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Blues Workshop 12/2/2006

Blues Workshop 12/2/2006. What is the Blues?. The “Blues”, as a musical style, has different meanings for different people – Boogie, Texas, Country, Rock, Delta, etc.

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Blues Workshop 12/2/2006

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  1. Blues Workshop 12/2/2006

  2. 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”

  3. Blues Styles

  4. Suggested Listening

  5. 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, we’ll 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 A7#5 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 I7#5 IV7 / bVdim / I7 / I7 V7 / IV7 / I7 / #V7 V7

  6. Blues Progressions • For minor blues, change the I and IV chords to minor 7th and make the V chord an altered dominant 7th (ex. D7#9). • 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 E7#9 / Dm7 / Am7 / E7#9 Minor 12 Bar Blues w/a Quick Change Im7 / IVm7 / Im7 / Im7 IVm7 / IVm7 / I7 / I7 V7alt / IVm7 / Im7 / V7alt

  7. 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)

  8. 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!

  9. 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

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