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BEYOND PENTATONIC
BLUES GUITAR
Master Intermediate to Advanced Blues Lead Guitar Concepts, Licks,
Scales & Theory for Authentic Blues Soloing & Improvisation

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Published by
www.GuitarVivo.com
Copyright © 2023 by GuitarVivo

Written by Ross Campbell

Transcriptions by Jeff Dafonte
Edited by Luke Lewis
The moral right of this author has been asserted.

Cover Image Copyright: John Mackie

ISBN: 978-1-7396252-4-5

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Contents

About the Author ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Accessing The Accompanying Media .................................................................................................... 5
Foreword ...................................................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 7

Chapter 1 - Essential Theory Basics...................................................................................................... 10

Chapter 2 - The Blues is NOT Diatonic Harmony! ........................................................................... 12
Chapter 3 - Mastering the Rhythm of Blues ....................................................................................... 17
Chapter 4 - Fixing the Blues Scale ........................................................................................................ 20
Chapter 5 - The Mixolydian-Pentatonic Relationship ...................................................................... 30
Chapter 6 - Nailing the I-IV Chord Change pt.1 ................................................................................ 47
Chapter 7 - Nailing the I-IV Chord Change pt.2 ................................................................................ 58
Chapter 8 - Mastering the Turnaround ................................................................................................ 67
Chapter 9 - Arpeggios & Chromatic Enclosures ................................................................................ 96
Chapter 10 - Discovering Outside Sounds ........................................................................................ 124
Chapter 11 - A Robben Ford Approach to Playing Outside .......................................................... 134
Chapter 12 - Putting It All Together: Blues Soloing Etudes ......................................................... 143
Chapter 13 - The Art of Phrasing with Space ................................................................................... 150
Chapter 14 - The Infamous Stevie Ray Vaughan Chromaticism .................................................. 156
Chapter 15 - Putting It Together pt.2 Finish My Solos .................................................................. 167
Chapter 16 - Bonus Solo ........................................................................................................................ 174
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................... 178

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About the Author

Ross Campbell is a professional guitarist based in
Edinburgh, Scotland. Over the course of his career
thus far, Ross has had the opportunity to collaborate
with many renowned names in the industry
including GRAMMY-award winning producer and
artist Mark Ronson, Nashville-based solo artist
Jordan Harvey (BBR Music Group), New York-
based jazz musician Bryan Carter (NBC/Julliard)
and Los Angeles session guitar legend, Tim Pierce
(Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Hanz Zimmer).
Fresh out of university and armed with the
knowledge gained from studying guitar at an
academic level, Ross entered the music industry in
2017 and began to cultivate a large online following
of like-minded players through producing and
sharing instructional guitar content to his YouTube
channel.
In the years since he began sharing his knowledge
through social media, Ross has, to date,
accumulated a following of close to 300,000 guitar
players across YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
The free instructional content shared on these
platforms drove his viewers towards Bulletproof
Guitar Player - Ross’ online courses that were tailor
made to help guitar players break free from the lost
intermediate plateau that so many find themselves
stuck in.
At the time of writing, 8,000+ guitar students across 102 countries have taken action towards improving
their playing with the help of Ross’ Bulletproof Guitar Player courses. Ross has had the pleasure of
collaborating with a number of world-renowned guitar, amp and pedal brands throughout his career so far.
These brands include Fender, D’Angelico Guitars, Walrus Audio Effects, Neural DSP, Eastman Guitars,
Origin Effects, JAM Pedals, J. Rockett Audio Designs, Carl Martin, Beetronics and Pedal Pawn.
Ross is currently an endorsed artist with Ernie Ball strings.
Find out more about Ross and his approach to learning the guitar at bulletproofguitarplayer.com.

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Accessing The Accompanying Media

The bonus files and supporting videos for this book are available free from
www.GuitarVivo.com/BPBG

These files are included for free with the book, simply enter your email at the above link. If you encounter
a page asking for payment, please double check that you have copied the link correctly. If the problem
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Reviewing The Book

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www.guitarvivo.com/review24

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Foreword
I first met Ross at a guitar retreat he was leading in 2022 which by cosmic coincidence was taking place a
mile down the road from me in the British countryside. By this time I had already released my first couple
of books and was starting to build a reputation for my brand. A reputation for creative products that went
against tradition. We pride ourselves on quality educational content and a strong desire to fill in what is
missing from the slew of guitar books already on the market. After meeting Ross and seeing him play and
teach, I knew that he would be the perfect fit for what GuitarVivo is trying to offer; a passionate player with
an authentic knowledge of the music and how to teach it without any fluff or ego.
In this book, Ross has far exceeded my expectations and created a product that will without doubt improve
the blues playing of generations to come. Here you’ll gain direct insights from a true student of the art who
has put in his 10,000 hours of practice and listening, distilled it into essential concepts, and then delivered
them through musical examples.
If you’re anything like me, you can probably relate to the idea of sounding fantastic over the blues when
you play pentatonic or blues scales, but the moment you reach for anything slightly more advanced, you
sound like you’ve hit the Jazz Switch or turned into an emotionless Vulcan running scales. It seems crazy
to think that we can make authentic sounding blues solos with some scales (e.g. pentatonic and blues scales)
but become completely sterile and out of place when we swap to other scales. Even though those other
scales can contain the original pentatonic framework that we already know how to use. This is the state that
most blues guitar books and teachers leave you in. They teach theoretical ideas in their entirety, from
relevant to irrelevant, and then leave you to fend for yourself to find the music within them. That’s where
this book breaks away from the pack. This is a curated guide to the blues world beyond the pentatonic scale
but never beyond the blues. Every concept is tethered to the feel, harmony and spirit of the blues.
Every example in this book is highly focussed and stylized. The problem with lots of blues books is their
inability to trim the fat and get to the heart of the music. Ross takes a music first approach to the teaching
and as a result offers the most direct path to sophisticated blues soloing.
With all that said, there really is only one thing left for me to say and that is to wish you luck with your
journey into the world of blues guitar beyond pentatonics. I hope this book gives you the confidence to play
with the conviction that comes from knowing what you’re doing and turns you into a more empowered
player.

Luke Lewis
GuitarVivo

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Introduction
Have you ever wondered how the blues guitar masters of today always seem to land on the right notes at
the right time? Rarely - if ever - do they improvise solos that fail to imply the chord changes in a way
wherein the listener could hear them happening, even if they were playing completely unaccompanied. You,
on the other hand, have spent far too long rehashing the same old minor pentatonic licks. You feel somewhat
comfortable playing these licks over the I chord but you never know what to do when the IV and V chords
arrive. Not knowing what to play over said chords, sends you into a mistake-inducing panic, often resulting
in slip-ups that sound akin to playing in the wrong key. So, you do your best to merely survive those chord
changes and breathe a sigh of relief upon returning to the comfort of the I chord, where you can play those
tired pentatonic licks all over again. Too often is this the reality that the frustrated blues guitarist accepts.
They love playing the genre but deep down they know that there are noticeable weak points in their
improvisational abilities. These weak points have been along for the ride for as long as they can remember
and so, they make the mistake of thinking that they are inherent and therefore any attempt to fix them would
be a futile endeavour.
If the situation I’ve just described happens to be the very same one you find yourself in currently, is there
any hope for you or, are you doomed to remain stagnant with your abilities as a blues improviser? After all,
you’ve been this way for years so, perhaps, it would be better to make peace with stagnation and pretend
that actually, you’re ok with continuing to play blues guitar solos in a way that makes you feel as though
you’re merely trying to survive the chord changes? Well, you could do that, or you could take the action
steps necessary towards transforming yourself into the sophisticated blues improviser that you have the
power to become. I’m willing to bet that the latter option is what you would prefer, but what are the action
steps to take? How does a guitar player successfully put themselves through such a transformation?
Let me tell you how I, as someone who grappled with this same problem for many years, eventually was
able to solve the puzzle that is blues improvisation. When I first picked up the guitar at the age of 10, my
world revolved around hard rock and metal. AC/DC, Metallica and Guns N’ Roses dominated my interests
as a keen student of guitar and later on, I was introduced to the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Stevie Ray Vaughan
and Robben Ford, all of whom inspired me to direct the focus of my practice towards the blues. Never before
had I encountered a style of guitar playing with a spectrum so wide that its solos could build from a quiet,
graceful sophistication to passages of raw ferocity and aggression, without the contrast between the two
dynamic states sounding in any way jarring.
I was captivated and began to immerse myself in instructional blues guitar playing content. I watched as
many YouTube lessons as I could find, I ordered books, I ordered DVDs, and I even started playing blues
cover songs with the local band I was in as a teenager. Despite my love for the genre growing by the day -
and my skills as a guitar player improving overall during these early years - it wasn’t long at all before my
abilities as a blues improviser hit a ceiling that I just couldn’t seem to break through.

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I would describe the holes in my blues playing in the exact same way that I did earlier on, when I outlined
the problems that I strongly suspect the person who purchased this book has also encountered in their own
quest to become a competent blues improviser. What it all boiled down to was a lack of understanding
regarding the harmony of a 12-bar blues. To be clear, when I say harmony - I don’t mean Iron Maiden style
dual guitar parts, epic as they may be. Harmony, in this context, refers to the chords involved in the 12-bar
blues progression and how they relate to one another.
The instructional content that I had consumed for bettering my blues improvisation skills, did improve my
playing to a degree, but it ultimately failed to address the fundamental cause of why so many guitar players
struggle to play solos that highlight the changes of a standard blues chord progression, and remain stuck in
the all-too-familiar minor pentatonic jail cell. The fundamental cause of this struggle that I am referring to
is the simple fact that blues is not diatonic harmony. When every chord in a progression can be found
naturally within one scale - the major scale, for example - that, in a nutshell, is called diatonic harmony.
When you’re tasked with improvising over a chord progression that would qualify as diatonic harmony, you
can very easily apply a one-scale approach to improvising over said progression. For example, when playing
over a progression in A major, the A major scale is your friend. And yes, you can certainly do more to target
each chord, such as incorporating triads and arpeggios but even then, those triads and arpeggios would
naturally be found within the A major scale. Conversely, with a standard 12-bar blues chord progression,
you are tasked with playing over three chords - a I, IV and V - all of which are played or treated as dominant
7th chords. Given that there is no scale which naturally contains three dominant 7th chords, there is no one-
scale-fits-all approach that can be applied. At least not one that allows for the level of improvisational
freedom that you hear flowing through solos from the likes of Robben Ford, Matt Schofield or Josh Smith.
This essentially means that to say you and your band are playing ‘a blues in the key of A’, is a mutually
believed ‘lie’, for lack of a better word. Since a progression such as this would contain the chords A7, D7
and E7, and there is no scale that naturally contains all three of these chords, it would be more accurate to
describe a blues in the key of A, as ‘a blues in the keys of A, D and E’... But don’t worry, I’m being pedantic
here only for the sake of pointing out the oversight that is inherent in a lot of instructional blues guitar
material.
In a way, knowing that this oversight exists should come as a relief to you reading this. If you’ve struggled
with the problems that many guitar players face when attempting blues improvisation - like the ones that I
have described thus far - it isn’t exactly your fault. Knowing that the blues is not diatonic harmony, is the
first hurdle to overcome and from there, you can begin to rebuild your approach to improvising over blues
progressions in a manner which will lead to you feeling confident when navigating the chord changes.
So, getting back to my own personal experience of overcoming the issues that plagued my blues
improvisation for years, what was it that I did to eventually break through the ceiling that I hit all those
years ago? It wasn’t until I had graduated from music school, where I spent four years studying guitar at an
academic level, that I was equipped with the knowledge of music necessary for me to arrive at this realisation
on my own - that being that blues is non-diatonic. I didn’t immediately act on this realisation, in fact there
were a few years that I let go by where I didn’t focus much of my attention on blues guitar at all. When I
did come back to it however, I had the ability to simply listen to and watch footage of my favourite blues
improvisers, learn their solos by ear, note-for-note and analyse how they navigated the chord changes. This
allowed me to, for example, listen to how a player approached the change from the I to the IV chord and
instantly make sense of their note choices, which then enabled me to adopt their approach into my own
playing vocabulary. I practised this almost daily and after several months, the pieces started to come together
as I was getting better and better at digesting what I had learned from studying my favourite blues players
and improvising my own solos through a 12-bar blues.

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You’ll be glad to know that the content in the rest of this book is not me telling you to drop everything in
your life to study a music degree in another city, dedicate four years of your life to writing essays, taking
private guitar lessons and learning about all the ins and outs of the music business, just so at the end of it
you can eventually begin to truly learn about blues guitar playing. You can do so if you wish... but it’s really
not necessary. The rest of this book is my effort to reverse engineer the process of growth that I went through
as a blues improviser, to show you what I learned during those years where I spent day after day transcribing
my influences, learning what I could from them and adopting their vocabulary into my own approach. You
will learn how to move beyond a purely scale based approach to blues improvisation and start thinking about
each chord in a 12-bar blues independently, which I believe is necessary if you wish to highlight the changes
in a manner that screams - I know what I’m doing.
It is my sincere hope that this book will shatter the limiting beliefs that fellow blues guitarists have told
themselves every day, for years on end. The holes in your abilities as a blues improviser are not inherent
flaws. You do not have to accept minor-pentatonic-prison as your reality anymore. It is possible to change
your entire outlook on blues improvisation and reach a level at which you can confidently improvise solos
that flow through the chord changes with ease. But let me make it clear - this is not an overnight, quick-fix
solution. There are no shortcuts to becoming truly skilled at any one area of guitar playing; blues
improvisation is no exception and I have nothing to gain from being anything less than honest with you
when I say that this will take consistent, focused practice over a long stretch of time. However, just like the
years that have preceded this moment, the time is going to pass you by anyway, so let’s draw a line under
those years, or decades, of stagnation. I encourage you to begin again. Today, you can take the first step on
the path towards landing on the right notes, at the right time.
Backing Tracks
In the additional materials included with this book you will find backing tracks in multiple keys and with
varying tempos and band arrangements. All of the licks, solos and exercise examples in this book are
designed to be played over one specific version of the backing track - a blues shuffle in the key of A, at a
moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute.
Inside the main backing track folder, you will find a document that Explains, in detail, how these backing
tracks have been organised. Please take the time to read over it before jumping into the backing track sub-
folders, it will only take you a minute or so. All backing tracks have the exact same rhythmic feel,. I’d
forgive you for thinking that only including backing tracks with the same rhythmic feel was a decision made
out of laziness but believe it or not, it is for your own benefit.
My goal as the author of this book was to create something that clearly Explains the following to the student
attempting to learn from it:
1. The structure of the 12-bar blues progression
2. The notes you can target for the I, IV and V chords
3. How to use various improvisational tools to musically target these notes in your solos
In my opinion, the most effective way for me as your instructor to guide you towards that desired outcome,
is to minimise distraction, resist the urge to pull you in different directions and instead, help you to focus
all your attention on the three points mentioned above. If I’m throwing a hundred different backing tracks
in different tonalities, styles and grooves at you, I feel like that would be doing a disservice to you as a
student. Of course, learning to play in different styles and grooves is crucial to becoming a well-rounded,
competent guitar player, however, in this book I wanted to focus your attention on what is, in my opinion,
the best type of blues track you can learn blues improvisation with and the one that you’ll always end up
playing at any blues jams you happen to take part in - that being, the shuffle.

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Chapter 1
Essential Theory Basics & Terms
I don’t want to get bogged down in theoretical terms before we’ve really got to any music, but a brief
overview of terms will be very beneficial. Feel free to skip this chapter if you already have a good grasp of
basic theory, you can always come back here if you get stuck.
How We Talk About Intervals & Scales
Throughout this book I will be referencing notes as scale degrees. This means that I’m going to be describing
them by their context instead of their name. For example, I might refer to an A note as the root of a chord,
instead of always calling it an A. This is because knowing the scale degree is much more beneficial when it
comes to analyzing and using the material in this book. Knowing the degrees allows you to move ideas to
different keys, if you know a lick starts on the root of the key, you know that in D it starts on a D note. Only
knowing the note names doesn’t tell you how ideas translate across keys.
Scale degrees come from the major scale. The major scale has seven notes, so there are seven scale degrees.
Here are the notes of C major: C D E F G A B
C is the root, D is the 2nd, E is the 3rd, F is the 4th, and so on. This means that if I learn a lick that starts on
the 5th, I simply go to root of the key and count up to the fifth note. We can also use these numbers to
describe the intervals or space between notes. From C to D is the distance of a 2nd, from C to E is the
distance of a 3rd.
Let’s examine these distances:
C to D is a 2nd and is equal to one tone (two frets)
C to E is a 3rd and is equal to two tone (four frets)
C to F is a 4th and is equal to two and a half tones (five frets)
C to G is a 5th and is equal to three and a half tones (seven frets)

C to A is a 6th and is equal to four and a half tones (nine frets)

C to B is a 7th and is equal to five and a half tones (eleven frets)
You’ll notice that we have some notes missing from the chromatic scale, what if we want to describe the
distance from C to Eb, the distance of three frets? Well, just to make things a little more accurate, we can

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add some qualifiers to the above. We can refer to them as either major, minor, augmented, or diminished
to help us get all the notes in between and distinguish between them. These qualifiers will tell us if we
need to shrink an interval, expand an interval, or keep it the same as it would have been in the major scale.
Firstly, here is the above information again, with the accurate qualifiers.

C to D is a Major 2nd and is equal to one tone (two frets)

C to E is a Major 3rd and is equal to two tone (four frets)
C to F is a Perfect 4th and is equal to two and a half tones (five frets)
C to G is a Perfect 5th and is equal to three and a half tones (seven frets)
C to A is a Major 6th and is equal to four and a half tones (nine frets)

C to B is a Major 7th and is equal to five and a half tones (eleven frets)
Using the above information as our metric, we can see that anytime we go up two frets, we have gone up a
major 2nd. Anytime we go from one note to a note seven frets higher we have gone up a perfect fifth. If I
want to describe a note one fret smaller than a major interval, I’m going to use minor. C to D is a major
second, but C to Db is a minor second. C to Eb is a minor third. If I want to shrink a perfect interval (e.g.
Perfect 4th or 5th), I will say diminished. C to G is a perfect 5th, but C to Gb is a diminished 5th.

What is the 12 Bar Blues

The 12-bar blues is a blues chord progression that has been a staple of jazz, blues, rock, funk and pop music
for over one hundred years. There are multiple variations and types of 12-bar progressions, but they are all
built around the same skeleton structure. The progression uses three chords, the root, the fourth and the fifth.
Going forward, we will use roman numerals to help distinguish between when we’re describing chords and
when we’re describing intervals.
The basic 12-bar blues looks like this:

| I | I | I | I |
| IV | IV | I | I |
| V | IV | I | I |

In the Key of A, which is where we are going to base the examples of this book, we get:

|A|A|A|A|
|D|D|A|A|
|E|D|A|A|
The form can be seen as three distinct four bar phrases. Phrase 1, Bars 1-4, stays on the I chord. Phrase 2
starts on the IV chord but returns to the I chord. Phrase three starts on the V chord and returns to the I
chord via the IV. That’s the basic skeleton of the 12-bar blues, let’s look at the harmony a little closer in
chapter 2.

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Chapter 2
The Blues is NOT Diatonic Harmony!
As mentioned in the introduction, the 12-bar blues progression is not diatonic harmony. This presents the
soloist with pitfalls to look out for as they navigate their way through the changes. In this chapter I’m going
to explain what diatonic harmony is and prove that the blues is non-diatonic, but first I would like you to
listen to Example 2.0 and follow along with the notation/tab below as you listen. It’s a composed solo guitar
etude which has been transcribed and notated, should you wish to learn and play it yourself. Watch the video
or listen to the audio now before continuing to read this chapter - it won’t take long at all.
Chapter 2 Etude - Example 2.0

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Did you notice that throughout the etude you could clearly hear the 12-bar blues progression going by? The
reason you can hear those changes so clearly is because I’m not treating the progression as diatonic.
What is Diatonic Harmony?
Diatonic harmony is music made with chord progressions that contain chords that all relate to one ‘parent’
scale, for example, the major scale. You could think of diatonic as meaning “from within the key”. Diatonic
chords are the chords that are exclusively made up of notes in the key. A diatonic melody is a melody that
only uses notes from within the key.
Here are the diatonic chords of the C major scale:
Chord I - C major 7
Chord ii - D minor 7
Chord iii - E minor 7
Chord IV - F major 7
Chord V - G dominant 7
Chord vi - A minor 7

Chord vii֯ - B minor 7(♭5)

An example of a chord progression that would come under the term ‘diatonic’ harmony, could be a ‘ii V I’.
In the key of C, this chord progression would contain the chords Dm7 (chord ii), G7 (chord V) and Cmaj7
(chord I). As you can see from the table above, these are all chords that occur naturally in the key of C
major. If you were to look at the notes in each of those chords listed above, you would only find notes that
come from the C major scale. That, in a nutshell, is diatonic harmony. When soloing over a diatonic chord
progression, you could get away with using just one scale. For example, it would make a lot of sense to play
a solo using the C major scale over the ii-V-I progression above – Dm7-G7-Cmaj7.

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The traditional 12 bar blues contains three different chords – Chord I, Chord IV and Chord V. Looking at
the previous table showing the diatonic chords of C, we can see that chord I has a major7 quality, chord IV
also has a major7 quality, and chord V has a dominant 7 quality. This is where the blues breaks from diatonic
convention. In the blues progression, all three chords are dominant 7 – meaning they contain a root, major
3rd, perfect 5th and minor 7th, and potentially some extensions (9ths, 11ths & 13ths). As an experiment, you
can play through the 12 bar blues using major 7 voicings for the I and IV chord and hear what it would
sound like if it were diatonic. I think you’ll agree that the major 7th chords don’t exactly scream ‘blues’.
Note: To keep things simple, I will refer to dominant chords as ‘dominant 7th’ or by simply using the root
of the chord followed by the number 7. For example, a G dominant 7th chord could be written as ‘G7’.
Look again at the table denoting the chords of the C major scale and you will see that chord V is a dominant
7th chord. However, when you scan through the rest of the chords, you will notice that there are no other
dominant 7th chords to be found - only major 7ths, minor 7ths and a minor7♭5. Each key only contains one
dominant 7th chord. This means that the blues progression which contains three dominant 7th chords can’t
be diatonic as those three dominant chords must come from three different keys.
Explaining the origin of the blues music and how it has evolved into this chord progression which seemingly
breaks a lot of “rules” is beyond the scope of this book. It’s a fascinating rabbit hole to investigate, but it’s
not relevant to us right now. What does matter however, is understanding that the chords of the dominant
12-bar blues progression present us with a problem by not being diatonic.
The chords do not belong to one single scale and that means that there is no ‘one-scale-fits-all’ approach to
comprehensively outline the changes. One of the biggest reasons for going “beyond pentatonic” is to
overcome this hurdle and to reach a higher level of harmonic specificity in our soloing. If I could describe
the ultimate end goal for you studying the material in this book for months and years to come, I want it to
provide you with the knowledge and skills that will eventually allow you to play improvised blues solos
that let the audience hear the chord changes, even if you are playing completely unaccompanied.
If you can play a killer improvised blues solo that clearly outlines the chord changes without any chords
being played, just imagine how good you will sound in the context of a band! This is something that I was
incapable of doing just three years ago. I had been playing blues music since my teens but I had only ever
truly felt confident playing over the I chord. When it came time to navigate the IV and V chords, I would
sweat bullets and pray that I’d get through those parts of the progression without hitting a ‘bum note’, or
worse, several in a row. Fortunately, that isn’t the case for me anymore - so what changed? The simple
answer is that I developed my abilities to embrace the IV and V chords rather than just survive them. I had
to change my approach from using one scale for the whole progression to an approach that acknowledged
that the IV and V chord needed their own material. That material and knowledge is exactly what you’re
going to get from this book.
Before we move on, I would like you to have a second listen to the etude from the start of the chapter. Look
at the notation to see where the chord changes occur and listen to my note choices as I play through those
changes. The fact that you can hear the chord changes happening without me actually playing any chord
voicings is no accident. I am being very deliberate with my note choices when those chord changes appear
by making efforts to target the root notes, major 3rds and b7ths of the I, IV and V chords. This is something
you cannot achieve with a single scale approach. Some might also argue that the ‘blues scale’ and the
mixolydian mode are appropriate single-scale approaches to playing creative blues solos. They’re not wrong
but if you want to outline the chord changes with the same level of sophistication that modern blues greats
such as Matt Schofield and Robben Ford do, I can guarantee you that they are not relying on these scales as
an all-in-one solution.

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There is another big blues concept that highlights its non-diatonic nature and that’s the mixture of both
minor and major 3rds. Diatonic keys are major or minor, whereas the blues lives in a blend of the two.
Example 2.1 shows the most commonly played ‘cliché’ blues lick of all time.
Example 2.1

This example is played over the I chord in the key of A - an A7 chord. The two notes played on the G string
are the minor 3rd and major 3rd of A. Despite the chord I’m playing over only containing a major 3rd, I’m
still choosing to play a minor 3rd as well. Why would I do that and shouldn’t it clash with the major 3rd in
the chord? The secret to helping these two 3rds co-exist peacefully, is to use the minor 3rd as a means of
targeting the 3rd that is in the chord - the major 3rd. Here’s one more example of combining minor and
major 3rds over the I chord:
Example 2.2

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Concepts such as this will be broken down in much more detail in the later chapters of the book, and please
do not worry if the earlier chapters of the book aren’t quite ‘clicking’ for you right away. I have written this
book with the idea of it being studied for years to come and for it to be a continuing source of inspiration
and ideas. You might read a paragraph and then put the book down for a week while you perfect and
internalize what it said, that’s perfectly fine. Completing this book isn’t a race, in fact I can guarantee that
the faster you get through it, the less you’ll get out of it.
Lastly, the long-term improvements that I assume you wanted to get from purchasing this book can be best
achieved when you digest the curriculum in the very deliberate order in which it has been written and
organised. Even if you think you already know what I’m teaching you in certain chapters, read them anyway.
What if you skipped over an entire chapter, or even just a single paragraph that contained that little golden
nugget of information that finally helped you to make sense of something that had puzzled you for years?
To recap chapter 2:

• The dominant 12 bar blues progression contains I, IV and V chords that are all treated as dominant
chords

• There is only one dominant 7th chord found naturally in the diatonic/diatonic harmony of the major
scale - that being chord V chord

• 12-bar blues solos cannot be treated as if they followed diatonic harmony, where all of the chords
are found naturally in one scale/key, if you want to clearly outline the changes.

• There is no one scale we can use to outline the chord changes of a 12-bar blues in a sophisticated
musical manner

• Mixing minor and major 3rds is a common improvisation tool used in blues soloing.

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Chapter 3
Mastering the Rhythm of Blues
The importance of rhythm cannot overstated. Although this book will primarily focus on notes, we can’t
actually do anything with them until we can place them in a rhythmical, musical way. Therefore we have to
start with how to count and feel the rhythm in your head, and how to get used to adopting it in your lead
playing. The main rhythmic feel in blues music is known as the shuffle. Engraining the shuffle feel to the
point where it feels natural is the main goal of this chapter.
To start, let's listen to an example of a riff that just about every beginner guitar player in the world is taught
after a handful of lessons…
Example 3.1

This book is not about rhythm playing but this riff perfectly demonstrates the shuffle time feel that is present
throughout most blues tunes (and our backing tracks). So how do you describe the shuffle rhythm? Well,
first off, we’re using the standard 4/4 time signature which means we have four beats per bar. Each beat is
a quarter of the bar, making each beat a quarter note.

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Practice counting along to the beats in the backing track:

1234
If you’re playing in 4/4 with a straight feel, you can divide those quarter notes into two 8th notes each:
1&2&3&4
This gives you a very even time feel. Each “&” is happening exactly halfway between the downbeats. The
shuffle feel has more of a ‘swing’ to it and that’s because a blues shuffle is based on using 8th note triplets
throughout. Instead of dividing a quarter note into two 8th notes (as shown on the example above) you can
divide it into three and create 8th note triplets. Counted as follows:
1&a2&a3&a4&a
To turn triplets into a shuffle requires one more step: tying the first two triplets of each beat together. This
means we are no longer accenting the middle (the &) of each beat. This gives a lilt or swing to the feel. This
is essentially the shuffle feel - hitting the 1st and 3rd triplet in each beat.
‘1 and a, 2 and a, 3 and a, 4 and a’
The drums will often play this rhythm on the hi-hats and cymbals, the bassist will adopt it in their lines and
you will find yourself getting very acquainted with it through studying the numerous licks, solos and
exercises in this book. When you come to look at these examples in the later chapters of this book, 99% of
which adopt this 8th note triplet feel, you won’t see the rhythm notated in this way, where you’re always
seeing triplet groupings with the first two notes in each one tied.
When a piece of music uses a shuffle feel, instead of writing everything out as triplets with the first two
notes tied together, its cleaner to just inform the player of a shuffle feel and write everything out as 8th
notes. If you’re reading the musical notation, remember that all of the 8th notes are played with this shuffle
feel. The trick to nailing this feel is to listen and play along with the audio and video demonstrations.
To demonstrate the shuffle vs straight feel, listen to the following two examples of me playing through
position 1 of the A minor pentatonic over our blues shuffle in A backing track (100bpm). In example 3.2,
I’m going to demonstrate straight 8th notes, which you may notice, sound a bit unnatural against the shuffle
feel of the track. In example 3.3 I’ll play the same notes but using the shuffle feel that I’ve just spent this
chapter describing. I think you’ll agree it ‘fits’ with the rhythm of the track a whole lot better.
Example 3.2

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Example 3.3

So what can you practice to get better at ‘feeling’ a blues shuffle, particularly when soloing? Well, just
about every example of a lick, solo or exercise in this book uses this time feel, so there is a wealth of practice
homework ahead of you that will get you very familiar with adopting the shuffle rhythm in your blues solos.
One more point I’d like to add before I wrap up this chapter - you can play all sorts of rhythms in your
shuffle solos if you want to. You can play straight 8th notes, straight 16th notes, full-on triplets where you
are actually playing all three of the notes in the triplet, you can do whatever you want to do. The trick to
achieving that freedom is mastering the 8th note shuffle feel first before you try and embellish it.

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Chapter 4
Fixing the Blues Scale

In the second chapter, I told you that since the I, IV and V chords in a 12-bar blues progression are all played
or treated as dominant 7th chords, there is no ‘one-scale-fits-all’ approach to improvising. At least not in
the same sophisticated and colourful manner in which players such as Robben Ford, Matt Schofield and
Josh Smith do. For that, we need more note choices than the traditional ‘blues scale’ offers. Debunking the
idea that the scale which has the genre in its name is a suitable all-in-one solution to improvising in said
genre, is exactly the point of this chapter.
Before we continue, the point I will be making in this chapter is not to tell you that the blues scale is useless
in blues improvisation. It absolutely has its uses as you will find out soon enough. However, for highlighting
the chord changes, it offers very few options for note choices that would allow us to creatively do so.
Let’s start by first defining what the blues scale is. It’s a six-note scale that is very similar to the minor
pentatonic scale, but with one extra note. Let’s compare the two, shall we?

The minor pentatonic contains a root, ♭3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th and a ♭7th.

R ♭3 4 5 ♭7

Position one of the A minor pentatonic scale looks like this:

The blues scale adds one note to the minor pentatonic that is sandwiched between the perfect 4th and perfect
5th - this note is called the ♭5 and you can see it in the diagram for position one of the blues scale below:
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I want you to listen to a solo recorded for this chapter to demonstrate the use of the blues scale alone over
the I, IV and V chords in a 12-bar blues in the key of A. I am exclusively using the notes of the A blues
scale for the whole progression. Since we’re in the key of A, that means the blues scale built from the root
of the I chord. I am not switching to D and E blues scales when the IV and V chords arrive - it’s the blues
scale built from the root of the I chord and nothing else.
Chapter 4.1

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Is there anything wrong with that solo? Despite my inherent personal bias… I don’t think so. It has rhythm,
I’m repeating phrases to make ‘motifs’ and link the different parts of the solo together creatively and I’m
also targeting the root notes of the I, IV and V chords. Great.

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So, if it sounds good then what’s the problem? Why do I still not consider the scale used to be an all-in-one
solution for blues improvisation? Well, if you’re playing in a local blues jam or simply practising to backing
tracks in the comfort of your own home, it’s rare that you would only take one round of 12-bars to solo
with. You might go around the progression two, three, four or more times before ending your solo. If I’m
in such a situation and I use just the notes of the blues scale for a solo that goes through the 12-bars multiple
times, my solo would start to feel held back. I personally would start to feel held back and restrained, like
painting with a limited palette.
The notes in that scale restrict me from being able to highlight the chord changes in the more ‘colourful’
ways that I’m drawn to. I’m essentially not able to say what I want to say when I’m chained to just those
six notes. Let’s take a look at the notes in the I, IV and V chords alongside the notes of the blues scale built
from the root of the I chord - A.
Here you can see the notes contained within each chord.

The notes in the A Blues Scale are: A C D Eb E G

For the A7 chord, the A blues scale contains three out of four notes: A, E & G. This gives us three options
to target the I chord. The A7’s root A, the fifth E and the b7th G.
For the D7 chord, the A blues scale contains three out of four notes: D, A & C. This gives us three options
to target the IV chord. The D7’s root D, the fifth A and the b7th C.
For the E7 chord, the A blues scale contains two out of four notes: E & D. This gives us two options to
target the V chord. The E7’s root E and b7th D.
This shows why you can get by with the blues scale, it has some overlap with each chord. However, it also
shows exactly what I mean when I say it’s limited. A lot of the chord tones aren’t included in the blues
scale, depriving me of some very melodic note choices. In fact, this scale is robbing me of some of the most
melodic and desirable options: the thirds.
Not all chord tones are created equal. Using the table above you can clearly see the 3rd of each chord. The
third of A7 is C#, the third of D7 is F# and the third of E7 is G#. None of these three notes are contained
within the A blues scale. Before I tell you more about the major 3rd and its importance for all three chords
in blues improvisation, I want you to listen to a few examples of licks that are performed over the transition
from chord I to chord IV, only using the notes of the A blues scale.

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These three examples will all end on a note that will be one of the three chord tones from the IV chord that
are also found in the blues scale built from the I chord. To remind you – these common notes between chord
and scale are the R, 5 and ♭7 of the IV chord. Let’s start with a lick that lands on the root of the IV chord,
right as the chords change from I to IV…
Example 4.2

Next, the following lick lands on the 5th of the IV chord, at the same point in the progression where the
chords change from I to IV…
Example 4.3

And lastly, this lick lands on the ♭7th of the IV chord, again, when the chords change from the I to the IV…

Example 4.4

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Which of those examples do you think created the strongest connection to the IV chord when the chord
change occurred? The root, the 5th or the ♭7th? Personally, I would say that the licks that ended on the root
and ♭7th sounded best. Landing on the root of any chord will always sound intentional. The dominant 7th
chord contains a colourful ♭7th - landing on that chord tone also creates quite a strong connection. The 5th
however just doesn’t do it for me. It doesn’t sound ‘bad’ per se but since the 5th of the IV chord is the same
as the root of the I chord (they are both the note A), and since we’re moving from I to IV, to me it doesn’t
make much sense to target a note that isn’t a new sound for the new chord.
My personal view on perfect 5ths in chords, is that they are great chord ‘filler’. Major 3rds and minor 3rds,
as well as major 7ths and minor 7ths, can both have a great deal of influence on the overall tonality of a
chord - meaning they will tell you if a chord is major, minor or dominant, for example. Perfect 5ths have a
very ‘neutral’, or dare I say it ‘beige’ sound. You could remove the perfect 5th from major 7th, minor 7th
and dominant 7th chords and they would still sound like the same chord type.
Now that you know what it sounds like to land on the three chord tones from the IV chord that the notes of
the blues scale (built from the root of the I chord) provide us with, I want you to listen to some examples of
licks that land on the chord tone that I’ve told you is missing from the blues scale for the I, IV and V chords
- the major 3rd of each chord.
Example 4.5

Example 4.6

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Example 4.7

In all three of those examples, when the chords changed from I to IV, I landed on the major 3rd of the IV
chord. I might have ended the phrase on a different chord tone, for example, in example 4.6 I finished on
the 5th of the IV chord - A. In example 4.7 I finished on the root note - D. But the point is that I landed on
the major 3rd of the IV chord and the point of the chord change..
I love targeting major 3rds for all of the chord changes in the 12-bar blues. From the I to the IV, the IV back
to the I and of course, the turnaround where the chords move from the V, to the IV and back to the I. Here’s
an example of a turnaround lick that targets the major 3rds of the V, IV and I chord when they appear in the
progression. Listen to the clarity, colour and flow created from targeting thirds.
Example 4.8

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Now in that example, there are in fact some notes that are not from the blues scale nor the chords I’m playing
over - these are chromatic ‘passing notes’ which is a topic I will address in a later chapter. The main thing
to take notice of with that lick is that when I’m approaching the V chord from the I chord (bar 1 into bar 2),
I play this ascending phrase that is targeting the major 3rd of the V chord - E7. I’m landing on that chord
tone right as the V chord arrives. Then, moving from the V to the IV chord (bar 2 into bar 3) I play basically
the same phrase but a whole step lower so that I can target the major 3rd of the IV chord - D7. Again, I land
on that major 3rd right as the IV chord arrives which creates a very strong connection between the note
choices in my solo and the chords I’m playing over.
If you try playing this turnaround lick yourself, unaccompanied with no backing track – or even with just
drums and no bass/harmonic backing - you will probably notice that you’re able to hear the chord changes
occur without playing any chords.
So, what have we learned in this chapter? Whilst the blues scale does have utility in blues improvisation,
the chord tones for the I, IV and V that are present in the scale don’t provide us with quite enough options
for sophisticated blues soloing. If you’ve only ever attempted soloing with the minor pentatonic and blues
scales over 12-bar progressions, now it’s time for you to start thinking about incorporating major 3rds into
your licks played over the I, IV and V chords. If you study the licks in this chapter, you’ll start to hear your
way to those thirds. You’ll feel a pull towards them.
To give you something more to practise other than the examples, the following example is a solo played
through two rounds of a 12-bar progression. Like example 1 from the start of the chapter, the first 12 bars
of this solo use the notes of the blues scale alone and the 12 bars that come after, incorporate more colourful
options for highlighting the chords - including major 3rds.
There may be some chord tones in there that you don’t yet recognise but do not worry about them for now
- we’re only just getting started.
Example 4.9

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Chapter 5
The Mixolydian-Pentatonic Relationship
In this chapter I’m going to go deep on note choices for the I chord. Half of the chapter will describe my
thoughts on the mixolydian mode and pentatonic scales for the I chord and the other half will focus on
around 20 examples of me applying these notes over the I chord. Don’t just listen to and/or watch me play
the examples without giving any thought to the note choices - by all means learn them on the fretboard but
please also take the time to read through the analysis I provide for each example, as you’ll learn about my
thought process for incorporating these notes that go beyond the limited offerings we have with just the
minor pentatonic/blues scale.
So let’s get started…
Like the blues scale, you may have been told that the mixolydian mode is a good scale to use for blues
playing and there is certainly some truth to that. If we look at the scale formula for A mixolydian compared
with the chord tones of an A7 chord, we’ll see some commonality between the two:

A Mixolydian: R 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7 - A B C♯ D E F♯ G

A7 Chord: R 3 5 ♭7 - A C♯ E G

As you can see, the root, 3rd, 5th and ♭7th in the scale, are the same as that of the dominant 7th chord with
the same root note - A. Meaning the mixolydian mode works well over dominant 7th chords. However,
when guitarists are first introduced to the modes of the major scale, they are often taught them with large
three-note-per-string scale patterns that look pretty intimidating. There’s nothing inherently wrong with
learning these scale positions and visualising them on the fretboard when improvising. However, I do think
that there is an arguably better way of thinking about and improvising with the mixolydian mode and this is
hinted at in the chapter title…
What is the ‘Mixolydian/Pentatonic Relationship’?
In a nutshell, if you combine major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales with the same root note, you get
something that is very similar to the scale formula for the mixolydian mode.
Major Pentatonic Formula: R 2 3 5 6

Minor Pentatonic Formula: R ♭3 4 5 ♭7

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Major & Minor Pentatonic Combined: R 2 ♭3 3 4 5 6 ♭7

Mixolydian Formula: R 2 3 4 5 6 ♭7

If you look at the last two scale formulas - the pentatonics combined and the mixolydian - you may notice
that the combined pentatonic scales have all of the same notes that are in mixolydian but with the addition
of one note - the ♭3. At the end of chapter 2, you may recall that I introduced you to the idea of playing licks
that use both flat 3rds and major 3rds. This means that the b3rd in this scale isn’t something to worry about,
in fact, it’s going to add some blues coloring to out mixolydian scale.
You may be wondering why it might be beneficial for blues playing to think of mixolydian as a combination
of major pentatonic and minor pentatonic scales. Fundamentally, I believe that a lot of the time, pentatonic
scales are more conducive to playing guitar solos that sound musical, compared to solos that simply sound
like you are practising scale positions. When you really think about it, the guitar is a very complicated
instrument to learn. Piano players have the luxury of having all 12 notes laid out linearly, which simply
repeats as they move through octaves - that’s not to say that playing piano is easy, but it’s certainly a far
less time-consuming process to memorise the notes of the instrument than it is for guitar.
The six strings of the guitar, tuned the way that they are, are like having six pianos laid out in front of you.
This gives us the option of us not only being able to move horizontally up and down each string, but
vertically across 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 strings at a time. But not only that, we can use multiple fingerings to play
scales vertically. Because there are so many possible ways of playing the same scale formula across the
fretboard, having memorised visual patterns to hold onto feels comforting when you’re trying to improvise.
It can remove a lot of risk when it comes to hitting bum notes. However, modal scale patterns, whilst useful
to know, are often large 3 note per string visual shapes that can be hard to improvise with without playing
‘licks’ that sound like you’re simply practising the scale ascending and descending. A common pitfall of
patterns that have three-notes per string is that guitar players end up playing all of their licks with triplet
rhythms and not much else in terms of rhythmic variation. Personally, I have always found the visual
structure of pentatonic scales to be more conducive to creating licks and phrases that sound. Now of course,
with pentatonic scales there are visual patterns/shapes/positions to learn and memorise but since there’s less
content in them, they are a bit easier to visualise across the fretboard.
To reiterate, my approach with mixolydian in a blues context has always been based on visualising minor
pentatonic scale positions (R ♭3 4 5 ♭7) whilst being aware of and adding in the notes from the major
pentatonic (with the same root note R 2 3 5 6) that, when combined with the minor pentatonic scale degrees,
create a ‘mixolydian’ sound.
The following diagrams show the layers that I combine to go from minor pentatonic to
pentatonic/mixolydian hybrid. I start with the traditional A minor pentatonic scale in position one. I then
add notes from the major pentatonic scale one at a time. Taking my time to get familiar with the location of
each new addition. The first note I add is the 2, then the 3, then the 6.

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It’s important that you understand that that final diagram, with the 2nd, 3rd and 6th from the major
pentatonic scale added in, is NOT a visual pattern that I have spent time practising ascending and descending
- this is simply a representation of the notes that I am aware of on the fretboard when improvising over the
I chord in a blues. I don’t recommend spending your practice time working out scale positions that contain
all of those notes across the fretboard. I believe that doing so would almost be a hindrance to your progress
as a blues improviser and here’s why…
The main issue I have with only thinking about scales in terms of visual patterns, is that when you practice
them you don’t really have to think about the function of each of the scale degrees/intervals relative to the
chords you’re going to be playing the scale over - you can just sit down with a metronome and mindlessly
play through each position of the scale. You’re not training your ear to be able to identify something like
the movement from the b3 to the major 3rd over the I chord, for example. I personally believe that your
practice time would be better spent on learning and writing licks and phrases that weave in and out of those
‘colour notes’ from the major pentatonic - the major 2nd, major 3rd and major 6th.
That’s why for this chapter I have recorded a multitude of examples for you to practice that will help to train
your ear to identify the sound of these colour notes over the I chord in a 12-bar blues. Practising these
phrases on a regular basis will make you very familiar with commonly used blues vocabulary that sounds a
lot more colourful than only soloing with the minor pentatonic/blues scale.
For future reference, in later chapters you may see me refer to the note choices for the I chord as the ‘I chord
note palette’ - which is essentially just a quicker way for me to describe the note choices I have outlined for
you in this chapter. The only change being that I would also add in the b5 as an option for the I chord note
palette. Instead of being a combination of just major and minor pentatonic, we’re now adding the blues scale
into the mix.

The I Chord Note Palette = Mixolydian + ♭3 & ♭5

R 2 ♭3 3 4 ♭5 5 6 ♭7

I Chord Note Palette in A = A B C C♯ D E♭ E F♯ G

Let’s get started with the lick examples…

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Example 5.1

This phrase is very much major pentatonic based and uses the root note, major 2nd, major 3rd and major
6th of A - all notes that are found within both mixolydian and the major pentatonic scales. The major 6th
played at fret 7 on the B string is a ‘colour note’ that I use over the I chord all the time in my blues improv.
It sounds very sweet and I like going back and forth from major 6th to root like I do multiple times in this
example. If you were to only use the notes of the minor pentatonic/blues scales over the I chord, you’d be
missing out on the option of using this sweet-sounding major 6th.
Another thing to note with this example is that I perform a bend from the major 2nd up to the major 3rd - a
lot of the examples you’ll come across in this chapter involve moving from a b3rd to a major 3rd, but
sliding/bending/hammering on to the major 3rd from the major 2nd - which is just two frets / one tone lower
- also sounds nice.
Example 5.2

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Example 5.2 begins with perhaps the most replicated blues lick of all time - it’s got that signature movement
from b3rd to major 3rd, then it moves through the 5th, major 6th and root note of the I chord. Something
that’s important to note about the mixture of flat and major 3rds - notice that in all examples I’m always
ascending to the major 3rd. I’m always trying to land on the major 3rd. I never descend to the b3rd from the
major 3rd because that just doesn’t sound right.
Remember the major 3rd is one of the strongest chord tones to target when playing over dominant chord
types, so the way to make that b3 work is to use it as a means of getting to the major 3rd.
This example repeats the first few notes before descending the minor pentatonic scale and finishing with a
descending slide from the b3 on the G string down one fret to the major 2nd before finishing on the root note.
Example 5.3

This example involves a mixture of flat and major 3rds, as well as that sweet-sounding major 6th. I begin
by sliding from b3 to maj3 on the high E string, before descending to the G string and repeating the
movement from b3 to maj3 - albeit with a slightly different rhythm. The phrase ends with a pull-off from
root to major 6th on the D string, before finishing with the 5th and root note.

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Example 5.4

Here we have more instances of moving from b3 to major 3rd - this time on the G string, as well as more
use of the major 6th on the D string.
Example 5.5

Now this is one of my favourite ways to start blues solos - take another listen to example 5.2 and you’ll
notice that this one is very similar. The difference is that we’re preceding the notes of example 5.2 with
three notes played across the A and D strings, the 5th, major 6th and root. Are you starting to realise how
much more there is to play with when you look beyond the notes of the minor pentatonic / blues scale? Let’s
keep going…

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Example 5.6

Example 5.6 uses three notes that when looked at on one string, are all very close together - the major 2nd,
b3 and major 3rd. The b3 is a semitone higher than the major 2nd and the major 3rd is a semitone higher
than the b3.
Example 5.7

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This one starts out in minor pentatonic position 2 territory, with me sliding into the 5th of A at fret 9 on the
G string, before crossing over to play some notes on the high E string - the 4th, b3rd and major 3rd. Again,
notice how I’m ascending from the b3 to the major 3rd. The lick descends the fretboard as I pick the b7th,
slide down to the major 6th, pick the 5th on the G string again and finish with the classic blues phrase that
makes up example 5.2.
Example 5.8

Up until this point, most of the examples have leaned more towards a major tonality with heavy use of major
3rds and major 6ths. This example starts out with a very minor pentatonic/blues scale based lick that
incorporates the b3 without moving up to the major 3rd initially, a bend on the G string, and a descending
slide from the b5 to the 4th. Then as the lick continues, I introduce the major 3rd in a couple of different
octaves by sliding into it from a b3 on both the G and A strings.

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Example 5.9

This is a variation on example 5.8. I ascend to the b3 of the minor pentatonic on the high E string but bend
it up slightly so that it gets close to the pitch of the major 3rd.
Example 5.10

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Example 5.10 incorporates the movement from the ♭3rd to the major 3rd as well as a couple of instances of
the major 6th on the D and B strings.
Example 5.11

Here I start out with a major pentatonic sequence of notes involving the 5th, major 6th and root of the I
chord, before launching into a descending blues scale phrase that incorporates the ♭5. This example then
finishes with a phrase that uses the movement of ♭3rd to major 3rd, followed by the 5th, major 6th and root
note.

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Example 5.12

This starts with a descending blues scale phrase that finishes on the root note. That phrase is then followed
by one that uses the major 6th (F#) at fret 4 on the D string, as well as the ♭7th, 2nd and root note on the G
string.
Example 5.13

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This one begins with a minor pentatonic based lick that eventually brings in the major 3rd of the I chord on
the G string. As usual, this major 3rd is preceded with a ♭3rd. I then play a descending blues scale run across
the bottom three strings featuring a nice hammer-on and pull-off sequence that incorporates that ♭5 on the
A string. I finish by sliding from 2nd to major 3rd on the low E string and then finish with the root note on
the D string.
Example 5.14

Example 5.14 is a very sweet sounding lick that leans towards more of a major tonality than anything else.
This is because I’m repeatedly playing the major 3rd, perfect 5th and root note of the I chord, which is
giving me the sound of an A major triad. I’m also using the major 6th at fret 7 on the B string which adds
to the sweet, major sound. I am incorporating the ♭3 as well, using it as a passing note to target the major
3rd. But there’s no ♭7th in this example so it is still very much a major sounding lick.

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Example 5.15

In addition to using it to target the major 3rd of the I chord, example 5.15 has me playing the ♭3rd and
pulling off to the major 2nd on the G string. There haven’t been many examples of me using the ♭3rd without
playing the major 3rd immediately after. So this is a good demonstration of another way to use it. I’m not
leaning on the note, the emphasis is more on the major 2nd at fret 4 on the G string. The ♭3 played after it
and then going back to the major 2nd just adds a bit of interest to this part of the lick.
This example ends with a sequence of notes that have appeared in other examples already - incorporating
the major 6th on the D and B strings, as well as the major 3rd on the G string.
Example 5.16

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At this point, a lot of the vocabulary you’ve heard in these examples has been heard and analysed already.
Many of these examples sound similar and that’s intentional. I’m trying to force the sound of these notes
that you’re maybe not used to playing over the I chord – the major 6th, major 2nd, ♭3rd to major 3rd - into
your head. There is something new in this example though. I end with something that features these three
notes on the D string - G, G# and A. G and A are the ♭7th and root of the I chord and both feature in our I
chord note palette.
The note G# though, is the major 7th of A. This is a note that you won’t find in a dominant 7th chord,
mixolydian, the major pentatonic or the minor pentatonic/blues scales.

The way that I make this note work over the I chord is the same way that I make the ♭3 work over the I
chord. I use it as a passing note to get me to the root of the I chord - the note that I’m targeting. Target notes
and passing notes will be Explained in more detail in the chapters that focus on playing through the first
chord change in a 12-bar blues progression.
Example 5.17

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example 5.17 starts out very major sounding with the root, major 3rd and major 6th being played across the
top three strings. We get more of a minor pentatonic flavour after that initial sequence when I slide down to
position one of the minor pentatonic scale. Although it’s worth noting that I do play a major 3rd in this same
part, so the combination of that with the b7ths from the minor pentatonic give you a very dominant 7th
friendly sound.
Example 5.18

Example 5.18 brings in some phrasing that we haven’t heard up until now. It starts with a sequence of notes
played between the G and high E strings. I’m played the 5th on the G string at fret 9 and alternating between
it and some notes on the high E string - namely, the ♭3, major 3rd and 4th.

I then pick the ♭7 at fret 8 on the B string and slide down one fret to catch the major 6th. The lick finishes
with a sequence of notes that has me hitting the ♭3 to major 3rd on both the G and high E strings, as well as
a slide from the ♭3 down to the major 2nd at frets 5 and 4 on the G string respectively, before I finish with
the root note on the D string.

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Example 5.19

This last example starts with an ascending sequence of notes from the A major pentatonic scale across the
middle four strings. I start on the 5th at fret 7 on the A string and finish on the root note at fret 10 on the B
string.

At that point, I put a minor pentatonic spin on things by introducing the ♭7 at fret 12 on the G string and
descending from there to fret 12 on the D string, before going back to the 5th at fret 9 on the G string.

Then I bring back the major sound with the ♭3 to major 3rd on the D string, as well as the root and major
6th both played on the A string.
Example 5.20

Now this example is a bit different than the others. I’m now moving from the I to the IV chord. If you would
like to learn how to nail this chord change every time that you play a 12-bar blues solo, follow me into the
next chapter…

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Chapter 6
Nailing the I-IV Chord Change pt.1
The previous chapter ended with a lick that took you from the I chord - A7, to the IV chord - D7. In this
chapter and the one that follows it, we’ll be taking an in depth look at how to nail this chord change every
time, without fail. To begin with, we’ll look at where and when the chord change occurs in our 12 bar blues
progression, then learn three licks that target the root note of the IV chord and three licks that target its major
3rd.
I will also provide tips for how to locate the major 3rd of the IV chord and at the very end, you’ll be given
ten exercises to practise that will familiarise you with the type of phrasing you can use to transition between
the I and IV chord in a way that sounds musical. Let’s begin by looking at where and when the chord change
happens:

| A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
| D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
As you can see, after four bars of the I chord, we change to the IV chord D7 for two bars and then return to
the I chord A7 for another two bars. After that it’s the turnaround - the final four bars of the progression that
features the V chord - but we’ll save that for a later chapter and for now d focus on moving from the I to the
IV and then back to the I chord. Sometimes a 12-bar blues will look a little different to the chord chart
above, like this for example:

| A7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
In this version, there are two points at which the chords move from the I to the IV. In bar 2 for one bar and
in bar 5, for two bars. The change in bar 2 is quite common but it’s more the change in bar 5 where you’re
playing the IV chord for two whole bars that we’ll be focusing on. I don’t believe that targeting the chord
tones of the IV chord in bar 2 is as important, as that chord change isn’t always part of a standard 12 bar
blues progression, like the one in bar 5 is.

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Now let’s learn some licks that target the root and major 3rd of the IV chord. For those wondering, I have
decided not to include licks that land on the 5th and b7th of the IV chord as soon as it arrives because as I
mentioned in an earlier chapter, if you’re playing an unaccompanied blues solo and want to hear the chord
changes happen without playing any actual chord voicings, the root and major 3rd of the dominant 7th chord
are in my opinion, the strongest note choices for achieving exactly that. I don’t want you to misinterpret this
as me telling you that it’s forbidden or even, ‘against the rules’ to land on the 5th and b7th of the IV chord.
They are valid options but personally, I think they are put to better use if they are preceded by a root and/or
major 3rd.
Example 6.1

If you’ve gone through the examples in the previous chapter that introduced you to note choices outside of
the minor pentatonic/blues scales then the notes/vocabulary that are played over the I chord in this example
should sound familiar to you by now, like the movement from b3 to maj3, for example. Rhythmically
speaking, to land on the root of the IV chord, I phrase my I chord line in a way that allows me to descend
the notes of the A blues scale in this position on the A string (the 5th, b5 and then 4th) so that as soon as the
IV chord arrives, I land on the note D - the root note.
That same note - D - when looked at in the context of the A blues scale, is the 4th. But when the IV chord
arrives, it’s heard as the root of the IV chord.
Example 6.2

Like the previous example, this one features vocabulary that you should already be familiar with, having
studied chapter 4 already. I’m hitting the maj6 of the I chord on the D and B strings, moving from the b3 to
the maj3 on the G string and then when it’s time for me think about moving to the IV chord, I do so by
playing a descending A blues scale line that lands on the root note of the IV chord - D, as soon as the chord
arrives.

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Example 6.3

This example highlights something that’s useful to know from a fretboard visualisation standpoint - the root
of the IV chord is just a semitone higher than the major 3rd of the I chord.
Look at the diagrams below to see what I mean by that:

Here you can see the root note and major 3rd of the I chord - A7 - in the position of the fretboard that this
example is played in. Note that the major 3rd of the I chord is at fret 11 on the D string. In the next diagram
you can see the root note of the IV chord - D - at fret 12 on the D string. It’s just one fret higher than the
major 3rd of the I chord, which as you can see on the diagram below, is the note C#.

Now that you’ve heard some vocabulary that moves from the I to the IV chord by landing on the root note
of the IV chord, let’s move onto some examples that land on the major 3rd of the IV chord…

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Example 6.4

The beginning of this is very similar to example 1 - over the I chord I’m playing a line that involves the
movement from b3 - maj3 in a couple of different places. To get to the major 3rd of the IV chord, which in
this key is the note F#, I play a phrase that, over the I chord, alternates between the b7th and 5th on the D
and A strings respectively. The last time that I pick the b7th of the I chord, I slide down by one fret to land
on an F# - the major 3rd of the IV chord D7. I land on that major 3rd on the first beat of the 5th bar before
finishing on the root note at fret 5 on the A string.
So here’s a helpful tip for finding the maj3 of the IV chord when you’re transitioning from the I chord…
The maj3 of the IV chord is a semitone lower than the b7 of the I chord
This example demonstrates that perfectly. Like I said, I play a phrase that has me sliding down one fret from
the b7th of the I chord, to the maj3 of the IV chord. Take a look at the following diagrams to see this
illustrated on the fretboard:

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The top fretboard shows you the b7th of the I chord, relative to the root note A on the low E string. The
bottom diagram shows you the maj3 of the IV chord, relative to the root note of the IV chord (D) on the A
string - as you can see, it’s just one fret / semitone lower than the b7 of the I chord.
Example 6.5

example 5 starts out with an A blues scale based lick over the I chord, then to target the maj3 of the IV
chord, I perform a slide from fret 7 to 9 on the A string. This has me moving from the 5th of A (the note E),
up to the maj3 of the IV chord D7 (the note F#), before eventually finishing the lick on the 5th of the IV
chord (A). So, another helpful tip for finding the major 3rd of the IV chord when transitioning from the I
chord is to remember that it’s a tone higher than the 5th of the I chord. A tone (two semitones) when looked
at on one string is the distance of two frets, as you can see on the next diagram.

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Example 6.6

example 6 starts out with me moving from the b3 to the maj3 of the I chord before descending the A blues
scale and finishing in the same way that I finished example 4 – with the alternating phrase that goes back
and forth between the b7 and 5th of the I chord, before sliding down by one fret from the b7 of the I chord
to the major 3rd of the IV chord. So that’s it as far as the lick examples go for moving from the I - IV chord,
however, we’re far from done with this chapter.
We’ve still got to look at returning to the I chord after the two bars of the IV chord, what notes to avoid
when playing over the IV chord and some basic exercises for to practice that, in addition to learning the
examples we’ve just looked at, will get you very used to making the transition between these two chords.
Before we do any of that, I’ve got one more tip for you that will help you locate the major 3rd of the IV
chord on the fretboard.
I mentioned told you that you can find it:
1. One semitone below the b7 of the I chord
2. One whole tone above the 5th of the I chord
One other useful way of finding this chord tone is to know that it’s the same note as the major 6th of the I
chord.

The major 6th of A is the note F#

The major 3rd of D is the note F#
If you look at the note markers on the fretboard diagrams below, you’ll see how the interval of the same
note changes, depending on if the root note is from the I or the IV chord…

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I - IV Exercises
So now I want to provide you with some basic exercises that you can play to get you used to the sound of
landing on the root and major 3rd of the IV chord, as well as the rhythms you can use to get you from the I
chord to the IV and land on the right notes at the right time. These exercises could function as licks and
many of them will sound similar to the type of vocabulary you’ve encountered in the examples provided up
until this point in the book but I’ve deliberately tried to leave out any expressive articulations - meaning
stylistic techniques like fast grace notes performed with slides, hammer-ons and pull-offs, bends, you get
the idea…
I’ve limited the notes to as few as possible, as we all have different levels of technical ability and I want
any player reading this to be able to play these exercises without their own technical ability prohibiting them
from doing so. These exercises mark the end of this two-part chapter on the I - IV chord change. In the 2nd
half, I’ll be discussing what to play once you’ve landed on the IV chord, how to return to the I chord and
what I like to visualise on the fretboard when changing between the I and IV chords. To give you a hint, it’s
not just scale positions…

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Example 6.7

Example 6.8

Example 6.9

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Example 6.10

Example 6.11

Example 6.12

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Example 6.13

Example 6.14

Example 6.15

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Example 6.16

Example 6.17

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Chapter 7
Nailing the I-IV Chord Change pt.2
In the previous chapter I gave you several licks to learn and practice that targeted the root and major 3rd of
the IV chord, as well as 10 exercises designed to further familiarise your ears with the types of rhythms and
notes you can play to mark this first chord change.
In this chapter you’ll be learning more about what to play and what not to play once you’re on the IV chord,
as well as how you can return to the I chord once you’ve had your fun on those two bars of the IV chord.
You may be wondering how I visualise the fretboard when making these chord changes – am I always
thinking of large scale positions? What about arpeggios? What about passing notes?
How I visualise the fretboard when playing through blues changes will gradually become apparent to you
as you progress through the chapters of this book, in their intended order. I’ll kick things off in this chapter
by saying that a lot of the vocabulary - meaning the licks, phrases and note choices - that you played over
the I chord will not sound good over the IV chord. Example 7.18 demonstrates how the blues scale sounds
great over the I chord but less effective over the IV chord.
Example 7.18

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It opens with a descending blues scale line that lands on the root of the IV chord – which is good! It sounds
like I’m deliberately targeting the root of the IV chord by landing on it as soon as it arrives.
However, after that, when I’m still on the IV chord, I play something that sounds like it was intended for
the I chord and not the IV. This is because I’m emphasising the major 3rd of the wrong chord. Look at the
TAB/notation for that example and you’ll notice that I played a line that contained C followed by C# at frets
3 and 4 on the A string. C#, relative to the I chord A7, is the major 3rd. But that’s not the chord we’re
playing over. Remember, we’re on our two bars of the IV chord D7 now. So every note we play is being
heard against the root note of the IV chord - D. C# relative to the root note D, is a major 7th. Remember
that all three chords are dominant 7th chords, which contain what type of 7th? A ♭7th.
Targeting the type of 7th that is not found in the chord, doesn’t make a lot of sense and doing so will sound
like you’re playing a lick that was intended for the I chord, since it’s the same note as the major 3rd of the
I chord. This does not mean that you cannot make that note work over the IV chord. It just means that
targeting it is not going to be conducive to our end goal of being able to play a solo that highlights the chord
changes without any chords being heard. I will address how you can make that note work over the IV chord
later in this chapter.
Now I may have already explained this to some degree in an earlier chapter but allow me to Explain exactly
what I mean by ‘targeting’ notes. The notes that you should target, meaning land on and emphasise when
the chords change in a 12 bar blues are the root notes, 3rds, 5ths and b7ths of each chord - the I, IV and V.
As I’ve mentioned in earlier chapters, I personally believe that the roots and 3rds are the strongest chord
tones to target as soon as, or, soon after the chords change. So what do we call notes that are a semitone
away from our target notes? The answer is ‘passing notes’.
If your solos only consisted of you exclusively playing the four main chord tones of the three chords in a 12
bar blues - it’s likely that they’d sound quite stale and unimaginative. In fact, it would sound like you were
performing a dominant 7th arpeggio practice routine, on stage. You may recall that in the 2nd chapter (blues
is not diatonic harmony), I introduced you to the idea of playing licks over the I chord that utilised the type
of 3rd that is found in the chord (the major 3rd) as well as the type of 3rd that is not found within the chord
(the ♭3rd). In all of the lick examples you’ve heard so far that combined these two 3rds over the I chord, the
major 3rd was always played last. The major 3rd was the target note and the b3rd is the passing note found
a semitone below the target note. The reason that example 18 didn’t work well, is not just because I landed
on the major 3rd of the I chord, over the IV chord. It’s because I added insult to injury by preceding it with
the b3rd of the I chord.

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I highlighted this earlier but look again at the TAB and notation for example 18 and you’ll see that I play C
followed by C# on the A string. Playing those notes in that specific order over the IV chord simply does not
work because it sounds exactly like the licks I like to play over the I chord where I target the major 3rd and
use the b3rd as a passing note. Doing that with the 3rds of the I chord makes no sense over the IV chord.
What does make sense is to play lines that use the b3 and major 3rd of the IV chord! So, let’s fix example
18 and play something that uses the flat and major 3rds of the IV chord - D7.
Example 7.19

This starts off with the same descending blues scale lick leading us from the I chord to the IV chord by
landing on the note D - the root note of the IV chord - as soon as the IV chord arrives. I then play a phrase
that targets the major 3rd of D (F#) by playing a passing note (the ♭3rd of D - F) a semitone below it. Then
to return to the I chord I play a line that targets the major 3rd (C#) of the I chord, and also includes the 5th
and major 6th to strengthen the connection to that I chord.
I mentioned at the start of this chapter that I would be discussing how to return to the I chord from the two
bars of the IV chord and I still intend on doing so but for now I want to return to something else I promised
I would Explain earlier on when I was discussing that major 3rd of the I chord and how not to play it over
the IV chord.
Remember that C# is the major 3rd of A. We know targeting that note over the I chord - A7, is going to
work well. We also know that preceding it with a passing note a semitone below - meaning with a ♭3rd, will
sound even more intentional. Against the IV chord - D7 - that C# is heard as a major 7th but the D7 chord
has a ♭7th. However, if you look at the fretboard diagram below, you’ll see that a major 7th is just one
semitone below the root note:

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Earlier in this chapter I defined what a target note and a passing note was. Do you remember how I described
passing notes? I said that they were notes that are a semitone away from a target note. Out of the four chord
tones in the dominant 7th chord - the root, 3rd, 5th and ♭7th – which two have I repeatedly stated to be the
strongest ones to land on as soon as or soon after the chords change? The root note and the 3rd! example 19
showed you how you could target the major 3rd of the IV chord with a passing note one semitone below it.
example 20 is going to show you how you can apply that same passing note approach to the other target
note - the root note of the IV chord.
Example 7.20

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This example starts and finishes in the same way that example 19 does. The difference is in what’s played
over the IV chord. This time I’m landing on the root of the IV chord with the initial descending blues scale
lick that takes us from the I to the IV. Then, I target the root of the IV chord once again by preceding it with
a passing note (C# - the major 7th of D) that’s a semitone below the root note. I wanted to Explain this to
you because it’s a common misconception that there are right and wrong notes to play over each of the three
chords in a 12 bar blues. I believe that you can make any note work over any chord - however, it’s how you
play the note and how long you stay on it for, that what makes the difference between it sounding intentional
versus you getting lost on the fretboard. That C# sounded terrible over the IV chord in example 18 and that’s
because I was targeting it as if it was one of the main chord tones in the IV chord - which it very clearly
isn’t! However, that same C# played over the same IV chord in example 20, sounded intentional and not at
all like a mistake because I was using it as a passing note to get me to my target note - the root of the IV
chord.
So there’s a helpful tidbit for making the transition between the I and IV chords - the major 3rd of the I
chord is the same note as the major 7th of the IV chord - a note that is not found in the IV chord but can be
used as a passing note when targeting the root of the IV chord. For a visual representation of this on the
fretboard, see the diagram below:

I’m about to get onto the topic of returning to the I chord but before I do there’s something else that’s
important to note about playing over the IV chord - you can play licks that use the blues scale built from the
root of the I chord. Listen to the following example that demonstrates this.

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Example 7.21

Like examples 19 and 20, this one starts over the I chord with the descending blues scale lick that lands on
the root of the IV chord as soon as it arrives. In this example, I then play another lick that’s based on the
notes of the A blues scale, over the IV chord, which then leads me back to the I chord.
You may recall in chapter 3 - fixing the blues scale - I Explained that there are three chord tones from the
IV chord present in the notes of the blues scale built from the root of the I chord - R 5 ♭7.
Playing blues scale licks over the IV chord works well because you’ll be hitting those three chord tones of
the IV chord with the notes in the scale, as well as the ♭5 in the scale, which would technically be heard as
a ♭9 against the IV chord, but still sounds nice and bluesy.
This is why I said at the start of the chapter that a lot of but not all of the vocabulary you can play over the
I chord, won’t work over the IV chord. As you’ve just heard, the blues scale licks will work but targeting
the major 3rd of the I chord, over the IV chord, as we know by now, is just not going to sound good.
Alright now that that’s out of the way, allow me to get back to something I promised I would Explain in
this chapter. It is likely that having gone through every page of this book and every lick example up until
this point, you will already know the answer to the question of ‘how do I return to the I chord, after the two
bars of the IV chord?’
It has actually been demonstrated in some of the examples in this chapter so far – namely example 19 and
example 20, both of which ended with me targeting the major 3rd of the I chord. Go back and listen to them
again now if you need to refresh your memory.

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The answer is that it’s the same thought process we apply when moving from the I to the IV. I’m thinking
about targeting the root and/or major 3rd of the I chord, when I’m coming back to it from the IV chord. I’ll
do my best to land on those notes - the root and 3rd - as soon as, or, soon after the I chord arrives and then,
once I’ve done so, I will play 5ths, 6ths, b7ths and many other notes from my I chord note palette. Landing
on the root and/or major 3rd first, is my main priority. So, here are some examples of me returning to the I
chord, from the two bars of the IV chord. Some of them target the major 3rd and others target the root of
the I chord. As always, I would encourage you to listen to each lick a few times and of course try to learn
them yourself using the TAB and notation if need be. Take notice of how I approach the main target notes
- the roots and 3rds, when returning to the I chord.
Example 7.22

Example 7.23

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Example 7.24

Example 7.25

Example 7.26

Example 7.27

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Now you know how to navigate the very first chord change in a standard 12-bar blues progression. When
you’re ready to, follow me into the next chapter where I’ll be Explaining how you can nail the chord changes
that most guitar players trip up on when improvising over a 12 bar blues - the turnaround.

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Chapter 8
Mastering the Turnaround
‘Turnaround’ is the term used by musicians to describe the final four bars of the 12-bar blues progression,
which is the part that I would very often trip up on when I was a teenager new to blues playing. As I
mentioned in the first chapter, I was always confident over the I chord with my memorised bag of blues
scale licks but I would often sweat bullets when the other two chords showed up in the progression as I
knew that slipping up over those parts of the progression would expose just how little I understood about
navigating the chord changes of a 12-bar blues. It was only a few years ago that I decided it was time to
address these issues in my blues improv that were holding me back from being able to confidently play
through all of the chord changes with the same level of confidence that I saw and heard from my blues guitar
heroes such as Matt Schofield, Joe Bonamassa, Robben Ford and more. Clearly they knew something that
I didn’t. I didn’t know what it was at the time but I knew that those guys certainly didn’t fear the chord
changes like I did. They are able to dominate them, every time without fail.
Long before I knew what I know today about blues improvisation, I could shred some minor pentatonic /
blues scale licks over the I chord and sort of survive the I – IV changes (emphasis on ‘sort of’…) but the
introduction of the V chord that the turnaround presented always had me sweating. Changing from the V
chord, to the IV and then back to the I, was often overwhelming and since I had no clue what chord tones,
arpeggios or chromatic enclosures were, I just prayed that whatever minor pentatonic licks I had memorised
would get me through the turnaround without too many ‘bum notes’ appearing so that I could breathe a sigh
of relief upon returning to the I chord, where I felt the most ‘safe’.
You may have experienced the same problems that I faced when approaching this part of the 12-bar blues
progression. You may have also - like my former self - neglected to address those problems for years but
have now decided that you’ve had enough of fearing these chord changes and want to slay the dragon that
is the turnaround once and for all.
You might be thinking that because we’re introducing a chord that we haven’t encountered in the
progression so far (the V chord) that the process of learning to navigate these chord changes is going to be
a steep, uphill battle. The reality is, everything you have learned so far about what to play over the I chord
and the IV chord, has prepared you well for learning how to approach the turnaround. The process is much
the same as it is for changing between the I and IV chords. So whilst I will not make false promises about
how quickly you will adapt to playing over the turnaround, I do think it’s likely that you’ll have an easier
time understanding the process of doing so than what you might think. That is of course assuming that you
have taken the time to thoroughly digest all of the material covered in the chapter prior to this one, which
you should have!

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Remember, in order to get the most out of this book as time efficiently as possible, you must not skip over
any chapters. Chapter-hopping will do you no good and only lead to confusion, frustration and the increased
probability of you giving up on this book and your progress as a blues improviser entirely.
So, let’s get started with learning how to solo over the turnaround. Before I tell you anything I want you to
first just take a quick listen to the following lick example.
Example 8.1

We’ll come back to analyse that lick example later in the chapter. For now, I want to remind you of where
the turnaround appears in a 12-bar blues progression and what chords are involved:

| A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
| D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 | ß TURNAROUND
As you can see, I have highlighted bars 9-12 to show you exactly where the turnaround occurs. It’s the final
four bars in our 12-bar blues progression and features one bar of the V chord (E7), one bar of the IV chord
(D7) and two bars of the I chord (A7). Take a listen to example 2 if you want to hear me play the chords…

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Example 8.2

Sometimes you’ll hear the V chord come back right at the end of bar 12 before the progression repeats. Take
a listen to example 3 for a demonstration.
Example 8.3

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Regardless of how it ends, whether the last two bars are just the I chord, or, the I chord with the V right at
the end for the last beat or two of the final bar, the first two bars of the turnaround are always the V chord
for 1x bar, followed by 1x bar of the IV chord. So we already know what to do when it comes to playing
over and changing between the I and IV chords - when changing to the IV chord we want to make an effort
to target the root and/or 3rd when that chord arrives. Then we do the same for the I chord when we return
to it - we target the root and major 3rd as soon as, or soon after that bar arrives.
Now we’re introducing a new chord into the mix - not a new chord type - but a chord with a root note that
isn’t A or D. The V chord in a blues in the key of A, is E7. Although we haven’t played over a V chord yet,
we do have a lot of experience in playing over dominant 7th chords already.
I just reminded you of the notes I targeted when moving from the I to the IV and vice versa - the root and
major 3rd in each respective chord. That’s exactly what I do when it comes to improvising over the V chord
- I’m looking for the root’s and major 3rds of E7. Remember that the 5th and ♭7ths are also options but my
personal preference is to target roots and major 3rds, at least initially.
Go back to example 1 and listen to it again. Once you’ve listened to it, try playing it yourself, without using
the backing track. When you play it, can you hear the chords change through the notes you’re playing,
unaccompanied? This lick example demonstrates exactly what I mean by targeting the root and 3rd of the
V chord, as well as those same chord tones for the IV and I chords that come after it. Take a look at the
diagrams below and you’ll see that I play the same chord tones for the V and IV chords - R, 2, ♭3 (passing
note), 3, 5
And for the I chord it’s much the same, just minus the 2nd and 5th. The diagrams on the left are the notes
played in the lick over each chord and I’ve added the diagrams on the right to show you how my note choices
fit with the chords that I’m playing them over.

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At the start of this book I explained that blues is not diatonic harmony and how that meant that there was
no ‘one-scale-fits-all’ approach to soloing over the I, IV and V chords. This lick example and diagram that
you see above, is a very accurate representation of what I meant by that. When I’m playing that lick I’m not
visualising scale positions - at least, over the V and IV chords I’m not. What I’m seeing on the fretboard as
I play it, is the chord voicings. The idea of visualising chord shapes as opposed to scales for a solo, might
be foreign to you. I was the same when I first heard about approaching soloing this way, so hear me out…
Years and years ago, I watched an interview on YouTube with, in my opinion, the world’s most criminally
underrated guitar player - a man named Jack Pearson, who resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Jack was asked
about what he sees on the fretboard when soloing over blues and jazz chord progressions and I remember
at the time, feeling perplexed at his answer, which was something along the lines of… ‘I don’t see scales, I
see chords’. The idea of visualising chord shapes for lead playing made no sense to me at the time. This was
back when I was someone who enjoyed playing blues guitar but I still had those glaring holes in my playing
mentioned at the start of the chapter. I would think to myself ‘that’s weird - scales are for soloing and chords
are for rhythm playing… right?’
Although that may often be the case, one of the revelations I had when I began to seriously address the holes
in my blues playing, was that what Jack had said in that interview, was exactly what I needed to work on.
Not just building licks based on visualising large scale patterns across the whole fretboard, but by visualising
smaller chunks of visual information that would allow me to really zero in on the notes I wanted to target,
like dominant 7th chord voicings. Let’s keep going with another lick example over the turnaround:

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Example 8.4

Leading into the V chord, I play an A blues scale based lick that lands me on the root of the V chord - the
note E. I land on this note on beat one of the bar where the V chord is introduced, creating a strong
connection with my solo and the chord progression it’s played over. To strengthen that connection, I play a
sequence of notes that outline the notes of this E7 chord voicing:

Listen to the lick again or look at the TAB & notation and you’ll see that I’m not simply arpeggiating the
notes of this chord voicing from low to high or vice versa. I’m visualising and playing all of the chord tones
that you see on the diagram but I’m also introducing some passing notes that lead me into the root and major
3rd of the V chord.

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The passing note used before the root of the V chord, is E♭ - which is both the ♭5 of the A blues scale and
the major 7th of E7, the V chord. You will recall from the previous chapters on the I - IV chord change that
I’m a big proponent of using passing notes a semitone below target notes, like the root and major 3rd of
dominant 7th chords. This is another example of that, this time applied to the V chord.
After I’ve targeted the root of the V chord with the passing note coming before it, I apply the same process
to target the major 3rd of the V chord, by playing a ♭3 passing note before hammering onto the target note
- the major 3rd.
On the diagram below you can see the passing notes I’ve added to the chord diagram above, to give you a
better idea of what I’m seeing on the fretboard as I play this:

Then, once I’ve done my thing over the V chord, the IV chord is up next. Since the root notes of the IV and
V chords are only separated by the distance of a tone (two frets, when looked at on a single string), I play
something very similar for the IV chord, based on the same dominant 7th voicing but with D as the root
note of course. To do this, I simply move all the above content two frets lower. Instead of an exact copy, I
opt to play the top three notes of the voicing - the R, 3 and ♭7, with a ♭3 passing note before the major 3rd.
This lick along with example 8.1 should show you how beneficial it can be to not just think about scales as
your only visualisation tool for blues soloing. Visualising chord voicings, in addition to scales, will allow
you to develop licks and phrasing ideas that you likely wouldn’t have considered exploring if you only
visualised large scale patterns across the fretboard and nothing more.
In the sales copy for this book, one of the taglines is something along the lines of ‘learning how to land on
the right notes at the right time’. This simply means learning how to ‘target the chord tones of the I, IV and
V chords with your note choices when each of them presents themselves in a 12-bar blues progression’.
We’ve looked at tools like the mixolydian mode, the minor pentatonic and blues scales and analysed which
of them contain certain chord tones for each of the three chords. Now whilst it is good to be able to identify,
say, where the major 3rd of the I chord is in every mixolydian scale position - scale patterns often contain
two to three notes across all six strings, which is a lot of visual information to process, especially over the
turnaround in particular, when you’re tasked with playing over three dominant 7th chords with different
root notes in quick succession. The reason I’m bringing this up is because I want you to understand the
power of focusing on smaller chunks of visual / harmonic information on the fretboard when soloing over
chord changes. Doing so allows you to focus on the notes that matter - meaning the notes that will highlight
the chord changes. Let’s remind ourselves of the end goal for studying and practising the material in this
book…

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To be able to play unaccompanied, improvised blues solos on the spot, that highlight the chord
changes, without playing any actual chords.

I’d like to clarify something before we move on. In the statement above, when I say ‘without playing any
actual chords’, what I mean by that exactly, is without strumming any full chord shapes to tell the listener
‘we’re on the IV chord now’.
Take a look at the following mixolydian diagrams:
E Mixolydian (The V Chord)

D Mixolydian (The IV Chord)

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A Mixolydian (The I Chord)

What you’re looking at is three positions of mixolydian scales with different root notes for the V, IV and I
chords. In the chapters that focused on transitioning between the I and IV chords I mentioned that since
dominant 7th chords can be built from the root of the mixolydian mode it is an option to visualise and play
A mixolydian over the I chord, followed by D mixolydian for the IV chord, and so on.
You could do the same for the turnaround - visualise and play E mixolydian for the V chord, D mixolydian
for the IV chord and A mixolydian for the I chord. Personally, I’m not a fan of this approach at all and I will
Explain why. Look at the diagrams above once again and maybe even try to play through them over the
backing track during the turnaround. What you’ll probably find is that it’s a lot of visual information for
your brain to process and you may feel like it’s a race to get through all of the notes of one scale before the
next chord arrives. As a result of that, without even realising it, you might have neglected to think about
targeting any of the chord tones for the V, IV and I chords, because you were so focused on playing through
a visual shape and not highlighting the chord changes.
When soloing over chord progressions that don’t fit under the term ‘diatonic harmony’, I’ve often found
that only visualising scale patterns, often isn’t conducive to improvising solos that highlight the chord
changes tastefully. What visualising chord voicings does is removes a lot of the fluff that you’ll find in
mixolydian scale positions, so that you’re just left with the notes that arguably matter the most. Meaning,
the chord tones of the dominant 7th chord - the root, 3rd, 5th and ♭7.

Take a look at the following diagrams:

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What you’re seeing here, are the same mixolydian scale positions for the V, IV and I chords that I just
showed you. Only this time, next to each one, I’ve added diagrams for the dominant 7th chord voicings you
can find within each of those scale positions. These chord voicings only contain the notes that matter most,
when making the transition between any of the chords in a 12-bar blues - roots, 3rds, 5ths and 7ths. When
you make the switch from visualising large scale patterns that contain 2-3 notes per string across all 6 strings,
to visualising something much smaller, like the chord voicings above, you’re able to zero in on the money
notes when making the transition between chords - namely the roots, 3rds, 5ths and ♭7ths.
There is another reason why visualising chord voicings as an improvisational tool felt like a revelation for
my development as a blues improviser and it’s closely related to everything I’ve discussed in this chapter
so far. Looking at those voicings for the I, IV and V chords once again, I’m going to remove a few notes so
that we’re just left with the notes on the D and G strings…

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As you can see, what we’re left with, for each chord, is just the major 3rd and ♭7th.
Listen to this next example of me vamping through the turnaround with just the 3rds and 7ths of the V, IV
and I chords:
Example 8.5

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Even without the backing track, you can hear the chord changes happening with just those two chord tones
alone and look at how close they are to each other! Back when I only thought about using scales for blues
improvisation, I can’t imagine that I ever would have stumbled across this revelation. So Jack Pearson was
really onto something when he advised visualising chord voicings as well as scales.
I’m hoping that this has been somewhat of a lightbulb moment for you reading through this chapter so far
and listening to the lick examples. If you’ve previously feared playing over the turnaround, we’re starting
to break you free from that fear and get you on the road towards approaching this section of the 12-bar blues
with confidence, every time!
With that said, let’s go through some more lick examples that will give you more ideas to play with for
soloing over the turnaround!
Example 8.6

This example, as you may have noticed, contains exactly the same notes and phrasing as example 1. The
difference is, the location on the fretboard. example 1 was based around voicings for the I, IV and V chords
in this area of the fretboard:

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Example 6, takes the same notes and moves them up the fretboard (pay attention to the fret numbers) which
means I’m visualising different chord voicings and the notes are played on a different set of strings, as you
can see in the following diagram:

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Example 8.7

Example 7 is similar to example 6/Example 1 but introduces another note over the V and IV chords - the
major 6th of each respective chord. This note can also be called a 13th. Basic dominant 7th chords, as we
know, are built like this - R 3 5 ♭7. However, dominant chords can be extended to include 9ths, 11ths and
13ths (2nds, 4th’s and 6ths, typically played in the upper register of a voicing). Playing those unaltered
extensions - unaltered meaning not sharpened ♯ or flattened ♭ - is a great way of adding more colourful
sounds to your blues lines over all three chords and I use the 13th of the V and IV chords in this example to
demonstrate that.
On the diagram below, you will see where these 6ths/13ths are found:

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One other thing I’d like to point out about the ending of this example, is that the ♭3 and major 3rd of the I
chord, are technically played whilst I’m still on the last bar of the IV chord, right at the end of it. It’s just
the root of the I chord that I play when I’m actually on that chord.
This is an example of how you can ‘get away’ with playing passing & target notes of a chord other than the
one that you’re playing over. Our ears are so familiar with the sound of a blues turnaround that they can
hear that I chord coming right after the IV, before it actually gets played and so when I play the flat and
major 3rd (of the I chord) at the end of the bar where I’m still on the IV chord, the notes are not held for
long enough to cause any real dissonance.

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Example 8.8

This example continues the use of the 6ths/13ths over the V and IV chords and over the I chord I play the
usual ♭3 to major 3rd vocabulary but also incorporate the ♭7 and 5th to get more of a minor pentatonic
flavour towards the end.
Here are the notes played over each chord:

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I think it’s worth noting that these diagrams exist purely to show you the intervallic relationship that the
notes have against the root of each chord, as well as to get you familiar with where they can be found on the
fretboard. I’m not showing you these because I want you to practice the left-side diagrams like they were
scale patterns to practice ascending and descending. That is not at all what I want you to do with them.
Learn the licks first by listening to them and using the TAB and notation, then come to the diagrams to
analyse and understand the intervallic relationship each note has against the root note of the I, IV and V
chords.

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Example 8.9

Example 8.9 starts off the same way that example 8.7 did but the ending going back to the I chord has more
of a minor pentatonic flavour as I introduce the ♭3, 4th and 5th. I also slide down from ♭3 to the major 2nd
on the G string.
While all the other choices are the same, the pattern for the I chord have changed.

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Example 8.10

Example 10 starts off in the same way that another example from much earlier in the chapter did -that being
example 4. For the V and IV chords, example 4 was based on me visualising the same chord voicing for
each of them, which moved you down the fretboard. In example 10, rather than moving down the fretboard,
I move up to target notes for both the IV and I chords. You can see the chord/triad shapes I’m visualising
for each chord on the diagram below.
I should also note that the ‘notes played over the I chord’ in the bottom left diagram are technically played
whilst still on the IV chord. But I’m playing them to lead me back into the I chord. You don’t always have
to wait until a full bar of a particular chord has passed before playing the target/passing notes of the chord
that follows it.

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Example 8.11

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example 11 targets voicings for the V and IV chords that we have encountered already and these are shown
on the diagrams below; however, you may notice that I have not included a chord voicing diagram for the I
chord. The reason being is that what I play at the end of this example, over the I chord, is all over the place.
I’m not visualising chord shapes here - I’m more visualising the A blues scale and also throwing in a major
6th and a note that is from outside the I chord note palette - the major 7th of A - G♯. Now, before you take
a good look at the diagram for ‘notes played over the I chord’ I want to reiterate that these diagrams are not
to be practised as if they were scale patterns, in an ascending and descending fashion.
They have been added here to show you the note choices that I am aware of on the fretboard when soloing
over each chord. They also serve the purpose of showing you the intervallic relationship each note has with
the respective root note of each of the I, IV and V chords.
So, in the diagram for ‘notes played over the I chord’ you’ll notice that there’s a string of 5 notes on the G
string that are all only a semitone away from each other. But listen to the example and look at the TAB and
you’ll see that I don’t play them all in order from low to high or vice versa.
Always listen to the lick examples multiple times and try learning them with the TAB and notation, then
come back to the diagrams and analyse the notes.

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Example 8.12

Example 8.12 targets the chord tones of the V and IV chords effectively however this time, it’s not exactly
chord voicings that I’m visualising. What I’m visualising for those chords is the same dominant 7th
arpeggio. Arpeggios will be Explained in detail in the following chapter but the brief explanation is that
when you arpeggiate the notes of a chord, you play each successive chord tone individually.
With a chord voicing, you’re naturally forced to spread the chord tones across multiple strings but arpeggios
allow you to visualise and play multiple chord tones on a single string. You’ll see that on the arpeggio
diagrams for E7 and D7 that the 3rd and 5th are both found on the D string and the ♭7th and root note are
both found on the G string.

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Example 8.13

This example continues the use of arpeggio shapes which again is something we’ll be taking a detailed look
at in the following chapter. I really like the phrasing of the notes over the V chord - I ascend the E7 arpeggio
shape and finish a tone above the root on the B string - which would be F#, the major 2nd of E. I then pick
the ♭2 and pull-off to the root, then descend the arpeggio. You’ll notice that after I’ve played the lowest root
note in the arpeggio shape, I then go a semitone lower to hit the major 7th of E - which is the note E♭/ D♯ -
the same note as the ♭5 in the A blues scale.
But I don’t lean on that note for long - it’s used as a passing note to get me to the root of the next arpeggio
shape - D7. After ascending that arpeggio and finishing on the major 2nd of D - the note E - I play an A
blues scale phrase that also incorporates the major 3rd of the I chord.
This is played over the IV chord bar but I’ve still labelled those notes on the diagram as ‘notes played over
the I chord’. Since I’m using them to lead me back to the I chord, I’m visualising those notes relative to the
root notes for the I chord.
Example 8.14

Example 8.14 goes back to using chord voicings as a visualisation tool. You’ll notice that it’s the same
dominant 7th chord shape that I’m visualising for both the V and IV chords, as well as the exact same set
of chord tones / notes played over each respective chord - R 2 ♭3 3 5 6

I like the use of the 6th / 13th over the V and IV chords. To find the major 6th when visualising a dominant
7th chord - locate the ♭7 and one semitone below it, you’ll find the major 6th. The notes played over the I
chord are just the classic ♭3 to major 3rd movement followed by the root note.

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Example 8.15

Example 8.15 has me visualising the same dominant 7th chord voicings as example 14 but I’ve phrased the
notes played over each chord differently this time. To return to the I chord I play an ascending A major
pentatonic based line. I’m visualising the major pentatonic scale built from the root of the I chord here but
as you will see on the bottom right diagram, I’m also seeing a 2nd inversion A major triad.
That’s an interesting thing to note for visualising chords / arpeggios / triads for blues playing. It doesn’t
always have to be a dominant 7th sound. Basic major triads / chords don’t have ♭7ths but they are also an
option for all three chords.
This is because within the dominant 7th chord, there is a major triad.

Dominant 7th chord - R 3 5 ♭7

Major triad - R 3 5
Example 8.16

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This example moves a little higher up the fretboard, forcing me to visualise a chord voicing for the V chord
that we haven’t encountered so far. You’ll notice that the diagrams for this example are a bit different.
Because this one starts on the bar of the I chord that comes right before the turnaround, I’ve added diagrams
for the notes that I play over that part, to show you how I’m visualising the notes of the A blues scale right
before I move into the V chord.

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That’s going to do it for the turnaround lick examples. There has been a lot to digest in this particular chapter
so if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the amount of content then that’s ok! It might have taken you half an
hour or so to simply read through this chapter and have a go at playing some of the lick examples, but it
took me several months of me practising this stuff daily before I felt like it was truly ingrained in my playing
style. I don’t say that to discourage you but to remind you that this won’t happen overnight and if it did and
everyone could do it then it wouldn’t feel gratifying in the slightest.
Blues playing is not easy! That’s why it feels so rewarding getting to a level at which this all just feels
second nature and you can confidently improvise blues solos on the fly and in all keys.
One more thing I’d like to point out before we move onto the following chapter is that although I’m advising
you to start visualising chord voicings, arpeggios and so on for the I, IV and V chords during the turnaround,
you don’t always have to take that chord tone based approach. Sometimes, the minor pentatonic / blues
scale vocabulary works great over the turnaround too! In fact Stevie Ray Vaughan would often take such
an approach to soloing over blues turnarounds by playing mean, blues scale based licks over the V, IV and
I chords. And when I say blues scale, I mean the one that’s built from the root of the I chord. In our key
that’s the A blues scale. In chapter 13 I will be providing you with a detailed look at Stevie Ray Vaughan’s
approach to blues soloing that is very different to that of, say, a player like Robben Ford.
At the start of this chapter I mentioned that sometimes at the end of the turnaround, the V chord will return
for a beat or two during the last bar of the I chord. Well, there’s something fun you can play over that part
of the turnaround, regardless of whether the V chord is played or not. This will be Explained in detail in a
later chapter. For now, just listen to this…

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Example 8.17

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Chapter 9
Arpeggios & Chromatic Enclosures
In previous chapters I’ve mentioned the use of passing notes several times. In chapter 7, I introduced the
idea of using arpeggios as a visualisation/improvisational tool for targeting chord tones in a 12-bar blues
and arpeggios have appeared in several of the lick examples so far. In this chapter I’ll be delving deeper
into the use of both passing notes and arpeggios. In blues improvisation, these tools often go hand in hand
with one another. Let’s start with passing notes. We already know that a passing note is one that is found a
semitone above or below a ‘target note’. It may be from ‘outside’ of the chord that we’re playing over but
when used correctly, rather than sounding like a ‘bum note’, it will sound intentional.

I wouldn’t recommend playing a drinking game based on how many times you’ve heard me play a ♭3
followed by the major 3rd of the I, IV or V chords in the lick examples so far. The consequences would
almost certainly be lethal… but that movement from ♭3 to major 3rd is a prime example of what a passing
note is. It’s used to creatively target chord tones and in my opinion it is almost always more interesting to
listen to than if you were to simply play, for example, the major 3rd of a chord, on its own.
Let’s expand on passing notes and introduce you to a concept that is popular with bebop jazz players but
can absolutely be applied to 12-bar blues changes too. This concept is known as the ‘chromatic enclosure’.
You may already have some idea of what a chromatic enclosure looks and sounds like on the guitar and
whether you realise it or not, you’ve heard several instances of me using them in the lick examples in
previous chapters already. Before I Explain them in detail, I want you to listen to the following solo example.

Example 9.1

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That solo opens with a line based on a chromatic enclosure that targets the major 3rd of the I chord - A7.
This line is played on the high E string and in the diagram below you can see that there are five notes played
on this string that are all separated by a semitone - meaning there are no frets in between the notes I play.

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I’ve included a hollowed-out A root note on the B string which isn’t played in that part of the solo, it’s just
there to give you a reference point for the intervals of the notes that are played. I’ve also highlighted the
target note in a lighter shade of grey. If you listen back to the start of the solo, you may notice that I don’t
play this string of five notes in a strictly ascending or descending fashion. The major 3rd is the note I want
to target and it is enclosed within this chromatic structure of notes. I start on the perfect 5th and descend to
hit the ♭5 followed by the perfect 4th. I then go down two frets to play the ♭3 right before ascending to the
major 3rd - the target note. Since the I, IV and V chords in a 12-bar blues all have major 3rds, this same
chromatic enclosure phrase could be applied to all three chords.
Here’s an exercise for you to practice on your own, unaccompanied, that will have you applying this
chromatic enclosure phrase over every bar of a 12-bar blues. I’ll add that this exercise has you going to the
IV chord in the 2nd bar, as well as in bars 5 and 6, so on a chord chart, the progression would look like this:

| A7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
Example 9.2

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To get you used to playing this in different positions / string sets, let’s try playing this same exercise an
octave lower…
Example 9.3

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Memorize these licks so that you can visualise the patterns behind them, that way you’ll be able to call on
them at will. Now let’s try a different type of chromatic enclosure phrase. This one involves one less note -
there’s no ♭5 for any of the chords.

Example 9.4

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Like the previous examples, this one has you playing the same phrase over all three chords. Let’s start by
taking a look at how I target the major 3rd in this phrase over the I chord alone. I begin by picking the root
note. Then I slide from the ♭3rd to the major 3rd. I then pick the 5th, followed by the 4th. I repeat the ♭3rd
to major 3rd slide and finish by picking the root note twice. As we did with example 2, let’s take example
4 and drop it down an octave to play it on a different set of strings.

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Example 9.5

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I think it’s important that you learn to visualise these chromatic enclosures in different ways across the
fretboard. In all previous examples the notes that aren’t the root note have all been found on one string.
Let’s change that and split the chromatic enclosure of example 4 and example 5 across the G and B strings,
with the root note on the D string, for all three chords.
Example 9.6

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We’re playing the same phrase that we played in example 5, only we’ve shifted the perfect 5th of each chord
from the G string to the B string. Take a look at the diagrams below to see the difference:

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Example 9.5 fingering:

Example 9.6 fingering:

The following example introduces a different type of phrase but it’s the same for all three chords. Take a
listen to it first and then take a look at the diagram to see what I’m visualising.
Example 9.7

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The shape that I’m using and moving around for this exercise is:

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On the I chord, I begin by approaching the major 3rd starting from the root note on the G string and moving
up through the 2nd and ♭3 before reaching the major 3rd. I then pick the 5th on the B string. After that, I
pick the 2nd, then ♭3 and pull-off to the 2nd on the G string before finishing with the root note, this time
played on the D string.
The final exercise I want to show you for chromatic enclosures uses the same phrase as Example 7, only
with a different fingering to show you another way of visualising it.
Example 9.8

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In example 9.7 the root note was played first on the G string, followed by the D string. In this example, the
root note is exclusively played on the D string. For this example, I’m moving a slightly different shape
around:

The examples we’ve gone over for chromatic enclosures should keep you busy for a little while. I would
encourage you to focus on memorising each one and trying to absorb it into your improvisational
vocabulary.

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Remember that the name of the game is targeting those major 3rds for each chord! Once you’ve spent a few
practice hours digesting and absorbing what we’ve already covered in this chapter, come back here and
prepare to learn about another way of accessing the chord tones in dominant 7th chords - dominant 7th
arpeggios. The dominant 7th arpeggio has the exact same construction as a dominant 7th chord:

R 3 5 ♭7
The difference is in how arpeggios are played. To ‘arpeggiate’ is to play the chord tones as a series of
ascending or descending notes. Arpeggio shapes, unlike chords, could have one, two, three, or even all of
the chord tones played on one single string. Combine this with the fact that you could start your arpeggio
from any of the four chord tones - the root, 3rd, 5th or 7th - and the permutations of the dominant 7th
arpeggio feel almost limitless for us guitar players and our 6 strings.
Take this A7 arpeggio shape as an example:

As you can see, the 3rd and 5th are found on the same string, as are the ♭7th and root on the D string. Try
playing it ascending and descending. Here’s another way of playing that same arpeggio, in a different
permutation that transfers the 3rd from the A string, to the low E string:

And not that you’d necessarily want to play a dominant 7th arpeggio this way in your solo but here’s a
version of the same arpeggio with the chord tones laid out on just the low E string alone:

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The reason I’m pointing this out is not to make you freak out at the thought of just how many ways there
are to play the same dominant 7th arpeggio across the fretboard, but to simply make you aware that there
are options.
The good news is that since all of the chords in a 12-bar blues are the same chord type – the shapes you
learn for A7, can also be used for D7 and E7. Don’t feel that you have to figure out and memorise every
possible dominant 7th arpeggio shape before you can get started using them in your playing. I’m going to
show you a few exercises that use some of the most comfortable and accessible dominant 7th arpeggio
shapes to begin visualising in your blues improvisation.

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Example 9.9

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This exercise utilises the same dominant 7th arpeggio shape for the I and IV chords and a different shape
for the V chord. The same shape used for the IV chord could have also been used for the V chord but I
prefer using the shape that you see in the diagram below since it minimises fretting hand movement.

Something interesting to note about using these shapes for the I and IV chords is that the major 3rd of the I
chord arpeggio is the last note played before the root note of the IV chord arpeggio and it’s just one semitone
below it. That major 3rd of the I chord sounds as if it's acting as a passing note that leads you into the root
of the IV chord. In the next exercise, you’ll be using the same arpeggio shape for all three chords. It’s the
same shape as the one used for the V chord in the previous exercise.

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Example 9.10

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Now let’s move over to outline some dominant 7th arpeggios on a different set of strings. Remember that
because of the way we tune our guitars, the arpeggio shapes will look different depending on the string set
they’re played across.
Example 9.11

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This example opens with an arpeggio shape that we already know for the I chord - it’s the IV and V chord
shapes that are played across the D, G, B and high E strings that are different.

Those shapes for the IV and V chords look different but they’re actually very similar. For comfort's sake
when moving from the I chord to the IV chord, I decided to place the 5th of the arpeggio on the G string in
that D7 arpeggio. But as you can see in the shape used for the V chord, the 5th could also be placed on the
same string as the ♭7th.

The next exercise is much the same as the previous one but introduces a new way of playing the V chord
arpeggio by moving its root note to the same string that the major 3rd is found on - the G string. I also
changed the fingering of the I chord arpeggio to a shape that should look familiar to you.
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Example 9.12

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The exercises we’ve gone over so far have all sounded very… exercise-y. They’re not exactly examples of
tasteful blues improvisation but that’s ok because the purpose of practicing them is to commit these arpeggio
shapes to memory and be able to recall them when practicing your improvisation at home or when
performing live.
The next exercise uses the same arpeggio shapes as example 9 but I’ve added just a subtle amount of ‘flair’
to it by adding in a little phrase at the end of each instance of the IV chord being played. This phrase
incorporates a note that is a semitone (one fret) lower than the ♭7th of the IV chord - the note B.
Relative to the root of the IV chord you could look at it as its major 6th and alternatively, you could look at
that same note as the major 2nd / 9th of the I chord.
Example 9.13

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Now that we’ve gone over several exercises for visualising both chromatic enclosures and dominant 7th
arpeggio shapes in our blues playing, let’s do something a bit more musical and look at some licks that
utilise them.
All of these licks have deliberately been written over the turnaround. Given that during the turnaround,
you’re tasked with playing over all three chords in quick succession, it’s good for you to zone in on that part
of the progression when practicing the visualisation of these concepts on the fretboard.
We’ll start with three turnaround licks that focus on the use of arpeggios, before moving onto three licks
that combine the use of arpeggios with the chromatic enclosures we looked at earlier in the chapter. Here’s
the first arpeggio-based turnaround lick:
Example 9.14

You may well find it more beneficial to simply look at the TAB and notation for this lick to see the notes
played but I’ve also put together some diagrams to show you what I’m seeing on the fretboard when playing
this lick.

I’m visualising dominant 9th arpeggio shapes for the V and IV chords. The dominant 9th arpeggio (R 3 5 ♭7
9) is simply an extension of the dominant 7th (R 3 5 ♭7) and adds one additional note to it - that being a 9th
(major 2nd). For reference, the 9th is just a tone higher than the root.

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For the V chord I ascend the dom9 arpeggio and descend to the 5th before playing the ascending group of
three notes on the D string that you see on the right-side diagram. For the IV chord I ascend the dom9
arpeggio up to the 9th and then play a group of A blues scale based notes that also incorporate the major
3rd of the I chord. These notes are played whilst I’m still on the IV chord but that’s ok - as I’ve Explained
in previous chapters you don’t always have to wait until the next chord arrives before targeting its chord
tones.

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Example 9.15

This lick also incorporates dominant 9th arpeggios. The shape for the IV chord is the same one used in the
previous example. On the V chord I ascend the arpeggio up to the 9th, then play a grace note pull off from
the ♭2nd to the root of the arpeggio on the B string, before descending the rest of the arpeggio and picking
a note that’s a semitone below its root.

This note is D#/E♭ and it sits right between the root of the V chord and the root of the IV chord, so it makes
for a good passing note option when making the transition between the two chords. On the V chord diagram
it’s labelled as a major 7th, relative to the root of the V chord. However, I also see this same note as the ♭5
of the A blues scale. The notes played at the end of the IV chord bar are targeting the I chord and it’s much
the same as what was played at the end of example 14.
Here’s the 3rd arpeggio-focused turnaround lick to learn:
Example 9.16

This one is exactly the same as example 15, only I’ve decided to play it an octave higher and across the top
four strings, to show you how this same lick could be played and visualised in a different area of the
fretboard.
Let’s move on to learning three licks that combine the use of arpeggios with chromatic enclosures, starting
with this…

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Example 9.17

Alright, this one opens with a chromatic enclosure based phrase over the V chord which I have highlighted
in the diagrams below. It then uses some passing notes to lead you from the root of the V chord down to the
root of the IV chord. Once you’re on the IV chord, you play through a familiar looking dominant 7th
arpeggio shape before playing a group of notes that add a bit of flair after the arpeggio is played. Leading
back to the I chord, you play a sequence of notes that incorporate the ♭3 to major 3rd and the major 6th of
the I chord.
The next lick is based around chromatic enclosures for both the V and I chords, as well as a dominant 7th
arpeggio shape for the IV chord.
Example 9.18

Diagrams have been provided to show you the chromatic enclosures and arpeggio shapes visualised at each
point in the lick but again, you must listen to the example recordings and look at the TAB & notation to
understand how and when each of the notes highlighted in the diagrams are played.

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It’s worth noting that on the diagram for the IV chord arpeggio, a hollowed out ♭3 has been added. This is
just to show that the note is played but is not technically part of the arpeggio itself. It’s used as a passing
note for the major 3rd that is in the arpeggio.
That brings us to the final lick of this chapter. example 19 uses a chromatic enclosure for the V chord and
connects two dominant 7th arpeggio shapes together for the IV chord. A chromatic enclosure is also
visualised for the I chord at the end of the lick.

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Example 9.19
The notes played over the V chord in this example are actually the same notes and phrasing used for the
start of example 18, just an octave lower. For the IV chord we’re starting out with a familiar dominant 7th
arpeggio shape that then connects to another dominant 7th arpeggio shape that’s an octave higher. The ♭7
of the last D7 arpeggio (fret 8 on the high E string) basically acts as a ♭3 passing note for sliding into the
major 3rd of the I chord, since it’s just one fret below that chord tone for the I chord. I then play a descending
sequence of notes from that major 3rd down to the 4th on the G string, before finishing with a chromatic
enclosure-based phrase targeting the major 3rd of the I chord. I hope that this chapter has opened your eyes
to new ways of visualising the fretboard when playing 12-bar blues solos.
If you’re approaching this as someone who has only ever thought about visualising large scale patterns
across the entire fretboard, this new way of visualising smaller chunks of harmonic information might take
a bit of getting used to but the payoff is that you’ll be able to play solos with much more melodic intent by
focusing on the notes that matter, rather than mindlessly running up and down scale patterns.

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Chapter 10
Discovering Outside Sounds
Chapter 8 marked the end of us looking at what I would call your ‘bread and butter’ improvisational tools
when soloing over 12-bar blues progressions; the essential sounds and tools to visualise on the fretboard
that will make up 99% of your note choices - the I chord note palette (mixolydian, the major pentatonic and
minor pentatonic scales, the blues scale), as well as various ways of accessing the chord tones of the IV and
V chords – chord voicings, arpeggios and chromatic enclosures.
So what’s left to learn? Well, truth be told, the material we’ve gone over thus far could keep you busy for
years to come and I would like to stress the importance of prioritising this material in your practice over
what I’m about to teach you in the next couple of chapters.
We’re now about to start looking at ways of channelling ‘outside’ sounds in your blues playing. This is not
something that you need to be able to do in order to play amazing, tasteful blues solos at all. But it can be
fun to incorporate them now and again. If you’re a Robben Ford or Josh Smith fan, even if you don’t know
what they are called and how to find them on the fretboard, your ears will be familiar with the types of
outside sounds they both use in their playing that I’m going to be demonstrating in this chapter and the one
that follows it.
You may recall that at the very end of chapter 8, I showed you an example of a lick that makes use of
something fun you can target when improvising over the very last bar in the turnaround of a 12-bar blues
progression.
Let’s listen to it again now…
Example 8.17

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The start of that example incorporates some traditional, familiar sounding tools used in blues improvisation
like dominant 7th arpeggios and blues scale vocabulary but the fourth bar of the excerpt leans into an
improvisational tool that I often like to use in the final bar of a 12-bar blues progression if I want to get
more of an ‘outside’ sound.
The tool I am referring to is known as the augmented triad. I’ll Explain exactly what is meant by ‘augmented
triad’ soon but for now, let’s first define what is meant by an ‘outside’ sound. Whenever you see me refer
to something as sounding ‘outside’, I essentially mean anything that sounds like it’s creating a noticeable
amount of ‘tension’ over the chord(s) that it’s played over. The key to making outside sounds work in a
blues context, is to make sure you know how to release the tension that they create.
Releasing the tension at the right moment is what makes the difference between an outside lick sounding
intentional versus sounding like a mistake. The ‘right moment’ is usually when, or soon after, a chord change
occurs. Tension is created over a chord and then released when the player resolves to notes that highlight
the next chord in the progression. So, the focus of this entire chapter is to familiarise ourselves with the use
of augmented triads in blues playing. What does it sound like? What can it look like on the fretboard? At
what point is it appropriate to use in a 12-bar blues progression?
Let’s start by looking at the construction of the augmented triad:
R 3 #5
Root, major 3rd, #5. Very similar to a major triad - R 3 5 - only the 5th is sharpened/raised. The root of this
triad is the same as the root of the V chord in the key of A - E. Before we continue, it’s important to know
exactly where it is in the progression that I’m placing this augmented triad to create and release tension.
Below you will see the last four bars (bars 9-12) of a 12-bar blues progression – the turnaround. It starts
with a bar of the V chord, then a bar of the IV chord, followed by two final bars of the I chord:
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
It’s common for the bass player, keyboard player or rhythm guitarist to insert the V chord right at the end
of the very last bar - over the final two beats, to be precise - before the progression repeats over again, like
so:
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 / E7 / |

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As you can see above, instead of the final two bars being exclusively the I chord (A7), the V chord (E7)
makes a return in the 2nd half of the final bar. It is on this last bar that I will often insert licks based around
augmented triads to create and release tension but it’s important to note that when executed well, this
improvisational tool will sound good regardless of whether or not the other instrumentalists or backing track
plays the V chord at the end of the last bar. It still works even if the final two bars of the turnaround are
taken up by the I chord alone.
Now that we’ve established when to use the augmented triad in your 12-bar blues solos, let’s look at where
the tension comes from. Let’s compare the chord tones of a dominant 7th chord with the same of the
augmented triad:

Dominant 7th chord - R 3 5 ♭7

Augmented triad - R 3 ♯5
The augmented triad has a sharpened 5th, which is a semitone higher than the perfect 5th of the dominant
7th chord, as well as the perfect 5th in a basic major triad. Here’s a root position E major triad, with the #5
from the augmented triad added in. By alternating which note you play on the G string, you can go between
major and augmented triads. Practice swapping between the two so that you can get accustomed to the
augmented triads sound.

That semitone clash between the perfect of the underlying chord and the sharpened 5th of the augmented
triad we’re soloing with is where the tension comes from. Now I want to show you something interesting
about the augmented triad. Let’s look at the diagram of the E augmented triad again but this time with note
name labels instead of intervals:

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As you can see, the notes in an E augmented triad are E, G♯ and C. Let’s move that exact same shape up
the fretboard by four frets, which is a distance in pitch equal to a major 3rd interval:

Notice something interesting? Look at the note names and you’ll see that all of those same notes are there,
albeit in a different order from low to high - E, G♯ and C. Let’s move it down by four frets (a major 3rd)
from the original voicing and see what we get…

Again, the same notes are all there - E, G♯ and C.

Why is it that we’re able to move the same augmented triad shape up and down the fretboard in major 3rd
increments and still have the same three notes appear? And why does it even matter for blues playing? The
latter will be addressed with lick examples later in the chapter, for now allow me to address the first question.
The augmented triad is symmetrical, meaning it is built from stacking two identical intervals… Between
the root and the major 3rd is of course, a major 3rd interval, between the major 3rd and the sharpened 5th,
there is also a major 3rd interval. If I add another root note an octave higher on the B string, you’ll see that
between the #5 and the root, there is also the distance of a major 3rd:

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Perhaps looking at several voicings of the same E augmented triad will illustrate better the fact that there
are only major 3rds between the chord tones:

So far we’ve covered the construction of the augmented triad and why it creates an outside sound over
dominant 7th and major chords (the rub between the natural and raised fifth) and we’ve also established that
it is symmetrical. I’ve yet to answer the question I posed earlier referring to the symmetry of the triad – why
does it matter for blues playing? Or, for any style of music that you use it in?
In the above diagram that illustrates several voicings of the same Eaug triad, you may have noticed that the
shape of each voicing is exactly the same. There are many ways to finger and visualise triads of all types
across the fretboard but when students of my Bulletproof Guitar Player course are getting started with triads
I prefer to teach them across four string sets.
String set 1 would be the high E, B and G strings.
String set 2 is the B, G and D strings.
String set 3 is the G, D and A strings.
String set 4 is the D, A and E strings.
The augmented triad shapes in the previous diagram are all found on the 3rd string set and as already
mentioned, due to the symmetrical nature of the triad, each voicing on that particular string set looks exactly
the same in terms of its visual shape.
The same rules of course apply to the remaining 3 string sets, so let's take a look at all of them in order to
see what the shapes look like across each one.

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1st string set:

2nd string set:

3rd string set:

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4th string set:

Now to really answer the question of why the symmetry of the augmented triads matters for blues
improvisation, we should first listen back to example 18 from the end of chapter 17 once again. In fact, it’s
best if you watch the video of me playing that particular excerpt as that may answer the question for you
before I even say anything else.
Example 8.17

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So now that you’ve listened to or preferably, watched me playing through that excerpt from chapter 8 once
again, allow me to Explain how the symmetrical nature of the augmented triad was exploited there. As soon
as the last bar of the turnaround appeared, I created tension by outlining four E augmented triad shapes on
the 3rd string set, before releasing the tension by resolving to the major 3rd of the I chord - A7 - when the
12-bar progression started over again.
I took an augmented shape on beat 1 of bar 4, arpeggiated it from low to high and then continued up the
fretboard moving in major 3 (four fret) intervals. The highest and lowest triad shapes are in fact the same
inversion - they are both root position (R 3 #5) augmented triads. What’s interesting to note about the end
of this example, is the way in which I resolve to the major 3rd of the I chord after having created tension in
the previous bar with the augmented triads built from the root of the V chord. As I’m creating the tension, I
know that I’m trying to resolve to the I chord and to do that, I should ideally hit one of the chord tones of
said chord, when bar 1 arrives. Let’s look at the chord tones of the augmented triad and the target chord
(A7) side by side.
Tension triad = E Aug – E, #G, B# or C
Target Chord = A7 – A, C#, E, G
If you look closely you might notice that the #5 in the Eaug triad is a half-step lower than one of the main
chord tones in the I chord. The C in the Augmented triad is one half-step below the C# in the target A7 triad.
This is exactly how I resolve the line in the previous example. I finish my augmented line in bar 4 of the
transcription on a C note and rise to a C# on the downbeat of bar 5 when the A7 comes in.
A handy trick to remember is that whenever you play up a root position Augmented triad (R 3 #5) , the final
note of the triad (the #5) is the note that we use to approach the next chord from a half-step below. Knowing
this should make it much easier for you to not only use augmented triads in your blues solos but resolve
your augmented triad-based lines perfectly, every time!
To help you get started, here’s three more examples you can learn and practice to get to grips with using
this new improvisational tool in your blues playing.
For the following examples I’ve decided to keep the first three bars of each one the exact same. In fact, this
will be the same as what you hear in the first three bars of example 18 from chapter 8, which has made a
couple of appearances in this chapter already, so you should already be somewhat familiar with the
vocabulary involved. The reason for this is that I want you to focus on the use of the augmented triad in
each example. Play through each one several times to understand how I fit the triad into my lines from a
timing perspective and notice how I exploit the fact that the #5 of the augmented triad is just a semitone
lower than the major 3rd of the I chord.
Example 10.1

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Example 10.2

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Example 10.3

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Chapter 11
A Robben Ford Approach to Playing Outside

In the previous chapter we looked at one approach you could take to create an ‘outside’ sound in your blues
solos - ‘outside’ meaning an improvisational tool/concept that you could use to add tension and release. The
tool I discussed and demonstrated in the previous chapter was an augmented triad, built from the root of the
V chord and specifically used to add tension in the final bar of a 12-bar blues progression. In this chapter
we’ll take a look at one more ‘outside’ approach that you could take, which can be used at a much earlier
point in a 12-bar progression. This outside approach is one that blues guitar legend, Robben Ford, is well
known for using in his solos. I am referring to what’s known as the ‘half/whole diminished scale’.
Once again I would like to stress that if you are fairly new to the concepts that I have demonstrated in the
chapters that led up to this one and the previous chapter (which are both to do with using ‘outside’ sounds
in your blues solos), you do not need to instantly understand and apply these outside soloing approaches in
your own playing in order to play killer-sounding blues solos. After all, Stevie Ray Vaughan and B.B. King
were both pretty good at playing blues (understating for comedic effect, hold the death threats…) and not
once will you ever hear examples of them going ‘outside’ in their solos. The material covered in chapters
1-8 could keep you busy for years. I say that not to dishearten you but to excite you. I believe there is so
much value to extract out of those chapters that concern the concepts and soloing approaches that will make
up 99% of what you play in your blues solos, so don’t feel that you need to jump right into these ‘outside’
soloing concepts for the time being if you are still getting to grips with the material already covered. The
outside stuff can sound really cool and be a great addition to your improvisational vocabulary but I can’t
overstate just how important it is that you focus mainly on understanding and applying the concepts covered
in the earlier chapters, as that is what will make up the bulk of your blues soloing. In a way, I am also talking
to my former self regarding this subject. As I have mentioned in the earlier chapters of this book, I had been
playing blues for many years before I actually put in the work to figure out how to navigate the chord
changes effectively and with a degree of confidence. I was guilty of trying to learn the sexy, flashy ‘outside’
sounding licks that players such as Robben Ford and Josh Smith were using in their solos, well before I was
ready to understand the concepts themselves. At the time, I wasn’t yet at the level where I could simply
navigate the I, IV and V chords using the concepts taught in chapter 1-8 without slipping up repeatedly and
yet I was choosing to spend my time learning about more advanced material that I wasn’t ready for.
I’m aware I may be going too far in the other direction and implying that outside approaches are a waste of
time now, so know that that is not my intention! If they weren’t useful, they wouldn’t be in this book. I just
want to make sure that you really nail the foundational concepts that will make up 90% of your playing.
Now that that’s out of the way, over the course of this chapter I will break down the following:

• What is a diminished scale?

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• What does ‘half/whole’ mean?

• Where to use the half/whole diminished scale in a 12-bar blues

• How to resolve (release the tension) after having used it in your solo

• 5 lick examples using the half/whole diminished scale in a 12-bar blues

Before we get started with any of the above, I want you to listen to the first lick example in this chapter that
demonstrates the use of the half/whole diminished scale, just to give you an idea of the sound that it can
create before we move on…
Example 11.1

Alright, we’re going to come back to that lick later in the chapter. Please resist the urge to jump onto
YouTube to search for ‘half/whole diminished blues licks’ and keep your focus on this chapter for the time
being.
Let’s address the question of ‘what is a diminished scale’?
Most scales we tend to solo with, in genres including and outside of blues, contain 5 to 7 notes. Pentatonic
scales, for example, contain 5 notes. The major and natural minor scales, as well as the modes of the major
scale, the harmonic minor scale and the melodic minor scale, all contain 7 notes.
Diminished scales contain 8 notes and they consist of a repeating pattern of intervals. The two types of
diminished scales are ‘whole/half’ and ‘half/whole’. ‘Whole’ and ‘half’ in this context are shorthand for
whole-steps (two frets) and half-steps (one fret). The whole/half diminished scale alternates between whole-
steps and half-steps whereas the half/whole diminished scale is built of alternating half-steps and whole-
steps.
Whole/Half Diminished Scale = W H W H W H W H
Half/Whole Diminished Scale = H W H W H W H W
In this chapter we are going to look at using the h+w diminished scale. The following diagram shows this
scale laid out on a single string. Notice the repeating pattern: up one fret, up two frets, up one fret, up two
frets, etc.

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For simplicity’s sake, I will now refer to the half/whole diminished scale as ‘the diminished scale’ for the
remainder of this chapter. The symmetry of the scale admittedly makes it a bit of a nightmare to visualise
on the fretboard. Take a look at an example of a half/whole diminished scale position below, for example:

Mastering the visualisation of this scale requires you to A) know the notes of the fretboard on each string
off by heart (no descending in octaves until you find the note on the low E or A strings) and B) be able to
visualise intervals in several permutations across the fretboard. Working on what I’ve just mentioned could
fill an entire book, so what can you do right now if you want to try out using this scale in your blues playing
right away? Well, you can study the licks that I’ve put together for this chapter that will get you well
acquainted with the sound of the scale and when/how to use it in a 12-bar blues. After that, if you find that
it's something you want to explore further, then by all means head to YouTube and study some Robben Ford
solos to hear him use it himself. I’d recommend checking out live versions of his track ‘Cannonball Shuffle’,
as he often likes to use it in his solos for that specific tune. It’s also in the same key as all examples in this
book, so that’s handy too. I’ve got five lick examples to take you through but before I do, I should first let
you know where and when it is that you can use this diminished scale in a 12-bar blues. I like to use it to
create tension over the first chord change between bars 4 and 5 – which take you from the I chord (A7) to
the IV chord (D7).

| A7 | A7 | A7 | A7 |
| D7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |
| E7 | D7 | A7 | A7 |

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As you can see on the chord progression, I’ve highlighted bars 4 and 5. It is during bar 4 that you want to
start your phrase using the diminished scale - with the same root note as the I chord (A) - to create tension
over the I chord and when the IV chord arrives in bar 5, that is when you should seek to release the tension
by resolving to a chord tone of the IV chord.
I’d like you to listen back to example 11.1 and pay attention to the note that I end the phrase on. It’s the note
D, the root note of the I chord. I play an A diminished scale sequence that is timed so that it lands on the
root note of the IV chord directly on beat one of bar 5 - creating a really strong connection between my note
choices and the chord changes.
Before we continue to the lick examples, I’d like to first talk about the notes of the diminished scale and see
what notes it has in common with the I chord, since the tension is created over this chord specifically and
released pretty much as soon as the IV chord arrives. By doing so, you’ll get a much better understanding
of where the tension of the diminished scale comes from when applied over a dominant 7th chord and I
think you’ll be surprised at the answer.
Here is the scale formula and notes for the A (half/whole) diminished scale, with the chord formula for our
I chord - A dominant 7th, underneath it:

As you can see, out of the 8 notes that the diminished scale has, four of them make up a dominant 7th chord
with the same root note. Leaving four notes that are not found within an A dominant 7th – the b2, b3, b5
and 6. You may recognise that the b3, b5 and 6 where included in the “I chord note palette”, for this reason,
out of all of the 8 notes that the (half/whole) diminished scale has, only ONE of them could truly be
considered as an ‘outside’ note in the context of a 12-bar blues progression – the b9. So, although I have
shown you that this scale can be tricky to visualise across the fretboard, it is helpful to know that the one
‘outside’ note you can target in your lines, is just a semitone higher than the root note - A.
Alright, we’ve covered plenty of theory behind how and when to use the diminished scale in the context of
a 12-bar blues, now let’s put it into practice. You’ve already heard example 1, which I am going to break
down soon but I would like to start off with two lick examples that have a slower pace and will be
manageable from a technical standpoint for just about every player consuming this book.

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Example 11.2

This example is incredibly useful as it shows you a shape/note grouping for the A diminished scale (used in
bar 2) that neatly lives around the root note for the IV chord – the D in beat 3. Here are the notes in bar 2
laid our as a scale shape:

That being said, the fact that it’s quite simple to visualise and target the root note of the IV chord amongst
the notes of the diminished scale built from the root of the I chord. If we look closer at the notes of the A
diminished scale from that example and focus on the notes on the A string alone, you’ll see the 3rd, ♯4 (♭5)
and the perfect 5th Between the 3rd and the ♯4 (♭5), there’s an empty fret. This empty fret on the A string
is the note D - the root of our IV chord. The root of the IV chord is essentially sandwiched between two of
the notes from the diminished scale built from the root of the I chord - those notes being the 3rd and ♯4 (♭5).
Before we move on to example 3, I’d like to discuss the timing of example 2 because if you want to use this
lick in your own blues solos, in order to land on the root of the IV chord directly on beat 1 of bar 5, it is
crucial that you understand where to place the first note of this phrase. All of the notes in this lick example
use the 8th note shuffle feel and the first note lands on the ‘a’ of beat 4 in bar 3.
You should count the beats of the bar like so:
1 and a 2 and a 3 and a 4 and a
I’ve highlighted the ‘a’ of 4 to show you exactly where the first note should be played. If you land the first
note correctly and follow the 8th note shuffle feel throughout the rest of the lick, you should land on the
root of the IV chord directly on beat 1 of bar 5, which is exactly when the IV chord arrives.

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Now let’s move on to the next example, which like the previous one should be manageable from a technical
standpoint for just about every guitar player:
Example 11.3

Example 11.2 targeted the root note of the IV chord and in example 11.3, we’re targeting the 3rd of the IV
chord. This example is of a similar pace to the previous one but the timing of the first note is a little bit
earlier. Let’s start by breaking down the notes played over the I chord (A7) into two parts, starting with this
shape:

Listen back to the recording/watch the video example and look at the TAB & notation to see and hear the
order in which these notes are played. This first part should sound familiar to your ears as it’s the same type
of I chord vocabulary you heard in many of the examples in previous chapters. The major 6th is in there as
well as the classic movement from the ♭3 to major 3rd. Although all of these notes are found in the A
half/whole diminished scale, the way that I phrase them here doesn’t ‘sound’ diminished - at least not to my
ears anyway. However I’m about to change that by hitting the ♭7 on the B string, followed by the ♭2 and
the root note on the high E string. Remember that ♭2 is the one note that I would consider to be the only true
‘outside’ note when it comes to applying the diminished scale over a dominant 7th chord in a blues context.
Immediately after, I target the major 3rd of the IV chord and land on that chord tone pretty much directly
on beat 1 of bar 5.

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Now that we’ve covered two lick examples that were both played at a fairly manageable pace, we can move
onto some flashier examples of using the diminished scale at this same point in a 12-bar blues progression.
These examples will be a bit more akin to the style of diminished vocabulary that Robben Ford likes to use.
You’ll cover more ground on the fretboard and also get to practice using straight 16th notes against a shuffle
rhythm, which is an awesome way of adding some rhythmic variety to a shuffle solo.
The first example we’ll break down is one we’ve already heard, example 1.
Example 11.1

The vocabulary played over the I chord in example 1 screams the diminished scale. To me, it has a very
angular, ‘outside’ sound from beginning to end. If you were to bust this out on stage at a blues jam and nail
the timing, it’s likely that the other musicians on stage would hear the notes played over the I chord and
think to themselves ‘where on earth are they going with this nonsense?’ It is definitely a ballsy move to try
something like this at a jam but should you stick the landing and resolve to the IV chord at the right moment,
their puzzled faces will likely turn into nods of approval and respect.
You’ll need to pay close attention to the timing of this lick if you want to break it out successfully at your
next blues jam. Every lick example in this book thus far has followed the 8th note shuffle feel. This lick
however, has you playing straight 16th notes, which over the shuffle feel of the track gives you some nice
rhythmic variety and allows you to fit more notes into the same space of time.
The first note in this lick is placed on the ‘a’ of beat 4 in the 3rd bar - just like the first note in Example 2.
However, when playing with a straight feel over a shuffle groove, you’ll want to count the beats of the bar
in your head a little differently.
For straight 16ths you should count the beats in your head like so:
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a
So the first note of example 1 should land on the ‘a’ of beat 4 in the 3rd bar:
1 e and a 2 e and a 3 e and a 4 e and a
If you can practice placing that first note on the ‘a’ of beat 4 in bar 3 and follow straight 16th notes
throughout, you should land on the root note of the IV chord directly on beat 1 of the 5th bar. Take it very
slow to begin with and practice getting the notes in the right order first before you try it to tempo with the
backing track. You may benefit from using a metronome to help count the beats of the bar when practising
this unaccompanied and at slower tempos.

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Example 11.4 features some similar vocabulary to example 11.3 and it follows the straight 16th note time
feel of example 11.1. It also targets the same chord tone of the IV chord - that being the root - and lands on
it directly on beat 1 of the 5th bar. It also has more notes than example 11.1 so the placement of the first
note comes a little earlier.
Example 11.4

If you successfully place the first note on the ‘e’ of beat 4 in this bar and follow the straight 16th note time
feel with all of the notes in the correct order, you will nail the landing and hit the root of the IV chord
directly on beat 1 of the 5th bar.
This brings us to the last lick example for using the diminished scale to create tension when moving from
the I to the IV chord in a 12-bar blues.
Example 11.5

Just like example 11.1 and example 11.4, this final lick example uses the same straight 16th note rhythm
against the shuffle groove, adding some interesting rhythmic variety to your solo. However this one is played
in a different position of the fretboard and doesn’t target the root note of the IV chord, instead it targets its
major 3rd.
Here’s the first group of notes to play (refer to the TAB for the order in which they are played):

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The hollowed out root note you see on the diagram is not to be played, they are just there as a reference
point for all of the other intervals. Making a mental note of this root placement is what will allow you to
move this lick to other keys. Continue to work your way through the lick, relating notes to local root notes
of the diminished scale as well as the root notes for the chords your targeting. This is what will get you
maximum mileage from the material. Start to build your own micro shapes and reference points, by coming
up with them yourself you’ll be more likely to remember them and you’ll find they integrate into your
playing more naturally.

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Chapter 12
Putting It All Together:
Blues Soloing Etudes
We have covered a lot of ground in this book so far and now I want to give you some etudes that you can
practice that will bring together all of the improvisational concepts we have studied in this book - scales,
arpeggios, chromatic enclosures, passing notes, chord voicings and outside concepts such as augmented
triads and the diminished scale.
These practice etudes are to be played unaccompanied and have been composed so that there is little to no
breathing room. This is deliberate. You might be thinking ‘but what about leaving space?’ and you are right
to be asking the question. The topic of leaving space will be addressed in the following chapter. I believe
that it’s important for you to be able to eventually get to a point at which you can comfortably improvise a
blues solo with no accompaniment - meaning no backing tracks, no basslines, no chords to sit on or drum
grooves to jam with.
This really is a great long term practice goal to work towards with your blues improvisation. Why? It will
result in huge improvements to the timing of your licks. The overarching focus of this book is to help you
navigate the chord changes of a standard 12-bar progression by demystifying the note choices and structures
you can use to access said note choices, however, knowing what notes to play is only half the battle. The
other half is to learn how you can time your phrases so that you land on those notes at the right time.
Back when I was practicing towards this long-term goal myself, I found that as the months went by, my
timing when practicing improvisation (with accompaniment in the form of backing tracks), was getting
better and better.
My visualisation of the chord tones on the fretboard was improving, I had a much better understanding of
how to flow through the chord changes and I was a lot more confident in my ability to craft and time my
phrases so that they would land me on the chord tones at the right time.
Just think, if you can play a full 12-bar solo on your own and sound incredible doing it, imagine just how
good it will sound if you do it with a full band backing you up!
It will likely take months of practicing the material in the earlier chapters before you start to feel like you’re
getting close to it but once you have achieved this goal, once you can flow through a 12-bar blues on your
own, keep time with yourself alone and highlight the chord changes without there being any chords there to
back you up, then you will be in a good position to start stripping back and focusing on leaving space in
between your phrases.

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You must practice this material with focus and consistency for a long period of time to familiarise yourself
with these new note choices and the various structures for accessing them that I’ve been teaching you
throughout this book - you must practice this all to the point at which you don’t have to expend so much
mental energy actively thinking about your note choices when improvising.
This takes time and you need to be OK with that. Patience is key. To assist with this pursuit, I have put
together five pre-composed practice etudes that will have you playing through a full 12-bar progression with
a constant stream of notes. These etudes will take all of the improvisational tools you’ve been studying
independently for different parts of the 12-bar progression and combine them into one cohesive piece that
will take you through the full progression from start to finish.
Practicing them will give you a glimpse of what it can feel like to be able to improvise through a 12-bar
blues all on your own, whilst making tasty note choices in every single bar. This is something I wished I
could do when I first embarked on my blues improvisation journey a few years ago and it truly does feel
very rewarding when you can finally improvise at this level.
Every day that you practice, visualise yourself in a few months time having practised the material in this
book consistently and reaching a level where you don’t need these practice etudes to study anymore and can
develop your own without the help of anyone else. Take your time with each one. You don’t have to learn
them all in one day. In fact, I would encourage you to avoid trying to do so. Study the video examples to
see me playing them first, then take them 1-2 bars at a time. Then practice them in 4-bar blocks. Practice
the transition between each block. Then try moving through the entire etude from start to finish.
Try to not approach them the same way that you would a technical exercise, where you’re simply going
through the motions and not necessarily thinking about the notes and chord tones you’re hitting in each bar.
Once you’ve played through the etude a few times, take a macro look at each bar and ask yourself, what
chord tones are being targeted here? Is that a major 6th of the I chord? Is that a chromatic enclosure? How
has he made the transition between the I and IV chord? Which chord tone of the IV chord did he land on?
I’ll leave you to have fun with these etudes. Here’s the first one:

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Example 12.1 – Etude 1

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Example 12.2 – Etude 2

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Example 12.3 – Etude 3

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Example 12.4 – Etude 4

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Example 12.5 – Etude 5

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Chapter 13
The Art of Phrasing with Space

“It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play”
Miles Davis

In chapter 11 I gave you some homework in the form of five practice etudes that I instructed you to study
and practice unaccompanied. Each of these etudes deliberately had little to no breathing room left between
phrases so that you were forced to play a near-constant stream of notes throughout all 12 bars.
The focus of this chapter is going to be on stripping that back and leaving space, rather than playing a
constant stream of notes for a full solo.
The topic of leaving ‘space’ or ‘breathing room’ in a guitar solo is one that I have discussed extensively in
lessons posted to my YouTube channel over the years because I believe it’s a very important part of playing
solos that people will enjoy listening to.
Going full steam ahead, playing notes constantly and leaving little to no breathing room can sound good in
the right context - after all, there is a time and place for everything but more often than not, if you’re faced
with soloing through several rounds of a 12-bar progression, it’s a good idea to start simple and leave
breathing room in between your phrases. Then eventually, if you wish to, you can build the dynamics up to
that point at which it sounds and feels appropriate to go full-send and leave nothing on the table.
The way I like to approach leaving space in my solos is to utilise an improvisational tool that is rife in blues
guitar soloing – the motif.
What is a motif?
A Motif is a short phrase that you can repeat and alter melodically and rhythmically, to develop a well-
crafted solo. The best blues guitar solos you’ve ever heard were most likely built using multiple motifs.
Motifs can be used in both improvisational and compositional contexts. I’ll often use them as a tool for
composing solos of my own, as well as for improvising on the spot.
Guitarists often fall into the trap of thinking that they need to constantly find new licks and phrases to use
in their solos because it’s somehow a bad thing to play the same thing twice. I don’t believe that to be the
case for a second.

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Sure, repeating the exact same lick, or 2-3 licks, for an entire solo may not be the optimal approach to take
if your goal is to play a solo that tells a story and builds in intensity over time but that does not mean that
every bar must contain a brand-new idea.
What you will find from studying the concept of motifs and being mindful of their application when you
practice your blues improvisation, is that you can get so much mileage out of licks that you already play
every day, by making small alterations melodically and rhythmically. There are seemingly limitless ways
to approach motif development so I’m going to spend the rest of this chapter taking you through a 12-bar
solo that was built using one motif, in an effort to show you just how much mileage you can get out of one
short musical phrase.
It’s also worth noting that in many of the lick and solo examples from the earlier chapters, motifs have been
used throughout, so after you’ve gone through this chapter go back and take a listen to some examples from
previous chapters and see if you can identify parts where I’ve repeated the same group of notes and altered
them.
By the way, it's worth pointing out now that I will use the terms ‘phrase’, ‘motif’ and ‘idea’ interchangeably
throughout this chapter. Here’s an entire 12-bar solo that I built using just one small motif.
Example 13.1

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The first phrase I play is very short and it gets used several times throughout this one solo. After I play it, I
pause for breath and play it the exact same way again, however I add on some additional notes right after,
which eventually take me to a higher position of the fretboard, far away from the frets that I originally
played the motif on. Now that I’m in a different area of the fretboard, I repeat the motif again, only this time
an octave higher on the top two strings. Already we’ve got two examples of motif development within the
first 4-5 bars –
1) The first repetition of the motif was the same as the first and I developed it by bolting on some additional
notes right after, which allowed me to move to a higher position of the fretboard.
2) The 3rd repetition of the motif had me playing it an octave higher and on different strings.
Pay attention to how I’ve left more breathing room between bars 5 and 6. I’m taking my sweet time with
this solo - not trying to rush or cram in as many licks as possible. That’s one of the cool things about starting
to use motifs in your solos - a common fear that a lot of guitarists share when it comes to improvisation is
running out of ideas. When you start to use motifs, you can relax a bit more knowing that you can actually
build a well crafted solo using even just one small phrase as your starting point.
Moving on, in bar 6, I take just the first two notes of my original motif and use them to play a phrase that
takes me from the IV chord back to the I chord. I haven’t played the full motif, I’ve just taken a fragment
of it and used it to build something a little different to what we’ve heard so far. This is another thing that I
love about motifs - you’re able to use so much repetition in your solo, without it actually sounding repetitive
to the listener. At least not in a way that has any negative connotation.
In bar 7, we have some familiar sounding blues vocabulary played over the I chord which leads nicely into
what I play in the 8th bar - a repeating phrase that uses the first three notes of the original motif on a loop.
This repeating phrase then leads into a lick in the same position of the fretboard that targets the major 3rd
of the V chord with a nice double-stop bend.

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After that, in bars 10 and 11, I round off my solo by playing the original motif in the same area of the
fretboard that I’ve been in for the past few bars and because the phrase on its own doesn’t sound very
‘conclusive’ for lack of a better word, you’ll notice I’ve played some additional notes right after it that have
me finishing on the root of the I chord, to round off my solo.
Before I wrap up this chapter I want to give you a few more short examples of developing a motif that you
can hopefully take inspiration from when it comes to improvising solos of your own. Let’s start by taking
the same opening motif from the solo we just analysed and this time, when I repeat it a couple of bars later,
I’m going to play the first 2-3 notes with a different rhythm.
Example 13.2

For the next example I’ll move it up and octave and when I repeat it, instead of finishing with the whole
step bend, I’ll descend the A blues scale:
Example 13.3

The whole step bend that finishes the motif is played from the major 2nd, bending up to the major 3rd. How
about I try finishing with a whole step bend from the ♭3 instead, when I go to repeat it? After all, that note
is very accessible given where the other notes in the motif are. Here’s what that could sound like:

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Example 13.4

For the last example I’m going to repeat the motif in a different area of the fretboard and on different strings
but not in a different octave this time. The first time I play it, the notes will be played across the D and G
strings. When I repeat, I’ll play it on the A and D strings.
This achieves two things:
1. I’m able to play the same notes but with a different timbre, meaning the tonal character of the
different string sets that the notes are played on
2. I’m able to slide into the major 3rd when I repeat the motif, instead of bending to it. This puts me in
a nice position of the fretboard to then play some vocabulary that leads me into the IV chord.
Example 13.5

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In terms of practicing motifs yourself, a great way of learning how to use them is to do the same thing that
I did when I got serious about improving my own skills as a blues improviser - transcribe, transcribe,
transcribe…
Go on YouTube, type in ‘Kirk Fletcher shuffle solo’, ‘Robben Ford shuffle solo’, ‘Matt Schofield shuffle
solo’, any blues player you like the sound of… watch footage of them improvising and work out their solos
on your own, using your eyes and ears.
Watch them solo over shuffle grooves and take notes when you notice them repeat small chunks of notes
and use them to develop their solos. You can even steal motifs from their solos and try developing them in
your own way. Take one of their opening phrases, find a suitable backing track, begin your solo with it and
see where it can take you! The possibilities for motif development are endless.

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Chapter 14
The Infamous Stevie Ray Vaughan
Chromaticism
We’ve covered the bulk of the note choices you can make over the chords in a 12-bar blues, however, there
is one more that I’d like to discuss before we wrap up. This is something that I’ve talked about extensively
on my YouTube channel and Instagram whenever I’ve made instructional content centred around the lead
playing style of the late, great Stevie Ray Vaughan.
In fact, my 2nd most viewed YouTube video to date titled The Infamous Stevie Ray Vaughan Lick is about
this exact note choice that SRV used in his lead playing all the time. That is, his use of ♭9ths in licks played
over the I chord. In many instances these ♭9ths were preceded and/or followed by natural 9ths.
SRV would often play these notes specifically on the high E string, making them fit snugly into trusty old
position 1 of the minor pentatonic/blues scales, so it’s a simple addition to our already well developed blues
improv vocabulary, that is, if you have done as instructed at the start of the book and worked through the
chapters in their intended order.
In this chapter I’m going to teach you the following:

• What a ♭9th and natural 9th is

• How to find them on the fretboard relative to minor pentatonic scale positions

• How Stevie Ray Vaughan would phrase these notes in his own licks

• Examples of licks that incorporate flat and natural 9ths.

Plus, at the end of the chapter, you will find TAB and notation for an SRV-inspired solo that you can study
and practice as homework.
To start with, please take a listen to example 14.1

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Example 14.1

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You’ll notice I’m playing the same exact lick over every chord in the 12-bar blues and it works well over
the I, IV and V chords even though I’m not exactly making efforts to target the chord tones of the IV and
V. This is a common theme with SRV’s playing, when you listen to him play a solo over a shuffle, much of
his vocabulary is pentatonic/blues scale based and despite not targeting the chord tones of the IV and V
chords in the same way that someone like, for example, Robben Ford might, he always sounded absolutely
killer over every chord in a standard 12-bar progression and was able to get so much mileage out of blues
scale based vocabulary.
The following diagram shows how I visualize the 9th and b9th into position one of A the blues scale:

Now of course, you can choose to play these 9ths on other strings and positions of the blues scale too and
all you have to remember in terms of visualising them on the fretboard is that a ♭9 is just one semitone/fret
higher than the root and the natural 9th is just one whole tone/two frets higher than the root. Why do they
get called 9ths as opposed to 2nds? Well, you can absolutely call them 2nds if you wanted to as it makes no
real difference to the sound.
For those who care to know, the 9th is a type of ‘compound interval’. Compound intervals are ones that
extend beyond an octave. Since the octave of a 7-note scale could technically be considered an ‘8th’, if you
were to repeat the notes of the scale an octave higher, then the 2nd note could be called a 9th, instead of a
2nd.

When I say that SRV was known for using 9ths and ♭9ths in his solos, you now know that I’m essentially
using another term to describe the same intervallic function of 2nds and ♭2nds. I’m going to continue to use
the terms ♭9th and 9th to describe flat and natural 2nds, since, generally speaking, this seems to have become
to be the preferred way of describing these particular SRV inspired note choices in the realm of online guitar
education.

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Even though the addition of the ♭9th and 9th to the high E string in position 1 of the blues scale creates a
chromatic group of four notes - root, ♭9, 9, ♭3 (see diagram below), you won’t find any examples of Stevie
running up and down all four notes in strictly ascending or descending order. Instead, he uses two of what
I call micro-phrases. The first of which (bar 1 in the example below) has you picking the 9th, followed by
the root note and a hammer-on and pull-off of the b9. The second of which (bar 3 of the example below)
has you picking the root and immediately hammering-on to the natural 9th as a grace note, then picking the
♭9th and pulling off to the root, again as a grace note.

Example 14.0 – Micro-phrase 1 (bar 1) & Micro-phrase 2 (bar 3)

I’m going to provide you with a few examples of licks that use these ♭9ths and natural 9ths similarly to how
SRV did, to give you a better of idea of how you can use them in a blues context if you want to add more
of a gritty ‘Texas blues’ vibe to your blues solos. You’ll find that the ‘micro-phrases’ I just demonstrated
are featured in all of these lick examples. Most of them will be played over the I chord, where the notes B♭
and B will actually be functioning as 9ths, however I think it’s important to point out that they do of course
have different intervallic relationships with the IV and V, if you choose to play them over those chords.

Over the IV chord D7, B♭ and B would be heard as the flat and major 6th of D respectively. Over the V
chord E7, those same notes would be heard as the flat and perfect 5th of E. In Example 7 you will actually
hear me use these notes over the V chord in the turnaround and so you will hear them function as the flat
and perfect 5th of E, albeit very briefly. Here’s your first lick example that makes use of these 9ths, a la
Stevie Ray Vaughan:
Example 14.2

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As you can hear, this example uses micro-phrase one to incorporate those flat and natural 9ths on the high
E string, as part of a lick that is otherwise entirely blues scale based. You can hear me descending the A
blues scale right after those 9ths are played.
Example 14.3

This also uses micro-phrase 1 and unlike the previous example, example 3 has you playing the ♭3 on the
high E string, which is just a semitone above the natural 9th.

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Example 14.4

Example 4 starts off similarly to example 3 but it’s a bit longer and has you covering more ground on the
fretboard by descending the A blues scale in two octaves.
Example 14.5

Example 5 has you incorporating the classic combination of flat and major 3rds (of the I chord) on the G
string, alongside the 9ths using micro-phrase 1, as well as a nice little chromatic walk up to the root note on
the D string by going ♭7 -> major 7th -> root.
Remember that a major 7th isn’t a note that you want to target and lean on over a dominant 7th chord since
it clashes with the ♭7th, however, it can be used as a chromatic passing note to get you from ♭7 -> root note.

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Example 14.6

All of the lick examples so far have used micro-phrase 1 to access the 9ths. example 6 is the first to
incorporate micro-phrase 2.
Example 14.7

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The last lick example for this Stevie Ray Vaughan inspired chapter has you playing these 9ths over the
turnaround. They are played over the V chord specifically in this example and remember that they have a
different intervallic function over this chord. Technically they’re not being heard as 9ths over the V chord
E7 - the notes B♭ and B are heard as the flat and perfect 5th. After that, it’s simple A blues scale based
vocabulary that takes you through the IV and I chords.
Alright, now that we’ve gone over several lick examples, I want to give you a full study piece that you can
practice to really drill these SRV inspired micro-phrases using flat and natural 9ths into your blues playing.
I’ve recorded a solo that takes you through two rounds of a 12-bar blues progression and it’s important to
note that I am not trying to channel SRV throughout the entire solo. I’m focusing on adding the style of
licks that you’ve just learned in this chapter, into a solo that incorporates much of the other blues vocabulary
you’ve learned from the other chapters in this book.
So, what you’re learning is a solo that creatively outlines the chord changes using the approaches taught in
previous chapters - note choices such major 6ths, flat and major 3rds, as well as outside sounds like the
half/whole diminished scale and augmented triads – with the addition of some gritty, Texas blues flair for
extra attitude.

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Example 14.8 – Solo Study

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Chapter 15
Putting It Together pt.2
Finish My Solos

This brings us to the final chapter of the book. In addition to the numerous lick examples in the earlier
chapters, the practice etudes and the solo studies, I wanted to provide you with one last exercise you can put
into practice to further develop your abilities as a blues improviser.
So, I have put together a series of five pre-composed blues solos that are ‘missing’ about 50% of the notes
that you would expect to hear me play. The reason for this is that I want you to be the one to fill in the
missing pieces and tie together the phrases that I have left in these half-empty solos.
Through practicing this, you will develop your intuition as a blues improviser, which is something that will
benefit you big time when it comes to improvising live, on stage. When you first try this out, don’t dive
right in and start playing immediately. Take the time to listen to what I have played, look at the TAB/notation
and start toying around with ideas for how you can phrase your lines so that they fit with the vibe of what I
have played and are also timed well to connect with the notes that I’ve left in.
This isn’t exactly a ‘call and response’ style exercise where I play a complete phrase, then allow you room
to play your own before I play my next phrase, like what two guitar players would do on stage if they were
to ‘trade bars’ during a shared solo.
It’s half that and half you finishing off lines that I’ve abruptly cut short on purpose, to test your intuition
when it comes to targeting chord tones when chord changes happen.
So, with many of these lines that have been cut short, if you have done as instructed at the start of the book
and worked your way through the chapters in their intended order, it may well sound fairly obvious the
direction that I’m pointing you in. For example, there might be a phrase that sounds like it’s approaching
the major 3rd of the V chord when it’s coming up in the progression but gets cut off before the chord does
arrive, so trust your judgement and go for that major 3rd if you have a feeling that that’s where I was
intending on going.

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Example 15.1

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Example 15.2

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Example 15.3

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Example 15.4

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Example 15.5

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Chapter 16
Bonus Solo

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Conclusion
That brings us to the end of the book. The process of making this guide to tasteful improvisation for blues
guitar players has been a highly rewarding one and it has also been a great learning lesson for me as a guitar
instructor. Any time I’m putting together instructional guitar content, my focus is on providing value to the
musician who chooses to consume it and so I hope that you, the reader, feel as though you have received
true value from the material taught to you in these chapters.
So, what’s next for you after having worked your way through each chapter for the first time? Well, as I
have expressed throughout the book, the process of ditching your old habits as a budding blues guitarist and
turning yourself into an improviser who is able to embrace the chord changes with confidence, is a long
road for many.
It won’t happen overnight, in a week's time, or even in a month or two. It takes real time and dedication to
level up as a guitarist, regardless of genre.
However, as long as you enjoy the material you’re practicing and fall in love with the process, the desired
outcome will go from being a lofty goal to an inevitability.
With that being said, just because you’ve worked through the book in full once, that does not mean that you
shouldn’t open it back up in the near future. Read each chapter again and watch as many of the video
examples as possible to keep the ideas fresh in your mind and gradually make sense of each piece of the
puzzle over time.
I’d like to think that this book will serve as a reference guide for blues improvisation fundamentals that you
can come back to time and time again when you need inspiration or to refresh your memory on certain
concepts.
Outside of practicing the material found within the chapters of this book, what I would recommend you also
make a staple of your practice sessions, is transcribing. Work things out by ear.
I don’t necessarily mean notating every lick that you hear - I mean take the time to listen and watch your
favourite blues guitar players play solos over shuffle rhythms and work them out on your own using your
eyes and ears.
Once you’ve learned a solo or lick in full, don’t just treat it as a physical movement. Spend time analysing
it and working out why the notes involved help it to sound the way that it does. Pay attention to how they
navigate the chord changes themselves - do they target the root, 3rd, 5th, or ♭7? Are they using arpeggios
over the turnaround? How did they phrase that chromatic enclosure?
Ask these questions whenever you work something out by ear and your abilities as an improviser will benefit
from it big time.
With that, I will leave you to your devices and wish you luck on your journey towards being a killer blues
guitarist.
Thank you for purchasing this book and supporting my work. If you would like to learn more from me, I
upload free lessons to my YouTube channel and Instagram and I am the founder of my own instructional
courses and website - bulletproofguitarplayer.com.

Ross Campbell

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