There a lot of different ways to approach
soloing over the blues. In this lesson we will look at:
1. The Minor Pentatonic
2. The Blues Scale
3. Dominant 7th arpeggios
A minor / C major Penatonic Scale
Let's start by using our 5th position Aminor/Cmajor
pentatonic scale.
Try playing it up and back down along with
the jam track. First try playing quarter notes and then swing eighth
notes and then eighth note triplets. You can also try playing some
patterns. Up 3 back 1 or up 4 back 2.
A Blues Scale
After you feel comfortable with that try
adding the b5th to make it a blues scale and try the same exercises
from above.
Dominant 7th Arpeggios
Then for a bit more of a challenge try using
nothing but chord tones. Take the A7th arpeggio and play it over
the first 4 measures. At measure 5 move it to 2nd position for a
D7th arpeggio. When you get to measure 9 you will want to move the
same form to 4th position for an E7th arpeggio.
As with the above exercises try playing up
and down the arpeggios as quarter notes, swing eighth notes, triplets.
Healthy Practice Habits
The more you discipline yourself and focus
on one area at a time, the more you will grow as a player and musician.
It is important to have fun and just jam out but spend a little
time working on the above exercises. Playing the scales and arpeggios
up and back down with different note values. The more you do that
the more fun you will have when you just let go and jam.
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