beatallica_fan

Now most of us know that much of the blues is based on the pentatonic minor, with the added flattened fifth forming the blues scale. What is less well known is that you can play any note with the blues, any note at all. The pentatonic contains the 1 b3 4 5 and b7, and the b5 if your playing the blues scale, I will show you where and how to use every other note. For all examples I am playing in the key of E with a basic 12 bar blues I7-E7 IV7-A7 V7-B7, so E is the tonic and any interval I name is in relation to E, obviously all these examples will work in any key, the mp3 recordings can be found on my website, click the link in my sig, under blues lesson 1. So first of all the b2.

b2- so in the key of E the b2 is F, not a note you would normally play in an E blues, admittedly I would avoid it over the E7 and A7. But when we get to the B7 wonderful things happens, as I stated earlier the b5 is the blue note, so in E that?s Bb, but lets forget we?re playing in the overall key of E and look at the chord, whats the b5 of B7, why its F. So you can play that b2 over the V7 for a really nice bluesy jazzy feel. Listen to example 1 0:01-0:07, a V7 to IV move, this is pure SRV.

2-F# in this case, this is a great note, it works over all the chords in a 12 bar, over the tonic, I like to give it a quarter tone tweak hinting at the b3, over the IV7 it functions as the 6, so it creates a 13 chord, nice jazzy feel, over the V7 it?s the natural fifth so fits well, wont sound bad but it wont tweak the ear much. Listen to example 2, 0:12-0:21 for its use of the E7 and A7 in two different octaves.

3- G# the b3 gives a minor feel but we are after all playing over an E7 so G# works best over the tonic chord IMO. It is fairly common in blues so im not going to talk about it to much, just play a b3 3 tonic phrase for a nice blues resolution, as at the end of example 3 0:23-0:32..

b6- C another tricky note, sounds bad over the tonic, clashes with the 5th, and the V7, b9 over a straight 7 chord creates a dim chord. Can be used over the IV7 as the b3, handle with care though, listen to example 4, 0:34-0:47, a jazzy phrase over the A7.

6-C# another universal note, will work over any of the chords in a standard 12 bar, as the 2nd over the V7 and the 3rd over the IV7. Listen to example 5, 0:52-1:00 for its use over the first two bars. I used a repeated lick here, only altering one note from G# over the E7 to A over the A7, see if you can notice how the function of the C#, as well as the other notes, changes. Can also be played as a double stop with the b3 for a nice bluesy tri tone.

7-Eb, tricky, over the V7 functions as a simple 3rd, over the IV7 as the bluesy b5, nothing new there, OVER the tonic, it?s a no no, but as a leading tone to the tonic its great, listen to example 6, 1:04-1:14 for a B7 A7 resolving to E7 and how the Eb is a great lead tone to the E7, as the b5 of A7, almost functions as a passing tone but it still sounds sweet.

Obviously in all these examples I?m using notes from all the other examples, as well as the basic blues scale Some might consider a lot of this to just be switching from minor to major pentatonics, view it as you wish. The idea here isn?t for you to copy the licks I played, they aren?t that great and just serve a purpose of how to fit these notes into your playing. As I said this is advice for playing over a basic 12 bar blues, if the idea catches on I will cover licks and notes you can play over more complex chords and progressions. The backing track can be found on my dmusic website, hope you enjoy the lesson and find some useful ideas.

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wasted guitarst

i dont like to whine because i think that everyone should explore more,
but
shouldnt this go under lessons

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beatallica_fan

i may put it into lessons in the future, but putting it here means i can post my mp3 link and get better more indepth feedback to improve the lesson. Any thoughts from anyone else?

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boyo21

I like it man, gonna mess around with some of it later.

TheAxeAbuser

yeah i allready knew that. but it did make me go learn some wicked new chord progreesions.
good work.
cheers

RainDog

Good lesson, your link does not work though.

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Daveo

That's great, really useful lesson.

Good work, thanks!

ZoSo_420

this lesson gets:

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ZepHedJack

I read it in B&J and loved it. It's taken me a while to kinda stray from the Blues Box, but I've been throwing in the chromatics and it can really spice things up. I like how you've suggested the different ways to use the notes over chords.

Overall, very nice, i must say.

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beatallica_fan

yeah i posted in both as the B&J regulars have been asking for a lesson like that so i thought id see where i got the better response, looks like MT wins.

Do you guys think tabs would help, or can you hear where im using each highlighted note on the example licks.

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Asomodai

This is a good supplement to what little i learned on music theory during my music technology course. Somehow i passed my grade 5 exam. But this is helping things along for me understanding

Though i really should try at putting this into practical use.

I will give it a shot

rob

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Daveo

I'd like to see tabs, tbh. I know it's a bitch, but I can't make out where you're using the outside notes.

Sorry.

beatallica_fan

sigh i was gonna start work on the next lesson this afternoon, guess i know what i'll be doing now, no probs Dave

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beatallica_fan

Example 1

B7                          A7

-12-13-12----12------------------
----------15----15-12------------
----------------------12-13-14---
---------------------------------
---------------------------------
---------------------------------

Example 2

E7
--14^15^14-12-------------------
--------------15-12-15^17^15-12-
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------
--------------------------------

A7
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------
-14^16^14-12----11^12^11-------------
-------------14----------12/14\12/14-
-------------------------------------
-------------------------------------

Example 3

E7
-12-------------------------------------------
----15-12-------------------------------------
----------14^16^14-12----12----12h13----------
----------------------14----14-------14-12-14-
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Example 4

A7
----------------------------
-15^17^15-12-12h13p12-------
----------------------14~~~-
----------------------------
----------------------------
----------------------------



A7                              E7

----------------------------------------------
----12-13-14^15^14-12-------------------------
-14-------------------14^16^14-12----12h13----
----------------------------------14-------14-
----------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------

Example 5

E7                    A7
--------------------------------------------------------
-2-2^3^2-0-------------2-2^3^2-0------------------------
-----------0h1-------------------0h2-0------------------
---------------2-2~~-------------------2-0---0h2~~------
-------------------------------------------2------------
--------------------------------------------------------


Example 6

B7
----------------------------------
-15^17^15-12----------------------
-------------14^16^14-12----12----
-------------------------14----14-
----------------------------------
----------------------------------

A7                                E7

----------------12------------------------
-------------12----15---12-15-12-16/17~~~-
-12-14^15^14------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------

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Daveo

Thanks alot, that's brilliant!

Drummondo

Much appreciated Beat, I'll have to try some of this later. The tabs help a lot :>

After hearing some of your recordings in R+R, you obviously know your Jazz pretty well and this lesson is a great introduction for everyone else who's looking to play in a similar style. Good stuff, thanks xD

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beatallica_fan

thats the idea, i think learning to apply some more colourful notes over a blues progression can help you take the step to jazz playing. I think the next lesson will be applying simple pentatonic scales over more complex chords.

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casualty01

hey man, nice lesson. good to see some jazz influence starting to etch it's way in round these parts.

nice examples too. thought they sounded good , and I love the idea of having recordings in here for the musical examples as well... so others can here what you're actually talking about.

only suggestion I'd make is for the tab. I'd say maybe even go a little further and bold or color the specific scale tone you're talking about. to help out those that aren't 100% up on their theory and all ya know

all in all a real cool lesson that could spice up alot of peoples dull ass pentatonic tripe. lookin foward to what's next.

Cas-

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Daveo

^
Yeah, I was gonna suggest colouring the tones differently, but I didn't wanna make a fuss!