Ask Brendan is a monthly column where Guitar Educator, Brendan Burns, answers questions about music and the pursuit of Understanding and Mastering the guitar.

Blues & Scale Tones

August 03

Q: Brendan, I’m a little stuck in my Blues playing. I’ve been playing mostly chord tones and tensions the past few years and I feel I’ve forgotten how and when to use the pentatonic in the Blues. I used to be able to play like Clapton or SRV but now I’ve got a Jazzy and sometimes Country sound to my playing and I can’t get out of it. Do you have any suggestions on how I can get a Bluesier sound back into my playing?

B: First off, it seems it would make sense to put some work in on the pentatonic scale and how it relates to the Blues. Here’s a PDF reminder of what the Pentatonic looks like.

Another idea is to get back to playing some Clapton and SRV licks. There’s a possibility that there is much more there than just pentatonics.

As far as thinking more blues in you chord tone playing, try looking at the following example (click here). This is a Flash visualization of the fret board. When clicking on A7, D7 or E7 the corresponding chord tones appear (1,3,5 & b7). For this example we are using A Blues, so we are also going to look at the A minor pentatonic. The A minor Pentatonic scale lights up over the fretboard and chord tones with a mouse rollover action. What is this good for? This is an example of a fret visualization that you can use in you own head.

Assuming your knowledge of scale tones and pentatonics is up to par, the next step is to have the ability to use the two simultaneously and tastefully. One of the biggest tricks to this is having the discretion to pull this off. It’s not just a free-for-all of notes, but rather a chance to use two currents of style in one improvisation.

Think of your scale tone playing. You mentioned it sounded Jazzy and Country. Now think of Minor Pentatonic playing. This has a Bluesier sound. When you improvise why not try thinking of what sound you want before you play? What would happen if you used 1 bar of a Jazzy sound followed by one bar of a Blues Sound (this would yield a bar of Chord Tone soloing and then a bar a Minor Pentatonic Soloing). You can expand this to a chorus of one and a chorus of the other, or contract it to a note of one and then a note of the other.

Using this idea of moving from a Jazz sound to a Blues sound can give your improvisation a sense of direction. It can bring a sense of purpose and structure to your solo when used properly. It touches upon the idea that it is you who is exerting force over the instrument. Without you, there would be no sound. With you, the instrument can make what seems like an infinite range of sounds; make sure it’s the sound you want. The choices you make determine your sound/style.