The Major 3rd Is Your Friend

Course: Acoustic Blues Bootcamp with Mike Bradley

In this video

The Major 3rd is prominent in blues music. In this lesson Mike demonstrates some licks to show us some of the ways we can use the Major 3rd to give our playing a strong blues feel.

The Major 3rd is prominent in a lot of blues music. In this lesson Mike demonstrates some licks to show us some of the ways we can use the Major 3rd to give our playing a strong blues feel.

Lesson Aims

  • Experiment with the Major 3rd - in particular moving into it from the Minor 3rd

  • Learn the example lick from the start of the lesson

N.B. Mike mentions the 5 Minor Pentatonic Shapes - my lesson on that is here

More help with the minor pentatonic shapes and positions is in my online course Lead Guitar 3.

Exercise 3a - E7 Major 3rd Lick

E7 CAGED Shapes (major 3rd highlighted in orange)

Blue = E shape, Green = D shape, Yellow = C shape, Red = A shape, Pink = G shape


Exercise 3b - A7 Major 3rd Lick

A7 CAGED Shapes (major 3rd highlighted in orange)

Blue = E shape, Green = D shape, Yellow = C shape, Red = A shape, Pink = G shape

Next Up: Funk Inspired Acoustic Blues

Well done! Let's jump into the next lesson of the course.

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