Jazz up the Blues Scale with only 2 notes

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Jazz up the Blues with only 2 notes

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  If you want to spice up your blues playing and want to add a touch of jazz to your playing, then this lesson might help you get that sound. If you are sick of playing the same old blues licks from the blues scale, there is a way making it sound more colorful that will add some tasteful lines to your arsenal of blues licks. If we look at the construction of the A Blues Scale it is comprised of: 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7 (ACDEbEG)

Click on the image below to view the blues scale in tab form:

  Example 1: The A Blues Scale:

  In example 2 we added color tones or extension notes which are the 2^nd or 9^th = B and the 6^th or 13^th = F#. The 2^nd and the 6^th degrees of the scale are the added notes that is going to give you a more sophisticated and jazzier sound. Click on the image below to view

When improvising with these extra notes over the A 12 bar blues, you don’t have to add every single note from example 2.  Just try isolating 1 or 2 notes and try making lines and licks from them. The tab below isolates or adds only the 9^th the B on the 1^st string 7^th fret to the blues Scale.

Click on the image below to view example 3:

 

Example 4 isolates the 13^th note F# on the 2^nd string 7^th fret.  Click on the image below to view example:

Example 5 isolates both the 9^th B on the 1^st string  7^th fret and the 13^th note F# on the 2^nd string 7^th fret. Click on the image below to view

 

The same thing can be done with the extra added notes in example 2. You can isolate the B on the 3^rd string 4^th fret, F# on the 4^th string 4^th fret and the B on the 6^th string 7^th fret.

All together, there are 5 A Blues Scale patterns. Try adding these extra extension notes to each one to jazz up your Blues guitar style

Some good player to listen to that use these devices  or extra extension notes in their blues playing would be  (Amazon Links)    B. B. King & Robben Ford

By Phil La Viola 

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