using with just the chord tones of the E dominant 7th chord in black.

Do you see how the blues scale is just packed full of chord tones that occur in the dominant 7th chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression? This is why the blues scale works so well over the blues progression. This makes it almost impossible to hit a wrong note. If you learn to apply everything we have gone over so far, you can make better decisions about which notes to play over whatever chord is currently being played.

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The Major 3rd – Take a look at the A major scale once again and compare it to the notes in the A dominant 7th chord that we have been using for our 1 chord. Notice that they both have a C# for the 3.

Notes in the A major scale: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#Notes in the A dominant 7th chord: 1A 3C# 5E 7G

Now compare the A blues scale to the A dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E GNotes in the A dominant 7th chord: 1A 3C# 5E 7G

If you have been paying close attention to what notes are in the blues scale and what notes are in the A dominant 7th chord that we have been using, you might be wondering why the 3rd of the A dominant 7th chord does not appear in the blues scale. Let me explain a bit. Major chords have a major third. In the case of an A major chord, that third is a C#. Blues scales, on the other hand, have a minor third. In an A blues scale this is a C natural. Generally, a major third and a minor third right next to one another in the same song don’t sound that great. This is one of the things that makes the blues so unique. The blues is kind of like a major key and a minor key getting together and having a kid - a hybrid if you will.

We have not used the major third, or C#, of the A major scale up to this point but the major third is a great note to throw in. This will add some color and style to your blues playing. Most of the time when you use the major third with your blues scale, it is just in passing.

Sliding and bending are two techniques you can use to implement the major third into your playing. On the following page you will find two diagrams of the blues scale shapes that we have been using with the minor thirds, and major thirds emphasized. The C# notes have been added to the diagrams. The minor 3rds (or C notes) are in black and the major 3rds (or C# notes) are in grey.

Decorating/Passing Tones

30


Practice sliding, hammering on, pulling off, and bending up to the major 3rd from the minor third. This can give you a really “cool” blues sound that kind of alternates from a happier major blues sound, to a more emotional and nastier minor blues sound. If you have never done this before, you might be surprised at how “Jazzy” your playing will start to sound.

The Major 7th - Take a look at the A major scale one more time and compare it to the notes in the A dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the A major scale: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#Notes in the A dominant 7th chord: 1A 3C# 5E 7G

Notice that the 7th note of the A major scale is a G# and the 7th of the A dominant 7th chord is a G natural.

Now compare the A blues scale to the A dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the A Blues Scale: A C D Eb E GNotes in the A dominant 7th chord: 1A 3C# 5E 7G

31


Notice that the 7th note of the A blues scale and the 7th note of the A dominant 7th chord are both G notes. The lowered G note in the blues scale sounds great over the standard 12 bar blues progression, but you can use the major 7th, or G#, in the same way that you would use the major 3rd.

You can slide, hammer-on, or bend up from the minor 7th, or G note, to the major 7th, or G#. You have to be a bit more careful when you use the major 7th because sometimes it can be very dissonant. One instance where the major 7th works very well is when you are playing over the 5 chord. This is because the 3rd of the 5 chord, the G#, is the same note as the 7th note in the A major scale. Here is a comparison of the E dominant 7th chord to the A major scale.

Notes in the A major scale: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#Notes in the E dominant 7th chord: 1E 3G# 5B 7D

Here are two diagrams of our two blues scale shapes with the major 7th added. The minor 7ths of the blues scale are in black, and the major 7ths of the A major scale are in grey. On the 6th string root shape, I went ahead and added in the minor and major 7ths that occur below the root of the scale. Practice sliding or bending up to the major 7th with the play-alongs.

32


We have gone through a lot of information so far and the following two diagrams put everything that you have learned into a simple picture. Here are our two blues scale shapes with each scale degree labeled. I have thrown in the major 3rd and major 7th as well.

The Big Picture

33


Now that you really understand how the blues scale works, and have the tools to thoroughly express yourself in two different positions, I want to cut you loose on the three remaining blues scale shapes. I have included diagrams of all three shapes. I have even included some blank scale diagrams as well, so that you can practice writing out the scale shapes with whatever notes you want to emphasize. Try writing out each new blues scale shape with all of the notes labeled.

This is the part where you really have to do your homework and experiment with each shape for yourself. Find out what notes are the flat 5, lowered 7th and so on. Take it one shape at a time and enjoy the journey. By now, your ears should start to recognize the notes in these new shapes and that is exactly where you want to be.

Other Blues Scale Shapes

34

Copyright © 2010 Railroad Media, Inc. 35

Copyright © 2010 Railroad Media, Inc.36


This is a course about how to use the blues scale, however I wanted to give you some extra tips that will make your blues playing even more interesting. There are several scales that you can use to spice up your blues playing, other than just using the blues scale of the key in which you are playing.

Making Your Blues Playing Even Better

To add an extra appeal to your blues playing, you can start by learning a scale called the mixolydian scale - which can be applied to whatever chord is currently being played. If you don’t know your mixolydian scale, don’t worry. We will learn two simple shapes that go nicely with the two main blues scales that we have been working on throughout this course. But first, let’s learn how the mixolydian scale is made.

The A major scale is spelled: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G#. All you have to do to make an A major scale into an A mixolydian scale, is lower the 7th scale degree one half-step. To do that, just change the G# to a G and you will end up with an A mixolydian scale spelled: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G.

Now let’s compare the notes in the A mixolydian scale to the notes in the A dominant 7th chord.

Notes in the A dominant 7th chord: A C# E GNotes in the A Mixolydian Scale: 1A 2B 3C# 4D 5E 6F# 7G

Do you see how all of the notes in the A dominant 7th chord are in the A mixolydian scale? That is why playing the A mixolydian scale over the A dominant 7th chord sounds good. Work your way through these two mixolydian scale shapes. The root note locations are in black.

Mixolydian Scales

37


Instead of playing just one mixolydian scale for all three chords in the standard 12 bar blues progression, like we have done with the blues scale, you need to learn to change mixolydian scales when the chords change. If you have practiced the two previous mixolydian scale shapes, this won’t be too tough for you. All you have to do is move the scale shapes to the root notes of the chord that you are playing over. Here are three diagrams of the mixolydian scale shapes. One for the A dominant 7th chord, the D dominant 7th chord, and the E dominant 7th chord.

Experiment with the mixolydian scales over these chords as much as you can. Soon, by gaining familiarity with their sound, you will be able to use them whenever you like, to conjure up that specific mixolydian sound.

38


When you are playing through a blues progression, you don’t have to stay in the blues scale of the key in which you are playing. You can change blues scales when the chords change. For example, if you remain in the key of A blues, you can play an A blues scale over the A dominant 7th chord, a D blues scale over the D dominant 7th chord, and an E blues scale over the E dominant 7th chord.

This is quite a different sound, but you don’t want to over use it. Using blues scales like this is cool, however over using them in this manor can be really unsettling. This is because you are constantly changing the tonal center every time you change blues scales. Here are three blues scale diagrams that you can use to play over the 1, 4, and 5 chords in the standard blues progression in the key of A. Handle with care!

Changing Blues Scales With Chords

39


Arpeggios are a great way to bring out the chord tones of the chords of the key in which you are playing. That’s because an arpeggio is simply the notes of a chord, played one at a time. We have been using all dominant 7th chords so far, so I decided to give you a few dominant 7th arpeggio shapes to use in your blues playing.

Use these dominant 7th arpeggio shapes over the corresponding dominant 7th chords. For example, use an A dominant 7th arpeggio over an A dominant 7th chord and an E dominant 7th arpeggio over an E dominant 7th chord. You won’t want to over use this idea either, however it is still a nice sound to have in your blues arsenal.

Dominant 7th Arpeggios

40


Another way to “Jazz” up your blues playing is to throw in the major pentatonic scale of whatever key you are in. For example, if you are playing in the key of A blues, you can use the A blues scale. However, you can also use the A major pentatonic scale to give your playing more of a “major” sound. Try experimenting with the A major pentatonic scale over the standard 12 bar blues progression. Use it wisely, but don’t over use it, or you might lose that bluesy sound. Here is a scale diagram for the A major pentatonic scale.

If you are playing the minor blues progression, you can still use the blues scale. You can also add a natural minor scale into the mix to spice things up a bit. Here are two shapes for the A natural minor scale that you can use in conjunction with your A blues scales.

The Major Pentatonic Scale

The Natural Minor Scale

41


Emphasizing the Root Note of the 1 Chord

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Now that you have learned all about the blues scale and how all of the notes in it work, it is time to put your new knowledge to work by learning a ton of new blues licks. As you work through these licks, try to recognize which notes are being played. Is the note you are playing a flat 5, the root, a lowered 3rd, or a lowered 7th? We will only be using the two scale shapes that we have been using throughout the entire course so that you can easily identify all of the notes in the licks.

The play-alongs that we have included will give you a chance to experiment with each note of the blues scale in a controlled environment. This way you can get to intimately know how each note of the blues scale sounds over different chords. Make the most of these tracks and experiment, experiment, experiment!

Good luck and practice hard!

Blues Licks

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taking the step into creating your own unique blues licks!

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CD Track ListingBlues Play-Along Tracks

CD-01 - Jazzy Blues

1. Jazzy Blues Full Band 2. Jazzy Blues Without Guitar 3. Jazzy Blues Without Guitar With Metronome 4. Jazzy Blues Loop In A 5. Jazzy Blues Loop In Bb 6. Jazzy Blues Loop In C 7. Jazzy Blues Loop In D 8. Jazzy Blues Loop In E 9. Jazzy Blues Loop In F10. Jazzy Blues Loop In G

CD-03 - 6/8 Quick-Change Blues

1. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Full Band 2. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Without Guitar 3. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Without Guitar With . Metronome 4. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In A 5. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In Bb 6. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In C 7. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In D 8. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In E 9. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In F10. 6/8 Quick-Change Blues Loop In G

CD-02 - Minor Blues

1. Minor Blues Full Band 2. Minor Blues Without Guitar 3. Minor Blues Without Guitar With Metronome 4. Minor Blues Loop In A 5. Minor Blues Loop In Bb 6. Minor Blues Loop In C 7. Minor Blues Loop In D 8. Minor Blues Loop In E 9. Minor Blues Loop In F10. Minor Blues Loop In G

CD-04 - Chicago Blues

1. Chicago Blues Full Band 2. Chicago Blues Without Guitar 3. Chicago Blues Without Guitar With Metronome 4. Chicago Blues Loop In A 5. Chicago Blues Loop In Bb 6. Chicago Blues Loop In C 7. Chicago Blues Loop In D 8. Chicago Blues Loop In E 9. Chicago Blues Loop In F10. Chicago Blues Loop In G

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We have covered a lot in this course; however, it won’t do you any good if you do not apply it, and put in the practice required to really make these concepts a part of your playing.

I know that we stayed in one key for the entire course but that was to make it easier for you to memorize the location of each note in all of the blues scale shapes. One of the beautiful things about the guitar is that all of the scale shapes are movable. If you want to change keys, all you have to do is move the scale shapes to where the root note locations are in the key you want to play. For example, if you want to play in the key of G blues, you would just move your 6th string root blues scale shape to where the lowest note of the scale is on the G note - the 3rd fret of the 6th string.

It is very important for you to play in as many keys as possible. Most guitar players love to play the blues in the keys of A, D, and E. Those keys are a great place to start, but if you ever play in a band with horns or a piano player, you will probably be playing in keys such as Bb, Eb, or F. My point is that it is important for you to practice your blues scale in as many keys as possible.

Enjoy your journey of learning the blues. Savor each note. Get the sound of each note in the blues scale engrained into your DNA. Memorize what each note in the blues scale sounds like. Put in the hard work and you will be able to express yourself through the blues in a way that most guitar players could only dream.

Conclusion

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Credits and Special Thanks

Produced by: Jared Falk

Written by: Nate Savage

Director of Cinematography: James Falk

Graphic / Product Design: Dave Atkinson

Head Post Editor: James Falk

Assistant Editor: Jeff Claassen

Assistant Editor: Victor Guidera

Chief Audio Engineer: Victor Guidera

Mastered by: Victor Guidera

Guitar: Nate Savage

Keyboards: Brett Ziegler

Drums: Jared Falk

Bass: Steve Klassen

Nate would like to thank

Christ, Dad, Mom, Kristi, and Gretchen, Sam Wakefield and the Wakefield crew - Don, Melody, and Angie, Derek Parrott, Jared and Shanna Falk, the crew at Railroad Media, Perry Springman and the Springman family, C.L. and Lois Brorsen, Autumn Downing, Karly Warkentin, Dr. Randy Snyder, Joel

Wetzstein, Steve and Courtney Klassen, Eric and April Brown, Brian Lacher, Jeremy Golden, John Bonin, Ray Solis, D’Addario, Steve Davis, Brett Ziegler, Joshua Mattia, Drew Godby, Jason Caldarera,

Alex Case, the crew at GC442 and everyone that I forgot.

Railroad Media, Inc.

Blues Guitar Blueprint copyright 2010

Railroad Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide

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Documents

#-6&4 %/8(35,17 · Knowing how to play the blues is incredibly important to guitar players. Whether you play jazz, Whether you play jazz, rock, metal or any other number of styles;