The key to bringing jazz influence to your blues soloing

[00:00:05]Hey y'all. Today I'm going to show you how to jazz up a blues using a 1625 chord sequence. If you're a jazz fan, you'll recognize these chords as being a major part of rhythm changes. But today, I'm going to show you how you can apply [music] this chord sequence to a common blues. Let's dive in.

[00:00:29]>> [music] >> All right. So, today we're going to be in the key of B flat major. And this chord sequence starts on the one chord, B flat major or B [music] flat major 7.

[00:00:40]Then goes up to the six chord, G7, down to the two chord or the two minor chord.

[00:00:47]This is a C minor 7 followed by an F7, the five chord. Now, with classic rhythm changes, these chords um hang for only two beats a piece. So, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4.

[00:01:04]But today, we're going to be playing these changes in a jazz blues. It's a little bit easier because we're going to hang on each chord for an entire bar.

[00:01:12]Now, in the 12 bar form, these changes fall on bar seven. So, we're going to have four chord, uh, four bars of the one chord to start, two bars of the four chord, and then this is where we start this sequence with a [music] bar of B flat major 7, a bar of G7, a bar [music] of C minor 7, and a bar of F7. So, I'm going to show you four lick examples uh, in this lesson, and I'll demonstrate them along to a backing track so you can hear them in context.

[00:01:46]Um, and then we'll break them down. I'll show you kind of the inner workings of what's going on in these lines, and then we'll apply them to a simple 12 bar uh, blues solo, so you can hear where they fit into place uh, in the context of a blues. Everything's going to be tabbed out and notated and available over on my Patreon site. So, let's dive into the first lick. Here it is along to the backing track.

[00:02:17]>> [music] >> All right. So, to break down this example, I'm going to split it into four parts and show you what I'm playing over each of these four chords. So, we start out over a B flat [music] major 7 chord.

[00:02:33]And I start by just playing notes out of a B flat major 7 arpeggio.

[00:02:42]Right? And I start by sliding into A.

[00:02:45]That's the major 7. And then coming down.

[00:02:49]That's the fifth and major third [music] of a B flat major 7 chord.

[00:02:55]And then from here I drop down to A again and come up [music] a major 7 arpeggio. Really, really just hammering home the sound of those chord tones. Nothing fancy. just [music] playing chord tones to outline the sound of this chord. Then as we go to the G7 chord, again, I start out by just playing chord tones. I'm playing G, which is the root, the major third, the fifth, and the flat 7.

[00:03:31]>> [music] >> Then I come up here to this note which is the [music] flat N of a G7 chord. And this is a really common little alteration to do to this chord. We end up getting a little extra tension [music] which resolves nicely um to our C minor chord.

[00:03:53][music] Right? So that's a really common move, [music] [music] right? You hear that kind of um altered dominant sound a lot. So I'm using that to add a little tension into my line.

[00:04:16]So, [music] right. And then I lead into the C [music] minor chord by targeting the minor third of that chord.

[00:04:30]And then I play really just out of a C minor uh scale, right? So all that is over [music] C minor, right? That's all just right out of C minor. Um, then as we come down to the [music] F7, I play [music] right. And this again is utilizing that flat N sound. And I'm playing this little diminished seventh arpeggio which is hidden within that F7 sharp uh F7 flat N chord. Right?

[00:05:22]So that's the third [singing] fifth flat 7 of an F7 up to the flat N. [music] and then down to the root. [music] And then just this nice little chromatic um kind of Bbop cliche, [music] right?

[00:05:46][music] And ending on the fif uh on the root of that chord u which leads us [music] back to the one chord. So the whole thing together [music] [music] [music] and you can really hear the chord changes as we weave through the chord tones of these different changes. All right, so let's apply this to a 12 bar blues solo. I'll play a little something out front. And then right there in bar seven, as these changes happen, you'll hear me use this line. [music] [music] >> [music] >> All right. So, let's dive into the second lick example. Um, this is going to happen in the same position on the fretboard and little bit different phrasing, but a lot of the same concepts. Here it is along to the backing track.

[00:07:18]All right. So, this lick actually doesn't start until we get to the six chord, [music] the G7 chord. So, um we're leaving that B flat major 7 open.

[00:07:29]And then when we get to the six chord, what we're playing is [music] right. So this is outlining the chord changes and again using some of that diminished stuff to get that flat N sound.

[00:07:46][music] So that's very similar to the kind of line we used over the F7 in the last example. So I'm coming up to the third of a G chord. Right? There's our G7. There's the third of the chord.

[00:08:00]The fifth, the flat 7, and then the flat N. and then down to [music] the root.

[00:08:09]And then I'm doing a little chromatic enclosure. Well, not really chromatic, just a um enclosure [music] to get to the minor third of our C minor chord. Again, just targeting chord tones.

[00:08:25][music] And then from here, I'm gonna use a really common thing to play over minor chord, which is to play a [music] major 7 arpeggio off the flat three. Right?

[00:08:36]So, and that gives us this kind of minor 9 [music] sound um with that D note in there.

[00:08:47]So, [music] right. So from here we just again move into [music and singing] targeting the third of the F7.

[00:09:04][music] Right? The cool thing about this phrase is that all these arpeggios are kind of stacked right on top of one another and you can move through the chord changes in one position just by kind of moving through these chords. So, I'm seeing this [music] G shape right here, leading into this C minor shape right here, leading into [music] um this F shape right here, and then into this [music] B flat shape right here. So, all these chords are right there under your fingers in one spot.

[00:09:46][music] >> [music] >> Right. And we're really just leaning heavily on the thirds. There's the third of the G chord, [music] the minor third of the C chord, the third of the F chord, and the major third [music] of the C uh B flat major chord, sorry.

[00:10:09]Yeah. So, great line, really convenient, and falls nicely on the guitar. Here's what it sounds like applied to a 12 bar blues.

[00:10:34][music] [music] All right. So, this third example uses a lot of chromatic passing notes um and really leans heavily on that major 7 um on the B flat major 7 chord. So, here's what this third example sounds like along to the backing track.

[00:11:07][music] All right, so we've got a lot of fun chromatic stuff happening in this line. And we're going to start out over our B flat major 7 chord by laying into the major 7 of that chord. Right? This really helps define uh that difference between the B flat [music] 7 sound we're going to use over the blues [music] and then this different sound we're going to utilize when we go to this 1625.

[00:11:37][music] All right. So, the first part of this lick leading into the G7 chord really just plays out of this B [music] flat major 7 sound, but ties some things together chromatically. We're going to start by doing a little hammer on pulloff from A to B flat and then walk chromatically down from G to F. So, G, G flat, F, and then E flat to D and then C. And then here's where we're going to land on the first chord tone of the G7 chord. So we land on B. That's the third of that chord. [music] And then from here, [music] that's what we play over the G7. So again, utilizing that flat n [music] um which is a great sound we've used in all these examples so far. So right up that diminished seventh arpeggio, right? You could look at that as a B diminished 7th arpeggio, right? But over G, which has that flat N sound. So, so we do that pulling off to the root of the G chord and then [music] this little chromatic move to get to [music] um the minor third of our C minor chord.

[00:13:11][music] Right? Again, an enclosure, right? We're playing a couple chromatic notes below [music] a scale tone above and then landing on that minor third.

[00:13:25]>> [music] >> So again, the first two chords. Here's the B flat major 7, [music] then the G7, and then we land on the minor third of our C minor [music] chord. Then over this C minor 7 chord, um, we're going to do sort of what we did in a previous example, which is play out of this major 7, uh, built off the minor third of the chord. So, this [music] E flat major 7 chord, but we're just going to play starting on G up to B flat up to D. [music] All right, we're going to use that little part of it, which is very much this kind of minor minor 9 sound. [music] And then we're gonna walk in chromatically [music] to the third of our F7 chord.

[00:14:27][music] And we're going to do a really cool thing, which is come up the diminished arpeggio over F7. Right? Again, [music] that's an A diminished [singing] arpeggio. And then come down an F augmented arpeggio. So that's the root.

[00:14:47]Um you could look at that as the flat 6 or the sharp five and then [music] the major third and the root. This classic um augmented voicing that you've probably heard in a ton of songs, right?

[00:15:00][music] And then resolve to chord tones back to the one chord. So uh the whole thing tied together. I'll play it real slow.

[00:15:18]>> [music] [music] >> Now, here it is in the context of a 12 bar blues.

[00:15:54]All right, we've got one more lick to go. This is our fourth and final example. Um, this one is going to break out of the positions a little bit and play some really classic Bbop style phrases that I use all the time when I'm playing this kind of blues. Here it is along to the backing track.

[00:16:23]Okay. So, let's break this lick down into four parts over the four chords.

[00:16:27]Over the B flat major 7 [music] chord, we're going to play this.

[00:16:36]And that leads us [music] to the third of the G7 chord. So, that is just pivoting back and forth from A to G.

[00:16:44]and then doing this little hammer on, pull off, and slide. [music] So that's from F, hammering on and pulling off to G, and then sliding down to D.

[00:16:57]And then from here, we come up.

[00:17:03]And that's where [music] we uh land on the third of our G7 chord, right as the chord change happens. [music] And then we do this classic enclosure to get to the root of that chord. [music] Right? So that's again the flat N half step up above the root and then from F walking chromatically [music] up to G7.

[00:17:33]So, right, there's our first two chords.

[00:17:42]Then, as we get to the C [music] minor 7, again, I'm going to utilize this handy major 7 arpeggio built off the minor third.

[00:17:53][music] I'm just going to go right up the arpeggio.

[00:17:57]That's going to give me uh the nine, the minor 3rd, the fifth, the seventh, and the nine of a C minor 9 chord. Right?

[00:18:07][music] And then from here, [music] we're going to play a bunch of altered stuff over this F7 chord. So, [music] I'm coming, um, from F down to E, uh, and then landing on the third of that F7 chord [music] and utilizing the sharp nine, the flat N, the root, and then finally landing on the third uh, when we get back to our one chord. So all that played slowly. Um I'll just play the last two chords. So the C minor 7 to the F7.

[00:18:59][music] And again tied together with the first part.

[00:19:10][music] >> [music] >> All right, here it is in the context of a 12 bar blues.

[00:19:48]>> [music] >> All right, guys. Head over to my Patreon site to find the tabs and notation and this backing track to all these examples. I'll have the specific licks um laid out there. I'll also put up a video of just all the isolated examples from the lesson so you can work through them. Um, I'll also put up the solos.

[00:20:10]I'm going to leave you here with a full uh blues improvised solo, but with all these licks thrown in. So, I made a point to use each of these four examples in order in this solo. Um, the rest of it is just kind of a improvised blues performance, but you can hear how all these things fit into context. And this is the kind of stuff I use all the time when I'm improvising and soloing. So until next time, happy practicing and take care.

[00:20:47][music] [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:21:19]Heat. Heat.

[00:21:23][music] [music] [music] >> [music] >> Heat. Heat.

[00:22:01]Heat. Heat.

[00:22:10]>> [music]