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Play Blues Progressions On Guitar by Ear

By Mike Hayes | August 2, 2010

Dominant seventh chords are always good substitute chords to use
when you are searching for a blues sound on guitar; often the
printed music will present the chords of a song as major chords
however if the tune has a blues ‘feel’ the chords most likely
will be dominant seventh chords.

Let’s take a look at a sample 12 bar blues progression written
exclusively as major chords.

Progression #1:

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

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

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

Now here is the same progression using dominant seventh chords:

Progression #2:

C7 /// | F7/// | C7/// | C7/// |

F7 /// | F7/// | C7/// | C7/// |

G7 /// | G7/// | C7/// | G7/// || C7 (last time)

Because there is so many ways to alter dominant seventh chords it
can be a difficult choice to decide the best type of dominant
seventh for your musical application.

In this next blues progression I’m featuring the dominant seventh
with a sharpened ninth. (one of Jimi Hendrix’s favorite sounds).

Progression #3:

C7#9 /// | F7#9/// | C7#9/// | C7#9/// |

F7#9 /// | F7#9/// | C7#9/// | C7#9/// |

G7#9 /// | G7#9/// | C7#9/// | G7#9/// || C7#9 (last time)

The dominant seventh with a sharpened ninth creates a lot of
musical tension and therefore can be very useful for blues based
material.

This time I’m only going to use the C7#9 to create musical
tension in bar five to introduce the ‘F’ chord.

Progression #4:

C7 /// | F7/// | C7/// | C7#9/// |

F7 /// | F7/// | C7/// | C7/// |

G7 /// | G7/// | C7/// | G7/// || C7 (last time)

How about a dominant seventh with a sharpened eleventh?

This chord would be written as: C+11 or C#11

The C+11 would contain the following 1, 3, natural 5, b7,9,+11

I’ve specifically indicated that the fifth is a natural fifth as
the +11 (sharp 11) could also be thought of as a flattened
fifth note.

Therefore the notes in a C+11 chord would be: C,E,G,Bb,D & F#

C+11 = C,E,G,Bb,D,F#

F+11 = F,A,C,Eb,G,B

G+11 = G,B,D,F,A,C#

Progression #5:

C+11 /// | F+11/// | C+11/// | C+11/// |

F+11 /// | F+11/// | C+11/// | C+11/// |

G+11 /// | G+11/// | C+11/// | G+11/// || C+11 (last time)

You may find some of these sounds usual at first but as your ear
becomes accustomed to the new harmonies I’m sure you will find
them very useful for creating interesting musical backgrounds for
your tunes.

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