Blues Guitar Scales : How To Apply Them In Common Blues Progressions
When soloing over a blues progression it is important to know which blues guitar scales will work and sound good. Essentially a blues progression is based on a I, IV, V chord progression and the most common is the 12 bar blues. In blues,these chords tend to be the same type of chords, ie ; major, minor or seventh chords. For example the most common 12 bar blues will be entirely seventh chords, a minor blues may contain only minor chords, and a major blues only major chords.
Now if we examine a typical blues composed of seventh chords we will find that there isn’t one particular scale that contains all of the notes within these chords perfectly. The best match might be to play the mixolydian mode over each corresponding chord. This would mean mixolydian mode in the key of the I chord, played only over the I chord, mixolydian mode in the key of the IV chord, played only over the IV chord, mixolydian mode in the key of the V chord, played only over the V chord. This is one way to do it, your solo will certainly sound good over the chord changes and bright with the major 3rd.
When a blues progression is composed of entitely major chords, it is best to use the major scale, also known as the Ionian mode. The major pentatonic scale would also work well in this example. Both scales contain the notes which match these major chords perfectly.
If a blues progression is composed of entirely minor chords, it is best to use the natural minor scale or the minor pentatonic scale to solo with. These scales will work perfectly, as the notes contained within are the same notes used to construct the minor chords.
What I would like to do now is explain the most common blues guitar scale and when it is best suited. This scale is simply called the blues scale and it is the minor pentatonic scale with a flat 5 added to it – R, flat 3, 4, flat 5, 5 and flat 7. Now remember I mentioned that the most common blues progression is constructed entirely with seventh chords(R,3, 5,flat7). This is the scale of choice to play over this type of progression. So you might be wondering why this scale has a flat 3 or minor 3rd in it – it doesn’t make musical sense using a minor 3rd over a major 3rd! Well, put simply this is what gives the blues such a distinctive sound – the flat 5 also gives this “bluesy” sound.
If you are looking to find a scale to solo over a typical blues progression, typically a I, IV, V chord progression, firstly look at the I chord. If it is a seventh chord, you could use the mixolydian mode over this chord and then use the corresponding mixolydian mode over the other chords. Maybe you could just use the blues scale over the entire progression, in the key of G, you would use the G blues scale. If it is a G major or G minor as the I chord you would use the G major and the G minor scale respectively. You could also just use the G blues scale over these two progressions as well, or a combination. As you can see, there are many options available to you when soloing over the blues. So have some fun, and enjoy these different sounding blues guitar scales.
Clause N Dillon has been studying and playing music for over twenty years. He has recently released an easy to follow guitar scales and soloing E Book which will help any guitar player to learn lead guitar and soloing. For a limited time we have arranged for subscribers to receive a free copy by clicking the coloured link. Pentatonic Guitar Scales, Blues Guitar Scales
