Guitar/Blues
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The blues is a musical genre and form. Its development started in the African-American communities in the southern states of the US in the early 1900s. Regional areas have developed distinct styles, such as the Mississippi Delta blues of the 1940s and the Chicago electric blues of the 1950s. The blues is a starting point for a lot of popular western music, and many guitarists will feel a sense of familiarity when they play a blues scale for the first time.
These lessons are designed to teach a player with basic guitar knowledge how to master the blues.
Contents |
[edit] Lesson 1: The Twelve Bar Blues
The 12-bar blues is the basis for the majority of classic blues songs along with many other popular rock and pop songs. It's a simple chord progression that can easily be transfered between different keys. Each box represents one bar or measure with four beats; count the boxes and you will know why it's called the "twelve bar blues". The roman numerals refer to the chords that can be used and in which bar they will appear.
| I | I | I | I |
| IV | IV | I | I |
| V | IV | I | I |
Below is the key of C major. The "I" is the first chord, or tonic, of the key. So to play a blues in the key of C major.......
| I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | I |
| C | D | E | F | G | A | B | C |
"I" is a C major chord, "IV" would be F major and "V" would be G. If we apply this chart to the key of C it would look like this:
| C | C | C | C |
| F | F | C | C |
| G | F | C | C |
If this is confusing to you, you may want to review some basic Music Theory.
However, a 12-bar blues does not necessarily follow this pattern strictly. Many flourishes and variations are often added. Here's an example of how a 12-bar blues in E major might be played.
E E E E
e---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
B---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
G---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
D---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
A-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|
E-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|
A A E E
e---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
B---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
G---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|
D-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|---------------------|---------------------|
A-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|
E---------------------|---------------------|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|
B A E E
e---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------||
B---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------||
G---------------------|---------------------|---------------------|---------------------||
D-4--4-6--6-4--4-6--6-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|---------------------|---------------------||
A-2--2-2--2-2--2-2--2-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-|-2--2-4--4-2--2-4--4-||
E---------------------|---------------------|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-|-0--0-0--0-0--0-0--0-||
In this case, none of the chords are full major chords. They alternate between 5th chords, which consist of only the root note and its fifth), and 6th chords, which would normally be full major chords with an added sixth, but in this case are reduced to the root note and its sixth.
The rhythm for this is a basic blues shuffle rhythm. Instead of playing straight eighth notes with a "1 and 2 and 3 and 4" type rhythm, play the notes in groups of two like, "1, a 2, a 3, a 4".
Keep in mind that 12-bar blues is a very general format, and anything that basically follows that pattern of chords is a 12-bar blues. For example, fingerstyle guitar playing is often used to play a 12-bar blues. In such a case, there may be a bar of E where multiple notes which are not in the E major chord, or even the E major scale, are played. These often include sixths, minor sevenths, and minor thirds. What makes it a bar of E is just the fact that it mostly revolves around the note E, and tends to use the notes of an E major chord (B and G#) more frequently than other notes. So do not limit yourself.
Furthermore, one or more bars in the basic 12-bar blues progression may be changed to an entirely different chord. For instance, in the key of C, a C might be changed to a G.
Common variations in the 12-bar blues format include:
- Changing any or all of the chords to 7th chords (C -> C7).
- Adding in other notes besides 7ths, such as 6ths or minor 3rds.
- Replacing the final I chord with a V or V7. This is known as a "turnaround", and sets up for another verse.
[edit] Lesson 2: The Minor Pentatonic and Blues Scales
The minor pentatonic scale is a five-note scale that is very widely used in both blues and rock. It can be derived from the natural minor scale by removing the second and sixth notes. Here it is in the key of A:
A, C, D, E, G, A
In any key, the pattern of intervals in between the notes of this scale is (in half-steps, or guitar frets):
3, 2, 2, 3, 2
So the second note, in this case C, will always be 3 half-steps, or 3 frets, higher than the first note, A. The third note is 2 half-steps or frets higher than the second, and so on. If you were to play it all on the low E string of a guitar, it would look like this, in tab:
Here are two octaves of the A minor pentatonic scale, in tab, in 5th position:
The blues scale consists of six notes, the most important of which is the blue note. The blue note distinguishes the blues scale from a standard minor pentatonic scale, and makes the blues sound very distinct. It comes in between the 3rd and 4th notes of that scale, making 3 notes in a row in the middle of the scale.
The vast majority of blues and rock solos consist almost entirely of notes in the blues scale.
This is a blues scale played from the fifth fret and using two octaves. The blues scale above starts with the note "A" and therefore takes its name from the first note: Blues in A. You can change the key of it by changing the starting note of the scale and using the same pattern. Move the pattern up two frets (7th fret) and you are playing a Blues in B. Move it up one fret more (8th fret) and you are playing a Blues in C. Memorize the pattern by playing it repeatedly.
[edit] Using the Blues Scale
Here are some blues licks by different artists. They all make ample use of the blues scale. To fully understand this section you should be familiar with bends, hammer-ons and pull-offs and slides.
Fig. 1
|---------------------5-----------|-------------------------8---8--|
|-----------------------8p5-------|-----------------8b10-----------|
|-7b9-----------------------7p5---|-7p5----------------------------|
|-------------------------------7-|-----7p5------------------------|
|---------------------------------|---------8----------------------|
|---------------------------------|--------------------------------|
1 2 3 + a 4 e + a 1 e + a 2 3 4 +
Figure 1 is taken from the beginning of "Stairway to Heaven" solo by Led Zeppelin (guitarist Jimmy Page). It is based around the A minor blues/minor pentatonic scale. On the second beat of the second measure there's an F which is not in the A minor blues scale. Often blues guitarist will play notes out of any scale because they play mostly by ear and will play notes that sound good to them without any music theory behind it.
However, in this case it is more accurate to say that the solo is in the key of A minor, which contains the entire A minor pentatonic scale, plus the notes F and B. By mostly running up and down the A minor pentatonic scale (in other words by skipping over the B's and the F's), Page gives parts of the solo such as this one a bluesy feel.
|-3-|
a +S S S a +S S S S S S S S S +S a +S S S E +S S +E +S S
|-------------3-------------5-3h4p3---3-6b8==(6)r-6b7==(6)r-3------------------------------|
|-----------3---6b7==(6)r-3---------6-------------------------3----------------------------|
|-3b4----3r-----------------------------------------------------5b6==(5)r-3b5==(3)r--------|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------5---|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
1 + a 4 + a
[edit] Exercise 1
[edit] Exercise 2
