Improvising blues and scales

Absolutely no rules at all about this. It was probably written by a jealous rival who wants to restrict your playing ability. :lol:

Most scale based improvising on electric rock guitar playing does spend a lot of time in the higher regions of the fretboard - but that's because the pitch of the notes is higher than the other instruments, and so the solo will stand out more.

Absolutely no rules at all about this. It was probably written by a jealous rival who wants to restrict your playing ability. :lol:

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Thanks Fretsorce
it was in "Guitar for dummies" playing blues lead section so i am a dummy :lol:
Any sugestions to make things sound good ?like is there certain notes i should bend or play after another one

Any sugestions to make things sound good ?like is there certain notes i should bend or play after another one

We're blessed with quite a few excellent lead guitarists on this forum, Frank, so I'll stand back and let one or more of them come in and give better advice than I ever could on this particular topic.

Here's a sheet of the "Blues Scales" in the key of A,D & E.

Hope this helps.

Sorry, it's full size 8 1/2"x 11"

cool so do i just play all these notes still not sure which ones to bend,viberto, slide what makes them sound good

First learn what notes are exceptable in which key.....the bending part will come naturally to ya later.

Generally speaking, notes to be bent are ones which are next to each other.

ok i know all the patterns above and can play them fast enough by knowing the scales is that what you mean by saying First learn what notes are exceptable in which key.....??
or is there more ?

That's the basics. Now blend them into improv.

Originally, when I got the scale, it was just in the key of A. I added the D & E so I'd have I-IV-V.

cool so do i just play all these notes still not sure which ones to bend,viberto, slide what makes them sound good

Like somone said in another post, those "3 notes in a row" that you see on
the fretboard need to be played together, actually the middle note is transitionary
and is used only to connect the other 2.

And if you bend....bend the 4th a half-step up to the flat 5th, and resolve to the
5th. Same thing back down.

There' not a lot of stringent rules for playing the blues, but I do beleive this
is one.

I'm pretty much a novice bluesplayer, so anyone with more experience
please feel free to correct me.

Pat

Yeah dude, just throw your heart at it and hope that no blood gets on the guitar :D . i do this thing where i base the first part of the solo pentatonicaly and throw some model notes in there to rip some faces ( i'm a violent player sorry). also, when people say that you should hit the note that are close together all in a line, somtimes it sounds really disssorientating and cool when you just hit the b5 and not make it a whole line( the note that makes the scale sound bluesy is the b5). If you here the end of the solo for "the air that i breath" by all that remains, it sounds really wicked ( though i think he throws some model notes in there too). but i'm into paganini, Led Zep, Copeland and Between the Buried and me so my influences are kind of wack. tell me if you want me to clarify anything for ya.

That's the basics. Now blend them into improv.

Originally, when I got the scale, it was just in the key of A. I added the D & E so I'd have I-IV-V.

does this mean you can mix the keys

Hawkfoggy sounds like i should just hit it with a hammer that will get them every time ! :lol:

Actually, sometimes you can still stay in the 1st of the chord while others change to the 4th; of course you can't play every note in the 1st of the chord, but there's a lot you can.

It's an old blues trick......

You just have to mess around....there really are no set rules, as long as it sounds good.

I think it is important to learn how the guitar is tuned if you really want to be a great soloist. I personally believe that learning the pentatonic patterns will make you FEEL like a better guitar player today, but it will limit your understanding of the instrument (and consequently creativity) in the future. Rather then memorizing patterns up and down the neck, you can see that there is really only ONE pattern for each scale. It only LOOKS more complicated than it really is because of the tuning of the guitar, G-B is a 3rd while the distance down from every other string is a 4th.

Basically if you want to impress your friends then they will think your a genious if you play the pentatonic scales very fast. But you would be doing yourself a huge favor if you learn how BUILD the pentatonic scale starting from any string. Then when you decide to take the next step and learn some full blown 7 note scales you won't waste time memorizing every position on the neck, you can build and modify any scale you think of in your head quickly without memorizing anything.

Frank, you can mix a little bit. It's 7:30 am and I've yet to go to sleep, but I'll try and explain.

Lets say you are playing over a blues backing in the key of A. Lots of fun right. So you're using the Am pentatonic (I usually stick to the one thats around the 5th fret, and then work it up to the higher notes like playing at the 17th fret (I don't have my guitar infront of me, but I'm fairly sure its the 17th fret)

So the real trick is, how do you get from the 5th fret to the 17th, without making some crazy random high pitched notes. Note: Crazy random high pitched notes aren't bad if they are done right (check out the latest BB King video that was posted in the Opinions section)

So, you can work you way up by making a stop at the Em pentatonic at the 12th fret, except don't play any B's. Check it: E is the 5th of the key of A. This works for every key, you can always play the 5th pentatonic (minus a few notes) So if you were playing over a blues in G, you could check in with the Dm pentatonic at the 10th fret area, then work your way up to the 15th fret and let 'er rip.

Aside from that, vibrato is your best friend, learn it, master it. The blues doesn't exist without it in my book. You can do it on any note, any time, its always nice to hear. Don't go insane with it though, if you are playing a note for a 100th of a second, no point in shaking your hand back and forth, lol.

Bending: Try to bend into notes that go with the chord that is being played. Lets say we're playing a blues in A again, we're coming to the V chord (E) you can bend the 7th fret of the G string up 2 steps and it'll be an E, sounds great. Even more interesting: Fret the 5th fret of B with your pointer, 7th fret of G with your ring finger, play both strings at the same time and bend the 7th fret of G. This is called...a unision bend I believe.

Like I said: very tired/out of it/lacking a guitar. If anything doesn't make sense let me know and I'd be happy to clear it up with a recording or something, especially if you have AIM ;)

Taso

P.S. Great way of learning: Learn some blues solos. I always recommend Cream's Crossroads (Clapton) the first solo is chock full of stuff that you'll be able to use in your improvising.

ALSO important: Dynamics. Play soft at times and slow, and then speed up and get louder. Or don't speed up, and just get louder. It'll make your improv a lot more interesting. But don't just go "loud-soft-slow-fast-soft-loud-fast-slow-fast-loud" play slow in the beginning, build it up to something awesome, and then right when everyone is thinking "wow" you slow it right the heck down, bringing everyone to the edge of their seats. You got this quiet mood going for maybe 12 bars, bring it back up and do a crazy run that will blow their minds.

That's what I'm talkin about.