Chords Used In Basic Blues The chords used in the basic blues progression are based on note numbers found in the major scale. They are 7th chords built on the 1st, 4th & 5th notes of the scale. In other words, if you want to play the blues progressi
UNDERSTANDING ALTERED CHORDS The Dominant7 chord is the one chord that gives you alot of wiggle-room in your soloing. It's a given in jazz that when you see a G7 or a Bb7 or any dominant7 chord that you have the freedom to embellish it (the symbol f
WHAT MAKES THE BLUES - THE BLUES? I'm reminded of a guy I used to play music with. Anytime we would get a request to play something he didn't want to play, he would say, "We don't do that one but we'll do another one that has alot of the same notes
HEARTBREAKER RIFF This lesson only shows you the intro riff for the song. We'll be adding a few more lessons on other sections of the song later. Just so you'll know, the chords used in the verses are A and D. Later there are a few more chords added
CHORD FORMS USED IN THIS LESSON There are only a few chord forms used in this lesson. The information section for this lesson is meant to point them out to you. We don't go into every chord form here but we do cover 3 that are used several times. Ev
THE PICK WITH FINGER TECHNIQUE The style used in this lesson is sometimes referred to as the "Chicken Pickin" style. The reason for this has to do with the punchy sound of this technique. There are a few signature licks that actually mimick the typi
PLAYING MELODIES AS PART OF A CHORD I once asked a seasoned sax player about soloing over chord changes. He always had great ideas and seemed to weave his improvised melody lines in and out of the chord changes with such mastery that I just had to k
SOLOING OVER QUICK CHORD CHANGES This is a subject that doesn't get addressed in the "advanced" jazz circles much. It's a macho thing I guess, but what you'll hear are phrases like, "Oh man, let's not play that tune, I don't like that one" which rea
THE PENTATONIC SCALE BOOKS ON PENTATONIC SCALES! The root word "penta" means five. You know, like the Pentagon, the 5-sided building in Washington, D.C. The reason the Pentatonic Scale is named as such is because, you guessed it, it's a 5-note scale
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