Hi there, my name is Greg and I'm a guitar teacher based in Plymouth, UK. This article will give you three scales to use when soloing over a blues chord progression.
For the sake of this article we are going to use a dominant blues chord progression. E.g dominant I, IV and V chords. In the key of A this would be A7, D7 and E7.
Firstly, blues music and blues guitar is an intriguing challenge for the soloing guitarist. Unlike pop we are using chords which are non-diatonic. This means the chords don't just belong to one key centre. This is a tricky aspect of the blues, we cannot just pick one scale to play over everything.
This leads me on to the first scale we can use to solo over the first chord, the A major pentatonic. Here's a handy diagram for that here:
These give us the following intervals against the A7 chord.
A - Root
B - 2nd
C# - 3rd
E - 5th
F# - 6th
Each of these notes will sound good against the A7. If you have a looper, record an A7 and play each of these notes over it. You can hear how each note interacts with the chord. Alternatively play an A7 and sing each note over the chord.
So this scale is a great starting point, except we do have a slight issue. This scale doesn't really have an blue notes. What do I mean by that? There are notes that are providing a lot of tension against the chord, typically that famous blues sound.
Let's remember this is the blues were talking about, it's full of tension, release and emotion! This leads me on to the next scale, and that is the A minor pentatonic. Diagram below:
This gives us the notes, A C D E G.
These give us the following intervals against the A7 chord.
A - Root
C - minor 3rd
D - 4th
E - 5th
G - minor 7th.
Now we can do the same thing with these notes as above and loop an A7 chord and hear how each note sounds interacts with the chord. Again, alternatively play an A7 and sing each note over the chord.
The important thing to note here is that we have a minor 3rd note (C) and not a major 3rd (C#) in the scale.
You might think that this C note, would clash with the major 3rd, C#, in the chord. If you were to just hang on the note then it could clash. What we can do is play this note, and bend it up a semitone, to the major third! This give us that bluesy sound.
With scales 1 and 2 out of the way, lets move on to scale number 3!
It is going to be the A minor blues scale.
This give us the notes A C D Eb E G.
These give us the following intervals against the A7 chord.
A - Root
C - minor 3rd
D - 4th
Eb - diminished 5th
E - 5th
G - minor 7th.
Again, loop an A7 chord and play each note, or play an A7 and sing each note if you can.
Now, this is what we've been missing, a great bluesy note like the diminished 5th! This in particular sounds brilliant when bending from the 7th to the 8th fret of the G string. Definitely a distinctive bluesy sound.
If you can get all three of these scales under your fingers then the world of blues is within reach.
The challenge is that there is not really a "one size fits all" scale for the blues. Some scales come close (I'm looking at you mixolydian) but they still miss out on the real distinctive blues sound which comes from bending different notes and combining the various scale.
If you can do that then you should be well on your way to becoming a skilled blues improviser!
Good luck.
Again, my name is Greg Clark and I'm a guitar teacher based in Plymouth, UK. If you have any questions please contact me at gcguitartuition.co.uk/contact.
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