Acoustic Guitar Player

Improve your Blues Guitar playing

Blues guitar players. You know when you get a little bit stale with your guitar playing, you find yourself improvising the same as you always have and you feel you want something to help break your habits.

 Well today I sat down and wrote some simple blues scales which will enable you to play a blues different to the way that you would nonmally do.   A lot of blues / rock  players are familiar with the standard blues scale E G A B flat B D E, well that’s fine but why not play with not only feeling but a bit more thought.

The scales I’ve put together go over the standard Blues in E, an E7th chord, A7th chord and a B7th chord, no big deal. 

BUT, the scale I’ve used for the E consists of an extra note, a G sharp as well as a G, you end up with a very nice sound by using five notes next to each other, (check out the TAB / Notation) the G G sharp and A B flat and B.  Just try it, your ears will tell you why I’m showing it to you.

Over the A7th, I’ve used a very simple five note scale A C Csharp E G, this really spells out the A7th chord but also having a C note gives it a very bluesy feel.  Remember, often it’s what you leave out that gives music its characteristic.

For the B7th, I’ve used a hybrid scale, a bit of this and that, it’s intentional, what I felt was required was a scale that implied a B7th chord but sat nicely with the E blues chord progression.  You’ll notice it has a B D D sharp E G A in it, I’ve played around by running the scale a little higher past the B, up to the D. 

In the exercise I’ve also added simple chord fingerings.  This works very well on an acoustic guitar, yes also on electric, but the open notes sound very sweet on an acoustic, best played a nice late afternoon just before the sun goes down.  Take it slowly, you’ll be surprised how much there is in these simple exercises.

Enjoy it. 

To download the Free printable TAB and Notation Blues guitar exercise, click the link below now

Blues Guitar TAB Notation exrcises