Blues Chord Soloing Lesson

- Kristofer Dahl7th May 2008
  This is a fantastic topic Nick - I would love to improve my chordal solo abilities - thanks so much!
- Jerry Arcidiacono7th May 2008
  Great lesson Nick! I also love that pick position
  Very familiar...
- Hisham Al-Sanea7th May 2008
  great blues Nick..very welldone
- OrganisedConfusion7th May 2008
  Keep up the great work with these lessons Nick. I'm slowly understanding how things work in music a little more. This lesson may be easy to play but the theory behind it is taxing and I enjoy it
- Tuubsu7th May 2008
  nice one Nick!
- Joe Kataldo7th May 2008
  Wow, Best Lesson I've ever seen on blues rhythm
- Marcus Siepen7th May 2008
  awesome lesson Nick
- Nick Kellie7th May 2008
  thanks guys, glad you got something out of it.
  OC glad the theory is starting to make sense - it is so important as it helps you to understand the thinking behind the idea... and then you can make it your own.
  nick
- Nemanja Filipovic7th May 2008
  Beautiful lesson Nick.
- Trond Vold7th May 2008
  Excellent lesson
- Capt.Z7th May 2008
  Nice lesson! Glad to see you again!
- Nick Kellie7th May 2008
  thanks guys - a pick in the mouth is optional but may improve your tone (just kidding)
- kaznie_NL7th May 2008
  Nice lesson Nick, sounds great
- chast7th May 2008
  Is that a true temperament neck ?
- Nick Kellie7th May 2008
  nope - but the two worst offending frets for open chords are tempered correctly -its a system called fretwave. I don't have the money for a true tempered neck - they seem great though.
  
  nick
- Muris Varajic7th May 2008
  Greatness!!!
- Vinod Saranga7th May 2008
  Great Lesson Nick
- Bogdan Radovic7th May 2008
  Very good one Nick!
- chast7th May 2008
  Sounds like a cool system, thanks for your fast answer, Nick
  And keep up the good work.
- zoom7th May 2008
  Nick this is awesome you rock! This is new for me. Something to munch on great!
- Nick Kellie7th May 2008
  thanks man... let me know if you have any other questions
- Ivan Milenkovic7th May 2008
  Very cool lesson, and great theory background for it. Great job Nick
- Alex877th May 2008
  Great lesson Nick.
- Pitch_Black7th May 2008
  Very awesome lesson Nick!
- Martin la guitarra7th May 2008
  love it, also, i love the way how you show us some chords and tabs at the front page of the lesson - it gives a little musical school feeling
- at lights end7th May 2008
  cool
- Carlos Carrillo7th May 2008
  this lesson is fantastic Nick!!!
- Danilo Capezzuto7th May 2008
  What a fantastic lesson, you are great Nick!
- Juan M. Valero7th May 2008
  Excellent lesson !!!! how did you paint those diagrams ??? they look great
- Alejandro Pinero7th May 2008
  welldone nick !
  excelent job!
- ItsMe7th May 2008
  This is it. Great lesson. Nice idea to use this easy progression for the harmonization lesson.
- Joe Kataldo7th May 2008
  What are tempered neck? My music man has buzz feiten tuning system...something like that?
- Nick Kellie8th May 2008
  thanks guys!
  Joe - there are 3 systems that I know of - Fret wave, Buzz feiten tuning system and true temperament necks.
  
  Juan - I did them in word
- Gerardo Siere8th May 2008
  Nice idea there
- RIP Dime8th May 2008
  Cool, usefull stuff!
- Toni Suominen8th May 2008
  Very tasteful stuff Nick!
- Pablo Vazquez8th May 2008
  Very nice lesson Nick!!
- kyldeee9th May 2008
  Awesome lesson
- Dejan Farkas9th May 2008
  This is great
- Sergio Dorado9th May 2008
  Cool lesson
- Joe Kataldo11th May 2008
  Where I can find a true temperament neck?
- Nick Kellie12th May 2008
  here ya go http://www.truetemperament.com/
- ndk9th January 2009
  Hello Nic and thanks for the lesson.
  Could you please explain how you went from considering each chord in a blues progression as a key (which is easy to understand), to the myxolydian mode? I kinda lost ya there:)
  
  Secondly, are there any good lessons on the site that can point me towards tips and tricks that teach or demonstrate how to suggest the chord progression in a solo or any other resources? Thanks:)
- ndk12th January 2009
  Hmmm, I posted this 3 days ago and still no response. Is there a reason for this or is my question not important?
  
  Thanks

main
Members only1
2
Members only3
Members only4
Members only5
Members only6
Difficulty: 4

Difficulty2
Little Finger Work-out
finger independence, pinky, coordinationby Dejan Farkas
Difficulty4
Knoweth thy Major Scale
CAGED, Major Scale, Ionian, Modes, Fretboard, Chordsby Nick Kellie
Difficulty2
Pentatonic Workshop...
pentatonic, timing, exercise, CAGED, alternate picking, play along, metronomeby Ivan Milenkovic
Difficulty4
Lydian Modulation
lydian, modulation, end, scale, Holdsworthby Nick Kellie
Difficulty6
Nick Kellie - Jazz...
improvisation, licksby Nick Kellie
Difficulty5
Jazz Funk Licks
Jazz licks, phrasing, Jazz, arpeggios, chromaticismby Stephane Lucarelli
Difficulty6
Creative Arpeggios...
arpeggios, fusion, phrasing, soloby Stephane Lucarelli
Difficulty6
John Scofield Style
John Scofield, phrasing, jazz funk, diminished scale, in out, outside playingby Stephane Lucarelli

Lesson
My notes
Statistics

- Tags: Blues, Chord, Chord progression, Chord solo, Chord soloing
Hi Chaps - Been away for a little while, but I'm back with some blues.

Rather than jumping straight to the soloing aspects, I want to delve into some blues accompaniment.

Most people learn the standard power chord type blues riff - A drone note with an alternating 5th and 6th interval on the top. To say the least, after a few years (weeks even) this can get boring! So I wanted to show you how I approach making my own chords from the chord progressions relative modes.

Generally speaking whenever you see a dominant chord in pop, rock or blues music, it is functioning as a V (5) chord to a particular key. The mode we derive from the V of a key is the Mixolydian mode - R 2 3 4 5 6 b7.

Therefore, we can see that a blues is not in fact in one key... This blues in A and has the following chords - A7, D7 and E7. Each of these chords is the V chord of a key. A7 is the V chord of Dmajor Key, D7 V of G major Key, and E7 V chord of A major key.

Therefore we end up calling the relative scales A mixolydian, D mixolydian and E mixolydian.

Although I realize that this lesson may seem easy to play, it is harder to understand and be able to apply this information.

Please notice how I have mapped out the mentioned modes over the entire fret board, highlighting my chosen chords for each.... Please experiment by extracting your own chord shapes from the modes and changing the modes as the root note of the chord changes. There really are no rules with regards to making up your own chords, except that the notes should be extracted from the modes I have mapped out.

Have fun!
Nick

Related lessons:
- - 2
    Difficulty4
    Blues Improvisation...
    Blues, blues solo, improvisation, blues improvisation, licksby Nick Kellie