Blues Workshop

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• Blues Workshop
• 12/2/2006

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What is the Blues?

• The Blues, as a musical style, has different
  meanings for different people Boogie, Texas,
  Country, Rock, Delta, etc.
• People can talk about the blues from a
  theoretical standpoint (i.e. a 1-4-5 progression
  over 8/12/16/24 bars, etc), but doing so misses
  the point.
• To quote Bill Dahl, The blues is as honest a
  musical form as it is uplifting. The blues is
  life with all its ups and downs intact

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Blues Styles
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Suggested Listening
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Blues Progressions

• Start with knowing your major scale or build the
  scale if you do not know the notes.
• Step Pattern for Major Scale W W H W W W H
• Take the first (I), fourth (IV) and fifth (V)
  chords to build your progression.
• Example in the Key of A A B C D E F G A
• I A, IV D, V E
• While you can play the blues using major chords,
  the norm is to use dominant chords. So, for all
  three chords above, play them as seventh chords
  (A7, D7, E7).
• Typical blues progressions are 12 measures long,
  aka 12 bar blues. There are 8 bar, 16 bar and 24
  bar blues. For this workshop, well focus on 12
  bar blues.

Basic 12 Bar Blues A7 / A7 / A7 / A7 D7 / D7 / A7
/ A7 E7 / D7 / A7 / A7
Quick Change Blues A7 / D7 / A7 / A7 D7 / D7 / A7
/ A7 E7 / D7 / A7 / E7
Jazz Blues A7 / D7 / A7 / Em7 A75 D7 / Ebdim /
A7 / A7 E7 / D7 / A7 / F7 E7
Basic 12 Bar Blues I7 / I7 / I7 / I7 IV7 / IV7 /
I7 / I7 V7 / IV7 / I7 / I7
Quick Change Blues I7 / IV7 / I7 / I7 IV7 / IV7 /
I7 / I7 V7 / IV7 / I7 / V7
Jazz Blues I7 / IV7 / I7 / vm7 I75 IV7 / bVdim /
I7 / I7 V7 / IV7 / I7 / V7 V7
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Blues Progressions

• For minor blues, change the I and IV chords to
  minor 7th and make the V chord an altered
  dominant 7th (ex. D79).
• The Blues can be played in any key, but the
  common keys are A, E and G for Rock/Country blues
  and F, Bb, Eb for Jazz blues.
• Use of alternate tunings is also a common feature
  in some blues. Alternate tunings such as open D
  (D A D F A D) and open G (D G D G B D)
  facilitates both finger style and slide
  application.

Stormy Monday Blues G7 / C7 / G9 Ab9/ G7 C7 / C7
/ G9 Am7/ Bm7 Bbm7 Am7 / Cm7 / G7 C7/ G7 D
Stormy Monday Blues I7 / IV7 / I9 bII9/ I7 IV7 /
IV7 / I9 iim7/ iiim7 biiim7 iim7 / ivm7 / I7 IV7/
I7 V
Minor 12 Bar Blues w/a Quick Change Am7 / Dm7 /
Am7 / Am7 Dm7 / Dm7 / A7 / A7 E79 / Dm7 / Am7 /
E79
Minor 12 Bar Blues w/a Quick Change Im7 / IVm7 /
Im7 / Im7 IVm7 / IVm7 / I7 / I7 V7alt / IVm7 /
Im7 / V7alt
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Blues Chords

• This is a sample of A dominant chords (7th,
  9th, 13th) that may be used in a blues. As
  always, learn several ways to play all chords.
• Most of these chords are root position, meaning,
  if you know the names of the notes on the guitar
  neck, you can use these chord grips for other
  roots (i.e. G7, Bb7, E7, D7, etc)

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Blues Soloing

• Use of the pentatonic scale is the main soloing
  device used in blues. To move freely around the
  neck, you should learn all five patterns of the
  pentatonic scale.
• The flatted fifth (b5) interval in the minor
  pentatonic scale is also known as the Blue
  Note. Use of this interval is essential to
  getting a true blues sound when soloing.
• To solo expressively, once the pentatonic scale
  is under your fingers, work in expression
  techniques such as slides, octaves, bends, double
  stops and vibrato.
• Depending on the genre (i.e. jazz, rock, delta,
  etc), you should also work on playing the notes
  in both a straight 8th note or swing style.
• Finally, playing a blues solo is more about
  emotion and expression than how many notes you
  play. While it is fun to play fast runs, to truly
  sound like the blues, playing fewer notes more
  expressively is the way to go!

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Pentatonic Boxes
G minor pentatonic 13th fret
G minor pentatonic 8th fret
G minor pentatonic 3rd fret
G minor pentatonic 10th fret
G minor pentatonic 6rd fret
BLUE Notes the b5 note RED Notes the G root