In previous articles I have discussed the basic 12 bar blues
progressions in this article I’m going to focus on the Latin
blues progression.

Let’s see how we can create a 12 bar blues chord progression
with a Latin feel, it will certainly surprise musicians at your
next jam session!

Here’s a quick reminder of the basic set of chords in a 12 bar
blues presented in the key of ‘C’.

Original chords.

C /// | C /// | C /// | C /// |

F /// | F /// | C /// | C /// |

G7 ///| G7/// | C /// | G7/// || C (last time)

Latin style blues chord progression

Cmaj7 /// | Bm7b5 / E7b9/ | Am /Ab7 / | Gm7 /C7 / |

Fmaj7 /// | Fm7 /// | Em7 /// | A7 /// |

D7 ///| Dm7/G7/ | C /F7/ | Cmaj7/ G7+/ || Cmaj7 (last time)

Harmonic analysis

Bar 1: Cmaj7 substitute for ‘C’ major chord

Bar 2: Bm7b5 (aka B half diminished) to E7b9 is a two, five
progression in the key of A harmonic minor; notice how these two
chords resolve to the ‘Am’ chord in bar three.

It’s important to note also that the Bm7b5 to E7b9 is the
beginning of a cycle movement chord progression.

Bar 3: ‘Am’ is the relative minor of ‘C’ major and in this
instance it is being substituted for the ‘C’ chord in bar three
(refer to original chord progression).

The Ab7 is a flat five substitution for a D7 chord; D7 would be
the next logical chord to occur in our cyclic chord progression
after the ‘Am’ chord.

How this works:

Notes of D7 = D, F#,A ,C

Notes of Ab7 = Ab, C, Gb, Eb

Applying the flat five substitution principle (tri-tone
substitution); if we flatten the fifth note of the D7 thereby
making the ‘A’ note an ‘Ab’ we now have three notes of an ‘Ab7′
chord.

D7 = D, F#,A ,C

D7 with the flat five note = D, F#,Ab ,C compare these notes to
the notes of an Ab7 chord: Ab, C, Eb, Gb.

When studying this example keep in mind that F# and Gb are the
same note.

Bar 4: Gm7 to C7 is a two, five progression in the key of F;
notice how this progression resolves to the one chord (Fmaj7) in
bar five.

Bar 6: Fm7 is a two chord in the key of ‘Eb’.

Bar 7: Em7 is a substitute for Cmaj7 (specifically Cmaj9).

Notes in Cmaj9 = C, E, G , B, D

Notes in Em7 = E, G, B, D

Notice how both chords contain the same notes only the Cmaj9
contains an additional ‘C’ note therefore it could be correctly
stated that a Cmaj9 chord could also be written as Em7/C.

Bar 8: A7 chord continues the cycle movement; A7 is chord five in
the key of ‘D’.

Bar 9: D7, again part of the cycle movement chord progression; D7
is chord five in the key of ‘G’.

Bar 10: Dm7 to G7 is a two five progression in the key of ‘C’.

Bar 11: C to F7; a one to four progression.

Bar 12: Cmaj7 to G7+ is a one to altered five progression; G7+ is
a G dominant seventh chord with a sharpened fifth.

The ‘G’ whole tone scale will work well over the G7+ chord.

From Mike Hayes – The Internet Guitar Guy & The Express Guitar
Programs

Are they really tone deaf or is it a case of “those who know how
to do it” can do it and “those who don’t know how to do it” can’t
do it?

The answer is … they have not simply learnt ‘how’ to play lead
guitar; it has nothing to do with being naturally talented or
having a good ear for music. It only takes a few wrong notes (one
actually) to convince everyone (particularly the guitarist) that
they should give it away and stick to playing chords.

A solid understanding of basic theory especially chord/scale
relationships can help the guitarist overcome the “tone deaf”
situation and once your confidence increases you can try more and
more adventurous scale options.

But where to start? Pentatonic scales of course! Should you learn
the minor pentatonic or the major pentatonic scale … I’d learn
both scales and most importantly I’d learn how to use them.

Today our focus is on the B major pentatonic scale, if you are
interested in the B minor pentatonic scale you might like to
check out my article on that scale.

B major pentatonic scale:

The notes in the B major pentatonic scale are …

B – C# – D# – F# – G# – [B]

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

B Major pentatonic scale pattern

—————————
—————————
—————————
———————-[9]–
————–9—11——-
-[7]–9—11—————

The same scale one octave higher could be played like this:

———————————
—————————[12]–
——————11—13——–
–[9]—11—13——————
———————————
———————————

Major pentatonic scales will work over major chords and their
suspensions e.g., sus 2 and sus 4 chords.

Application:

Here is a typical major pentatonic type chord progression using
straight major chords

B ///| B ///| B ///| B ///|
E ///| E ///| B ///| B ///|
F#///| E ///| B ///| B ///||

Here’s the same progression sprinkled with some suspended 4th
chords, the B major pentatonic will work over all these chords.

B ///| Bsus4 ///| B ///| Bsus4 ///|
E ///| Esus4 ///| B ///| Bsus4 ///|
F#///| Esus4 ///| B ///| Bsus4 ///||

This progression could also be written like this …

B ///| Bsus ///| B ///| Bsus ///|
E ///| Esus ///| B ///| Bsus ///|
F#///| Esus ///| B ///| Bsus ///||

It’s the exact same chord progression written differently;
suspended fourth chords can be abbreviated to sus which
automatically implies a suspended fourth; whereas the suspended
second chord has to be identified as follows …

B2 ///| B2 ///| B2 ///| B2 ///|
E2 ///| E2 ///| B2 ///| B2 ///|
F#2///| E2 ///| B2 ///| B2 ///||

or

Bsus2 ///| Bsus2 ///| Bsus2 ///| Bsus2 ///|
Esus2 ///| Esus2 ///| Bsus2 ///| Bsus2 ///|
F#sus2///| Esus2 ///| Bsus2 ///| Bsus2 ///||

One move set of chords that works well is the major triad (chord)
with the addition of an added second which produces the following
progression.

B(add2)///| B(add2)///| B(add2)///| B(add2)///|
E(add2)///| E(add2)///| B(add2)///| B(add2)///|
F#(add2)///| E(add2)///| B(add2)///| B(add2)///||

Remember the B major pentatonic will work over all these examples
ideally you should experiment with the different chord textures
and make up your own chord progressions, record the progressions
and try the B major pentatonic scale over the pre-record chord
progressions next time you play the guitar.

The key to making the correct choice is in the style of the music
being played and the chord progression of the song and it is
quite possible that you make even have to switch from one scale
to the other depending on the material.

Of course there are many types of scales that can be successfully
applied to any song so I’m generalizing here and going for the
most basic and safest scale options and they don’t come more
basic or safer than the pentatonic scale.

Essentially both the major and minor pentatonic scales are scales
that are devoid of semitones, these semitones create the tension
points in a scale they are the notes that if used correctly by an
experienced player will give directionality to they music;
however in the hands of an inexperienced player they are
potentially a disaster waiting to happen.

Since the newbie player does not yet have the experience to know
how to successfully create tension and release by the skillful
use of semitones a good way to go is start out by using scales
that don’t have any semitones.

Let’s take a look at the major and minor scales and see how this
works.

The major pentatonic scale can be created by omitting the fourth
and seventh notes of a major diatonic scale. Today we’re working
in the key of A.

The ‘A’ major diatonic scale:

A – B – C# – D – E – F# – G# – A

Create the A Major pentatonic scale by omitting the fourth and
seventh notes …

A – B – C# – E – F# – A

The minor version of the pentatonic scale can be created from the
natural minor scale

The ‘A’ natural minor scale:

A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A

We create the ‘A’ minor pentatonic scale by omitting the second
and sixth notes of the natural minor scale:

A – C – D – E – G – A

As you can see there is only two notes common to both scales the
first and fifth notes “A” & “E’.

The notes in the A major pentatonic scale are …

A – B – C# – E – F# – [A]

Keynotes indicated as [ ]

A Major pentatonic scale pattern

—————————
—————————
—————————
———————-[7]–
————–7—9——–
-[5]–7—9—————-

The same scale one octave higher would be played like this:

——————————
————————[10]–
—————-9—11——–
–[7]—9—11—————-
——————————
——————————

These are just two ways of play the A major pentatonic scale try
different scale patterns to find the best way for you to play
them and always keep in mind that it’s the notes that make up the
scale not the fingering pattern.

Application:

Here is a typical major pentatonic type chord progression

A ///| A ///| A ///| A///|
D ///| D ///| A ///| A ///|
E ///| D ///| A ///| A ///||

Another way you could play this progression would be to use easy
‘open position’ chord shapes from the key of G i.e., G, C & D and
place a capo behind the second fret that way you would have nice
crisp sounding chords with lots of open strings and a fresh new
sound to practice your major pentatonic scale over.

By playing these shapes with the capo behind the second fret …

G ///| G ///| G ///| G///|
C ///| C ///| G ///| G ///|
D ///| C ///| G ///| G ///||

you will be playing these chords …

(capo behind the second fret – concert pitch of A)

A ///| A ///| A ///| A///|
D ///| D ///| A ///| A ///|
E ///| D ///| A ///| A ///||

We all know playing the guitar is a lot of fun but with a bit of
creative thinking you can have a very exciting and rewarding time
playing the guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

You’ll learn about hit song templates, easy chords, simple scales, red hot rhythms, and successful practice strategies in text, audio and video.

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar

How do we arrive at this creative point in our playing? The first
thing to do is stop playing predictable scale patterns. Have you
ever noticed that most players play their scales in an ascending
manner; sure they often play descending scales but the ratio is
something like 75% of the time ascending compared to 25% descending.

Here’s some ideas to help your soloing:

Tip 1. Try playing your scales in a descending fashion it’s a step
in the right direction, it will start to free up you mind as well
as your fingers.

Tip 2. Next time you play a scale deliberately stop on a note
halfway through the scale, what we want to do is listen to the
sound of each note in the scale.

What normally happens is the guitarists plays the scale as fast
as possible only pausing on the first and last notes, which
incidentally are the same notes only an octave apart. All the
other notes of the scale are a blur, we want to stop doing that!

Slow down and pay close attention to the sound of each note, it
will help you when you are improvising as you will be able to
accurately select the sound you want your fingers to find on the
fretboard.

Tip 3. Pivot scales – in every major scale there are two
semitones; one between the third and fourth notes the other
between the seventh and eight notes.

Select a semitone sequence to use as your pivot point, here’s how
it would work in the key of G major.

G major scale : G-A-B-C-D-E-F#-G

Now the same scale with the semitones marked as (^).

G-A-B^C-D-E-F#^G

I’ll use the notes B and C as pivot notes …

C-B-C-G / C-B-C-F# / C-B-C-E / C-B-C-D / C-B-C-C / C-B-C-B / C-B-
C-A / C-B-C-G

Notice how the fourth note in each sequence makes up a descending
G major scale e.g., G^F#-E-D-C^B-A-G

Now for another example using the other semitones as our pivot
point.

G-F#-G-E / G-F#-G-D / G-F#-G-C / G-F#-G-B / G-F#-G-A / G-F#-G-G /
G-F#-G-D / G-F#-G-E

Again, notice how the last notes in each sequence form a
descending scale in the key of G major, this time commencing on
the note E.

Of course you can use any series of notes as your pivot point,
don’t forget to try these ideas in different keys all over the
fingerboard when you next practice your guitar.

And now I’d like to invite you to get free access to my “How To
Remember 1,000 Songs” eCourse. You can download the course for
free at: http://www.guitarcoaching.com

From Mike Hayes – The Guitar Coaching Guy & the Express Guitar
System

http://www.GuitarCoaching.com
http://AdvancingGuitaristProgram.com