Day 6 - Get started playing blues lead guitar!

In todays lesson, we look at how to play common riffs over the 12 bar blues chord progression we learned yesterday, transforming a basic chord progression into a proper jam!

The aim of this session is to learn the notes that create solos, intro riffs and lead improvisation to blues songs in the key of E.

Theory recap

E minor pentatonic actually uses the same notes as G major pentatonic we learned on days 2 and 3 - it simply starts on a different note but then progresses through the same notes.

N.B. The slide we use in the lead line is the same slide we did in day 3, even though we were in a different key! This is because the two scales (G major pentatonic and E minor pentatonic) use exactly the same notes and also share common phrasing patterns in these positions on the neck.

Day 6 visual jam track - Blues lead in E

Day 6 key points - Get started playing blues lead guitar!

• Blues lead guitar tends to use notes from the Minor Pentatonic scale at a higher register than riffs or chords, typically on the thinnest 3 strings, or higher up the neck

• Lead parts can use repetitive sections like riffs, but then expand upon this with more use of melody or lead improvisation