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Killer Blues Solos And How To Play Them

By Mike Hayes | July 24, 2010

When confronted by a blues chord progression you can be sure most
guitar players will reach into their guitar playing ‘bag of
tricks’ and pull out a well worn blues scale or minor pentatonic
scale and play a few tired old cliche licks.

Bearing in mind that there is only one note difference between
the blues scale and the minor pentatonic scale it’s no wonder
guitar players struggle to find fresh new sounds; but what if
there was an easy way to play really interesting and original
blues solos on the guitar?

The good news is there are many ways to approach soloing here are
just a few ways to kick start your creative juices.

Since the key of ‘G’ is a popular blues key, I’ll present all my
examples in this article in the key of ‘G’.

Here is a typical 12 bar blues progression in the key of G.

Progression #1

G /// | G /// | G /// | G /// |

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

D /// | D /// | G /// | D /// || G (last time)

Over these chords the soloist would most likely play either the
‘G’ blues scale or the ‘G’ minor pentatonic scale; let’s take a
look at the notes in both of these scales.

G minor pentatonic scale: G – Bb – C – D – F

G blues scale: G – Bb – C – Db – D – F

Notice how the only difference between these two scales is the
addition of the Db (the flattened fifth) in the blues scale.

Blues solo tip #1: modify the basic harmony

Simply changing the chord texture will evoke a different
emotional response from the soloist and a really simple chord
substitution for a 12 bar blues progression is to change the
basic major triads into dominant seventh chords; here is the same
progression modified as dominant seventh chords.

Progression #2

G7 /// | G7 /// | G7 /// | G7 /// |

C7 /// | C7 /// | G7 /// | G7 /// |

D7 /// | D7 /// | G7 /// | D7 /// || G7 (last time)

Blues solo tip #2: the many moods of the modes

Now that we have a different chord texture as a background we can
explore new scale resources. The Mixo-Lydian mode is the ideal
scale to play over dominant seventh chords.

* the dominant seventh chord is a four note chord created from
the four note layering of the major scale.

* dominant seventh chords are fifth chord of a major scale
(scaletone seventh harmonization of a major scale).

* the Mixo-Lydian mode is the fifth mode of the major scale.

Since each dominant seventh chord could be considered as the
fifth chord of a major scale it could be said that in a standard
12 bar blues progression that there are three ‘keys of the
moment’.

G7 = G Mixo-lydian mode: G – A – B – C – D – E – F – G (derived
from the C major scale); G7 being the fifth chord in the key of
C.

C7 = C Mixo – Lydian mode: C – D – E – F – G – A – Bb – C
(derived from the F major scale); C7 being the fifth chord in the
key of F.

D7 – D Mixo-Lydian mode: D – E – F# – G – A – B – C – D (derived
from the G major scale); D7 being the fifth chord in the key of
G.

If you combine these Mixo-Lydian modes with your blues and minor
pentatonic scale you will have many new and exciting sounds to
play over the blues chord progressions.

Topics: Guitar Tips, Modes | No Comments »

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