The blues is really more of a feeling than anything else and so the musical theory behind it is quite simplistic, rudimentary. There is the saying that all you need is three chords and the lord but I’ve heard single notes that speak the blues as well if not better than more complex renditions.

The guitar is more associated with rock music however, back before the British invasion, before Charlie Christian stuck a magnet on his acoustic, the guitar was a prime blues instrument. I think mostly because of it’s availability and it’s portability rather than it being better suited than other instruments. However, the fact that you can play multiple notes, bend notes and use a slide makes the guitar very versatile and very well suited for the blues. Add a little crunch with a slightly over-driven amp and you get the harmonic squeaks and the sustain and well, damn, I’m in love with it for sure.

So enough of the why and where, lets get into the how. Here in the USA we were trained, whether we know it or not, to base everything we here off the framework of the major scale. Do, rae, me, fa, so, la, tea, do (not sure about the correct spellings here but you get the idea). 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. 1 and 8 being an octave. If you don’t know what I’m talking about go find a piano, find two white keys that are next to each other (with no black key in between) starting on the left one of those two white keys, playing from left to right play all the white keys until you hit the next set of two white keys together. That would be 8 notes, the first and the eighth are octaves, they sound similar, if you don’t hear that well, never mind. The thing to notice are the two places where there is NOT a black key between two white keys. These are what are known as half steps and they occur between the 3 an 4 as well as the 7 and 8. The others are called whole steps. This combination of whole and half steps are what result in the major scale. A major scale can be played in any key simply by applying that combination of whole and half steps, you just start on a different note.

musical notes

Looking at the image above, you will see that the first sequence of notes I talked about started on C and ended on C. It was the C major scale. So, if you played the same sequence or combination of whole and half steps starting on A you would be playing the A major scale… A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G#, A. They are the same thing, only different.

Now lets discuss the major triad chord. It is called a triad because it consists of three notes. The 1 or Do, 3 or Me, and 5 or So. That’s all there is to that.

Now, the kicker, the blues chord progression. The blues is based off a combination of chords. Three chords actually. These chords are built from the major scale. Keeping it simple we’ll focus on how to construct 12 bar blues in C major. Recall that the major scale was made up of 8 notes that I numbered 1 through 8. we build chords off these 8 notes, using these notes. We only need three for the blues and they are built off the 1, the 4, and the 5. So our first chord is the C major triad which is the 1, 3, 5 of C or C, E, and G. Our second chord is build off the 4 which in C is F. The 1, 3, and 5 from F is F, A, and C. The third chord is build from the 5 or G and is G, B, and D. So our three chords, the 1, 4, and 5 in the key of C are C major, F major, and G major. CEG, FAC, and GBD.

Here is a basic blues style sequence of these chords called the 12 bar blues, play each of these chords 4 times…
C major, F major, C major, C major, C major, F major, C major, C major, G major, F major, C major, C major (repeat). You are now playing the blues and that was your first blues guitar lesson.

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Major Pentatonic Scale

Penta means five, thus the pentatonic scale has five notes. In our first blues guitar lesson we discussed the major scale and numbered the notes 1 through 8, 1 and 8 being an octave. For the pentatonic scale were going to remove a couple of those notes, specifically the 4 and the 7. These five notes are the major pentatonic scale. If you play them in sequence you may hear a few songs coming out. The Temptations hit “My Girl” starts with this exact scale.

At this point we need to understand what makes a minor scale. In review, we learned that the major scale is made up of a sequence of whole steps and half steps. A whole step traverses two notes, a half step one. Playing the major scale in C on a piano we simply play all the white keys fron C to C. We also notice that there are no black keys in between the B and the C as well as the E and the F. Therefore, we deduce that the major scale, whose notes we have numbered 1 thru 8 is made up of five whole steps and two half steps. There is a black key in between the first and the second notes (whole step) as well as the second and third (whole step) however there is no black key  between the third and fourth or the seventh and eighth, these are half steps.

Minor Pentatonic Scale

Using the major scale as our frame of reference, if we move the 3rd, 6th, and 7th tones down (in tone, up the neck) a half step we get the natural minor scale. So, a natural minor scale would be 1, 2, flat3, 4, 5, flat6, flat7. To make it a minor pentatonic we get rid of the 2 and the flat6. NOW we’re playin’ some blues.

Playing either the major OR minor pentatonic scale over the blues chord progression works. Major and minor blues have distinct and different flavors which can be “messed” with by adding in other notes to the scales. As you experiment you will find that some work and some do not.

Adding in a flat5 while playing the minor pentatonic sounds good, a nice passing tone. Putting in a 3 (as opposed to a flat3) while playing the minor pentatonic works nicely too.

In reality, the blues scale, major or minor, is completely open to personal interpretation. Its the blues, just play.

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12 bar blues is a standard blues format from which many songs have been derived. It can be played in any key though some are easier because there is less finger stretching. If you want to join in the Endless Blues Guitar Jam In E you’ll need to know how to play the rhythm part of the 12 bar blues. As discussed in a previous post, a standard blues progression consists of three chords. These chords are derived from the major scale. The major scale consists of seven notes and the blues chord progression uses chords that are built from the first, fourth and fifth notes of the major scale.

If we’re in E, the first chord is E major, the four would be A major, and the five is B major. You can use dominant 7 chords as well but we’re not going to get all that heavy yet. It’s called 12 bar blues because there are 12 segments to the entire progression. You just repeat them until you pass out or you can’t feel your arms any more. In E it goes like this… E,A,E,E,A,A,E,E,B,A,E,E.

One of the easiest ways to do this is also probably the most familiar. It uses two note chords and can be played with three fingers. Looking at the first image, the hollow dot represents an open string. You put your index finger on the second fret of the A string (second string from the top). The blue dot. Strum those two strings twice, then put your ring finger down two frets up from your index, the green dot, strum those twice. Now put your pinky where the red dot is, or just reach it with your ring finger. Strum twice then move back to the green dot and strum twice. That’s the riff in E. That’s your 1 chord.

E

A

B

For the four chord do the same thing except one string down (up in pitch, down in proximity), using the A and D strings. That’s the riff in A, your four chord.

The five gets a little tricky. You are basically doing the same riff only two frets up the neck. Instead of having an open string you have to use your index finger (black dot). You will have to use your pinky on the green dot AND the red doy which is a bit of a stretch.

So that’s all the riffs, the 1 or E, the 4 or A, and the 5 or B. Now you just have to plug them into the 12 bar blues formula.

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