Blues Soloing Masterclass - Week 1

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Matilda Janice Marsh
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2 Table Of Cotets Why Lear the Blues? Tuig The Chromatic Scale ad Notes o the th Strig Notes o the th Strig Commo Notes Betwee the th ad th Strigs The I-IV-V Chord Progressio Chords i Blues Groove: Straight vs. ShuffleSwig The -Bar Blues Chord Fragmets Vocal Elemets Petatoic Scales

3 Blues Soloig Masterclass - Week Steve S e Why Lear the Blues?. You probably like the Blues. You like listeig to it, goig to cocerts featurig your favorite blues ar sts, etc. because the Blues is ispirig to liste to ad watch people play it.. It has all the elemets you eed as a guitar player o ma er what style of music you favor playig.. Blues is a very effec ve meas of commuica o amogst may musicias. It is very cosistet. It does the same thigs over ad over for the most part. It is so predictable that may musicias ca play together almost istatly. These are three reasos why you will wat to lear the Blues. Tuig Before playig aythig else, it is importat to get your guitar tued. For this course, we will use stadard tuig as show below: Ê Â Ex. Guitar Tuig: = E = G = A = B = D = E GuitarZoom

The Chroma c Scale ad Notes o the th Strig To uderstad the guitar fretboard, we eed to uderstad the chroma c scale (all of the possible pitches i music).

4 The Chroma c Scale ad Notes o the th Strig To uderstad the guitar fretboard, we eed to uderstad the chroma c scale (all of the possible pitches i music). This is because the guitar fretboard's is divided by fretwires i accordace to it. Each fret is separated from each other by a half step. Playig all the otes o a sigle strig o all frets i successio produces the chroma c scale: Ex. # # # # # E F F# G G# A A# B C C# D D# 8 b b b b b w E Eb D Db C B Bb A Ab G Gb F E 8 While it would be ice to be able to memorize all the otes per fret, there is a easier ad smarter way of goig about it. Take ote of the image of the fretboard below: What we see are the otes over the th strig that we eed to memorize. To do so, take ote of the followig:. The ope th strig is E.. The st, rd, th, ad th frets have the otes F, G, A, ad B respec vely. These typically have fret markers.. I betwee the th fret are C ad D (8th ad th fret). The th fret ote is E.. The rest of the otes (accidetals) ca be derived by chroma c scale logic. GuitarZoom

5 Notes o the th Strig I the same maer as the th strig, we ca also derive a chroma c scale from the th strig star g with A: Ex. # # # # # A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# 8 b b b b b w A Ab G Gb F E Eb D Db C B Bb A 8 Lookig at the picture above, the smartest way to memorize the otes of the th strig is as follows:. Kow that the ope th strig is A.. The d, rd, th, ad th frets have the otes B, C, D, ad E respec vely. Except for the d fret, these typically have fret markers.. I betwee the th fret are F ad G (8th ad th fret). The th fret ote is A.. The rest of the otes (accidetals) ca be derived by chroma c scale logic. GuitarZoom

6 The ques o ow is why is it especially importat to memorize the otes of the th ad th strigs? This is very importat because it makes it easier to lear scales, chords, ad pa ers if we kow the otes of the th ad th strigs. Each ote the becomes a ladmark for various scale ad chord pa ers. Oce you have mastered the otes over the th ad th strigs, you ca get eve be er if you lear the otes of the rest of the strigs to become more cofidet whe playig the guitar. 8 Commo Notes Betwee the th ad th Strigs Oe of the thigs that ca be o ced a er learig the otes of the th ad th strigs is that you ca ide fy commo otes betwee the two strigs. This has the added beefit of beig able to avigate the fretboard be er ad lear pa ers more efficietly. Ex. A A B B C C D D E E F F G G 8 8 The I-IV-V Chord Progressio I Blues, the fudametal chord progressio is called the I-IV-V. I the key of A, for example, the I-IV-V is A-D-E. I music theory, each major scalekey sigature has seve otes ad will therefore have seve chords. We take the first (I), the fourth (IV), ad the fi h (V) chord from that key sigature ad play them i sequece to get the I-IV-V chord progressio. May blues sogs follow the I-IV-V. Take ote of the pa er below: Ex. # # # A D E I IV V GuitarZoom

7 If you look ito the previous example closely, the root of the I chord is at the th strig, the root of the IV chord is just udereath it at the th strig, ad the the V chord's root is at the th strig two frets away from the IV chord. As for our example i the key of A, the I chord's root is at the th strig th fret, the IV chord's root at the th strig th fret, ad the V chord's root at the th strig th fret: Ex. Sice we ca ow fid where the root otes of the I-IV-V are, all we have to do is flesh out the chords: Ex. A D E # # I IV V # Because this pa er is cosistet, we ca just move it aywhere o the fretboard to play a I-IV-V chord progressio i ay key we wat. For istace, all it takes to play a I-IV-V i the key of G is to move the pa er to the rd fret: Ex.8 G C D I IV V # GuitarZoom

8 For the ext example, let's put the I chord o the th strig this me. The pa er for our I-IV-V will look like this. We will plot out the root otes first: Ex. A D E I IV V You ca see that the if the I chord root is at the th strig, you ca fid the IV at the th strig two frets back ad the V chord just above it. We ca ow flesh them out as power chords: Ex. A D E I IV V Remember that as log as you kow where the root of your I chord is, you ca do these pa ers all over the fretboard i differet loca os to play i differet keys. Let's apply the th strig root pa er for the key of E: Ex. E A B # I IV V 8 GuitarZoom

9 GuitarZoom C A G E D Ex. 8 F A B E D Chords i Blues To kow how to apply chords i the Blues, we eed to kow how to play our esse al ope chords: # # # # #

10 8 Because the Blues is characterized by the use of domiat seveth ad mior seveth chords, we eed to lear how to covert our ope chords ito these kids of seveth chords by addig a mior seveth to each of them. I some of the chords, we have "rootless" voicigs: Ex. C A G E D b # # # F A B E D b # # GuitarZoom

11 Barre chords are othig more tha ope chords that have bee moved up the guitar, with the first figer beig used to bar across a fret to fuc o as the ut. Sixth strig barre chords have the root at the sixth strig (as the ame implies) ad are based o the ope E chord shape: Ex. E F # Ope E chord Bar at st fret, E shape moves up oe fret F major Give that the shape is easily movable, you ca play all possible barre chords by simply movig it where you eed it to be: Ex. F G A A fr fr # ## ## # b b b b b # GuitarZoom

12 GuitarZoom E F G fr A Ex. A B C fr D Ex. The mior chord verso of the th-strig barre chord works the same way: Aother kid of barre chord, the th-strig barre chord, works i the same way except it is based o the A shape: b b # # # #

13 The mior chord verso of the th-strig barre chord works the same way: Ex.8 A B C D fr # # b Combied with the kowledge of how to play I-IV-V chord progressios star g from the th or th strig, you ca play I-IV-V chord progressios i ay key usig barre chords: Ex. 8 Eb b b b Ex. G I-IV-V star g with th-strig barre chord i the key of G C I IV V I-IV-V star g with th-strig barre chord i the key of Eb Ab b b b b b I IV V D # Bb b b b 8 8 GuitarZoom

14 You ca also play the mior versio, i-iv-v, i barre chords, usig the same priciples. This example is i A mior: Am Dm i iv v Em 8 Now that you kow your barre chords, power chords are just the top two or three strigs of ay th- or th-strig barre chord: Ex. Ex. th-strig barre chord th-strig barre chord G G G Two-strig power chord Two-strig power chord Three-strig power chord C C C Three-strig power chord GuitarZoom

15 GuitarZoom Ex. Ex. A Major th If we chage our fi h to a major sixth at beats two ad four (by simply extedig the fre g figer that plays the fi h two frets away) we get to create a Blues soudig rhythm guitar passage: A Major th Mior th We ca add aother extesio, a mior seveth, to our power chord to create the familiar soudig blues riff: # # #

16 GuitarZoom Ex. Ex. Ex. A Groove: Straight vs. ShuffleSwig A straight groove i blues simply meas eighth otes beig played i a typical maer i.e. each eighth ote is beig played with equal legth (marchig rhythm). Most music i existece has this kid of groove: A swigshuffle groove i blues is based o a triplet rhythm as wri e below: Played as: Wri e as: A swigshuffle groove, however, omits the secod ote of the triplet, givig the rhythm the typical swig or shuffle feel featured i blues that has the impressio of a heartbeat: # j j # j j j j j j #

17 The -Bar Blues The -bar blues is the fudametal form i blues. It is importat to lear all about this form because a majority of blues sogs are wri e with this format i mid such as ZZ Top's "Tush", Robbe Ford's "Talk to Your Daughter", etc. What happes i a -bar blues is that it lays out the e re cycle where the I-IV-V chord progressio happes as wri e below. We ca also ide fy three dis ct four-measure groups or periods as follows: Ex.8 Group I: Four measures of the I chord I Group II: Two measures of IV, two measures of I IV I Group III: V, IV, I, V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V IV I V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V Here is a example of the -bar blues i a par cular key sigature. This oe is i A: Ex. A (I) V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V D (IV) A (I) V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V E (V) D (IV) A (I) E (V) V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V V # # # GuitarZoom

18 As a prac cal example of how to play a -bar blues pa er, here is a -bar blues chorus i A with embellishmets as oted to make playig a li le more iteres g: # # # # # # Ex. Moderate Swig q = A (I) Chroma c walkup D (IV) Chroma c walkup # # # #.. # # # D (IV) A (I)....# # #. 8 8 E (V) # # # A th-to-th embellishmet (I) b b Chroma c turaroud E (V) Chroma c movemet GuitarZoom

19 Chord Fragmets I blues, we make use of chord fragmets ad embellishmets to make thigs a bit easier to play.....to make playig a lot more fu. The first thig we eed to do is tur our major th- ad th-strig barre chord shapes ito domiat seveth chords: A A D D fr fr fr fr # # # th-strig barre chord th-strig barre chord 8 Sice we already have our I ad IV chords respec vely tured ito domiat seveth chords i the example above, we ca make our V chord a lot more iteres g by turig it ito a (#) chord. We have a E(#) show below: E(#) fr # # # # w 8 GuitarZoom

20 GuitarZoom fr D Ex. # # # We ca also tur our IV chord ito a IV chord to make it more iteres g. We have a D chord i this case: # # # A D D# E(#) Etc... We ca also use chroma c movemet of our D chord goig up to the E(#) chord (or ay other chroma c movemet toward ay chord for that ma er): w w # # # # # # Ó 8

21 The chord fragmetembellishmet cocept ca also be used to treat mior chords i a similar fashio. The -bar blues i mior souds much more reserved ad would ted to be less flamboyat ad a lot more subtle. We tur our i-iv-v chords ito mior seveth chords first the go ahead ad play some -bar blues with those chords. You ca use a straight or a shuffle rhythmic feel whe prac cig: Ex. A D E fr fr fr 8 8 GuitarZoom

22 Vocal Elemets Ex. Whe we talk about vocal elemets i blues, these are guitar techiques that a empt to emulate the huma voice as closely as possible whe playig melodic or lead lies. These techiques are:. Beds. Vibrato. Hammer-os, pull-offs, ad trills. Slides Bedig ivolves pushig the strig up or dow the surface of the fretboard a split secod (or less) a er a ote is played to produce a audible shi i pitch upwards to aother ote. The whole-step bed moves a ote a whole step or two frets up i pitch from its origial pitch: Whole-step bed targets a pitch two frets away. w Whole-step bed pitch should match the pitch below: full The half-step bed should produce a ote that souds oe fret up from origial pitch: Ex. Half-step bed targets a pitch oe fret away. w Half-step bed pitch should match the pitch below: 8 GuitarZoom

23 The step-ad-a-half bed should produce a ote that souds three frets up from origial pitch: Ex. 8 Step-ad-a-half bed targets a pitch three frets away. w Step-ad-a-half bed pitch should match the pitch below: A blues bed chages the pitch of the origial above the origial pitch but just less tha a half-step bed. It is used as a accet rather tha actually movig melodically, ad the slightly off pitch it produces is usually resolved to a chord toe or aother ote i the melody. To play a blues bed properly, you eed to make the origial pitch audible first ad the perform the blues bed just before edig that ote. The vibrato (represeted by a squiggly lie above the ote) is performed usig a small, oscilla g bed mo o over the fre ed ote that ca rage from a subtle repe tve devia o-from-ad-retur-to pitch to somethig that souds wild. It is typically used to accetuate log, held otes: Ex. Ex. ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ µ Blues bed Vibrato ÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ A hammer-o ivolves playig oe pitch fre ed by oe figer (usually idex figer) ad the successively hammerig aother figer to a higher pitch (while keepig o fre g the lower pitch) WITHOUT pickig. A pull-off is the opposite as it ivolves playig a higher pitch the pluckig off to a lower pitch usig the figer that used to fret a higher pitch. A trill is a rapid successio of hammer-os ad pull-offs: Hammer-o Pull-off Trill Ÿ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ w GuitarZoom

24 Slides ivolve a audible chage i pitch (dowwards or upwards) from oe ote to the ext usig (as the ame implies) a slidig mo o across the fretboard. Other tha causig a chage i pitch, slides are also great for movig across the fretboard. Although there are may varia os, the two basic oes are what's kow as a slide from somewhere i.e. playig a fre ed ote defii vely the movig to the ext pitch usig a slide ad a slide from owhere a.k.a. "airplae" slide i.e. playig a idefiite pitch the slidig quickly to a defiite pitch: Ex.8 Slide from somewhere Ex. Slide from owhere a.k.a. "airplae" slide GuitarZoom

25 Petatoic Scales The most basic of scales used i the Blues has always bee the petatoic scale. It is a scale that has five otes i successio. It is the easiest scale to lear ad use i all of music just because all of its otes will soud great over ay chord progressio as log as it is played i the correct key. It has two basic varie es. The first oe typically leared is the mior petatoic scale i the pa er show below. The example show is the A mior petatoic scale. The pa er we are studyig is what we call the first posi o (sice we are star g at the first ote of the scale). The ext four posi os are charted as well: Ex. A Mior Petatoic - st Posi o Ex. A Mior Petatoic - d Posi o Ex. A Mior Petatoic - rd Posi o GuitarZoom

26 Ex. A Mior Petatoic - th Posi o Ex. 8 A Mior Petatoic - th Posi o Ex. A Mior Petatoic - th Posi o (Lower Octave) GuitarZoom

27 The ext example show below is the parallel major petatoic scale. The example show below is the A major petatoic scale. We get the parallel or couterpart major petatoic scale of a mior petatoic by movig the e re pa er three frets backward BUT we emphasize the ote that is fre ed by the pikie rather tha the idex figer as see i mior petatoic. This is the pa er we will cosider as first posi o. The rest of the pa ers are charted as well: Ex. A Major Petatoic - st Posi o # # # # # # # j Ex. A Major Petatoic - d Posi o # # # # # # # Ex.8 A Major Petatoic - rd Posi o # # # # # # # # GuitarZoom

28 Ex. A Major Petatoic - th Posi o # # # # # # # # # Ex. A Major Petatoic - th Posi o # # # # # # # # 8 GuitarZoom

29 Progress Tracker Blues Soloig Masterclass - Week Why Lear the Blues? Tuig The Chromatic Scale ad Notes o the th Strig Notes o the th Strig Commo Notes Betwee the th ad th Strigs The I-IV-V Chord Progressio Chords i Blues Groove: Straight vs. ShuffleSwig The -Bar Blues Chord Fragmets Vocal Elemets Petatoic Scales Date GuitarZoom

30 GuitarZoom

Table Of Contents Blues Turnarounds

Table Of Contents Blues Turnarounds Table Of Cotets Blues Turarouds Turaroud #1 Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Turaroud # Blues Turarouds Blues Soloig Masterclass Week 1 Steve Stie A Blues Turaroud