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Welcome to yet another installment of my weekly lessons to quickly get you from beginner to virtuoso! The central theme I have laced these lessons with has been learning the art of jamming. I have been trying to equip you with the skills necessary to create music with others through collaboration.
My last lesson illustrated how to execute bends on the guitar. It may have seemed non-musical, but the point was to learn how to actually bend the strings to a given pitch. This lesson will cover the basics of the Blues Scale. The Blues Scale is essentially the Pentatonic scale with an extra note, flattened fifth. This is a surprisingly versatile scale, which can be applied to a number of genres such as Metal, Country, and Blues (obviously).
The following is the A Blues Scale:
e|-------------------------5--| I = Index Finger
b|---------------------5-8----| M = Middle Finger
g|---------------5-7-8--------| R = Ring Finger
d|-----------5-7--------------| P = Pinky
a|-----5-6-7------------------|
E|-5-8------------------------|
I P I M R I R I M R I R I
* I personally recommend that you adhere to the above-suggested fingering. It is different than that of the Minor Pentatonic Scale, but this is the fingering that most guitarists implement when playing the Blues Scale.
To help you get used to the using the Blues Scale, the following are some basic licks:
Blues Lick #1
e|--------5-|
b|------5---|
g|--7b8-----|
d|----------|
a|----------|
E|----------|
In the example above, ensure that you use your index finger to barre the notes on the 5th string for ease.
Blues Lick #2
e|-------------|
b|-------------|
g|--7b8-7-5----|
d|----------7--|
a|-------------|
E|-------------|
Blues Lick #3
e|-------5-5--|
b|--8b10------|
g|------------|
d|------------|
a|------------|
E|------------|
Blues Lick #4
e|--8b10-5------5--|
b|---------8b10----|
g|-----------------|
d|-----------------|
a|-----------------|
E|-----------------|
Blues Lick #5
e|-------5-8-5--|
b|--8b10--------|
g|--------------|
d|--------------|
a|--------------|
E|--------------|
These licks also sound awesome when you repeat them over and over again. For example:
Blues Lick #1 (repeated)
e|--------5-------5-------5--|
b|------5-------5-------5----|
g|--7b8-----7b8-----7b8------|
d|---------------------------|
a|---------------------------|
E|---------------------------|
Once you are comfortable with repeating the licks, try stinging them together like this:
e|--------5------5-5-------5------5-5--|
b|------5---8b10---------5---8b10------|
g|--7b8--------------7b8---------------|
d|-------------------------------------|
a|-------------------------------------|
E|-------------------------------------|
I am not going to write out all of the ways that you can play these riffs with one another. That’s your job. You may find that one sounds than another, so stick with the ones you like. Memorize the licks and play them over an A Minor Chord progression and you will start taking your baby steps towards soloing.
Alright Hendrix, keep practicing!
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