How To Play A Simple Blues Solo

Blues guitar is arguably one of the most popular styles of guitar available.  Almost every popular and unpopular style of music in America have the blues in their roots.  With that in mind, I thought you might enjoy a lesson on how to play a simple guitar solo.  Blues guitar licks can be used in any style of music, so it is extremely important to have an understanding of soloing in the blues on guitar.  Here you will find explanations of blues solo scales, popular blues guitar licks, and even a simple solo you can learn very easily.

Blues guitarist

The best way to start is by learning the blues guitar scale.  This is scale is very prominent in blues guitar playing, the name gives us that clue, but it is also a popular scale in many other styles of music is well.  You can use it to play alone or with almost any band out there.  Find a great introduction to the blues scale here at http://www.learn-acoustic-guitar.com/the-blues-guitar-scale-and-how-to-master-it.

If you are new guitar player who wants to make a career or a hobby out of playing blues guitar, then this essay will give you the basic points to get you on your way as a player and interpreter of the blues. Or maybe you have no intention of specializing in blues guitar playing. In that case my essay will give you the bare bones of musical interpretation using the guitar. These basic points can be applied to any genre of guitar music.

So, let us start with a minor pentatonic scale. Whenever you see the word pentatonic you know the scale has just five notes. This is the A minor pentatonic scale starting at the root note – A at the fifth fret of the sixth string:

E———————————5–8—-
B————————–5–8———–
G——————-5–7——————
D————-5–7————————
A——5–7——————————-
E-5-8————————————-

If you are used to playing barre chords, just barre the fifth fret and use the third and fourth fingers to play the notes at the seventh and eighth frets. As the first note in this scale is the root note, all you need to do to play this scale in other keys is to slide your first finger up or down the guitar neck. So now we move the barre up to the eighth fret which gives us the root note C. You will notice that now we have added some extra notes. This is the blues scale in the key of C. The notes we have added to the minor pentatonic give you more opportunity to give your music that “bluesy” feel.

E———————————–8—11
B—————————–8—11——
G——————–8–10–11————
D—————8–10———————
A——-8–9–10————————–
E-8—11———————————-

The minor pentatonic scale can be played in other positions on the fretboard. You need to learn where the notes are because the same note played on a different string sounds different. So the more positions you can play in the more variety you can put into your playing.

A word of warning here. Do not spend all your time learning the scales by heart. Once you can play a scale in one position, play with it. Try bending the notes, see what other notes sound good with the notes in your scale. In other words, give the scale some of your individuality. If you do not feel confident about doing this, then just fall back on imitating what other guitar players do. Do not worry that you are copying other guitarists’ material.

Most guitar players start off this way. Using other musicians’ licks as a springboard for your own playing will get your juices flowing and you will be adding your own licks in no time.

Another way to approach learning scales is to learn a melody by ear and try to work out the scale it comes from. This might seem like hard work at first but it is a very pleasant way to learn music. Another thing to remember that blues music has a resolution. Your solos are all travelling to the end of the twelve bars or whatever style of blues you are playing, so any note you play on the way is fine.

Once you have a basic understanding of the blues scale and you can play it in a couple of positions on the guitar fretboard, you will need to look at the question of phrasing. There are so many excellent blues music tracks on record going back over a hundred years all you need to do is listen and imitate. Of course, your imitation does not have to be one hundred percent accurate, but other guitar players blues solos give you ready made starting points for your own original blues playing. One point to remember for beginner blues guitar players is that now you have a blues scale to play, you do not need to play all of the notes all of the time. If you have a backing track or some music you would like to solo over, start with one or two notes in the scale. Bend them, hammer them on, practice your vibrato, slide into those notes, make them yours.

I found a great starter blues guitar solo that will get anybody on the right track.  One of the best ways to start playing solos on the guitar is just to start playing.  So check out the blues solo lesson here at http://adult-guitar-lessons.com/the-4-note-solo-blues-guitar-lesson/.

That should give you a head start to playing a simple blues solo on guitar.  There are great lessons to keep in mind when you build blues solos that will impress the audience and other musicians that you play with.  Get to know these important lessons here at http://www.learn-acoustic-guitar.com/3-blues-guitar-soloing-secrets.

Running up and down a pentatonic scale is an easy way to get started playing blues guitar solos, but you soon realize that there’s more to it than that to create the sounds of blues players you listen to. Here are three secrets to help you extend your pentatonic skills and sound more like your blues guitar heroes.

Minor and Major

Instead of running around minor or major pentatonic positions, get into the habit of using both.

Many blues players use a mixture of both the minor and major scales as well as the blues scale. This one secret will give your solos a whole new dimension.

An easy way to do this is to use the pentatonic major scale over the I chord, and switch to the pentatonic minor on the IV and V chords. Pop on your favourite blues jam track and try this out.

If you play the major scale over the IV chord you’ll notice that it sounds kind of odd. The major third tone is the major seventh of the IV chord and clashes with the chord’s dominant seventh note. The minor third hits that dominant seventh and sounds way better.

Blues guitar and fedora

Play Less Notes

A big mistake lots of novice blues soloists make is to play too many notes. Once you’ve learned the pentatonic or blues scales you’re usually eager to show off your knowledge by trying to go as fast as you can and play as many notes as possible in the least possible time.

Your licks and solos can be made much more effective, though, by limiting the notes you play, and their quantity. To develop this skill select at most three or four notes from the available scales and practice licks and whole solos with only those notes. 

Throw In Some Chords

You can improve your solos by developing your skill with the blues scales, but another way to get ahead fast is to throw in a few chords from time to time.

As with any other trick, the skill here is not to overdo it. Don’t start playing chords on every bar, but punctuate your single note licks with chords or chord fragments from time to time and you’ll take your solos to new heights.

Of course, the other important trick with this technique is to hit the right chord. You can practice this by firing off one, two or four bar licks and ending each one by hitting the right chord for that bar. Again, use a jam track, or record a simple chord backing, so your mistakes will stand out.

Bonus: Getting Chromatic

Here’s a bonus secret for you, you don’t have to stick to the scales all the time. Throwing in out of scale notes builds tension in your solos that you release by ending on a scale tone.

Practice linking notes of the scale with chromatic runs. This technique works well as a lead in to new phrases. You can take the tension to its maximum by using out of time rhythms too.

The basic ingredients of blues guitar solos are quite simple to learn, the pentatonic scale positions can be learned and memorized relatively easily and quickly. But don’t stop there, there are plenty of different ways to apply them to create more interesting sounds. These three secrets will give you a good start, but keep on the look out for more to build your bag of blues solo tricks.

Blues guitar solo

You have been introduced to a few ideas for a simple blues solo, but you can find some more here at http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/soloing/easy_blues_soloing_for_beginners.html.

Soloing is a great part of playing guitar. You can have fun, sound great, and impress people. This is a beginners guide on where and when to solo.

1. First of all, know where to start your solo. 

Lets say the chord progression to the song your soloing in is something this:

A D C G

Where I like to start my solo is at the the fret that corresponds with the first chord, so in this case, I'd start my solo on the fifth fret on the E string. 

e|---------------|
B|---------------|
G|---------------|
D|---------------|
A|---------------|
E|--5------------| 

The proper notes to a blues progression in A are:  

e|----------------------------------5-7--8-|
B|--------------------------5-6--8---------|
G|------------------5-7-8------------------|
D|-------------5-7-------------------------|
A|-------5-6-7-----------------------------|
E|--5--8-----------------------------------| 

These notes work in other keys too:  

e|----------------------------------3-5--6-|
B|--------------------------3-4--6---------|
G|------------------3-5-6------------------|
D|-------------3-5-------------------------|
A|-------3-4-5-----------------------------|
E|--3--6-----------------------------------| 

In the A Blues progression, its sounds good to play notes for different lengths or else it sounds mechanic and boring. Also, when bending notes, make sure you bend to a note that fits in the progression. For example, if you want to bend at the third fret on the B string, you would only bend half a step. But if you want to bend at the 3rd fret on the e string, then you would half to bend a whole step or else it will sound bad. 

Have fun exploring notes and bringing your solos up to octaves.

Other notes that fit in the solo:

e|-----------------------------------------------------5-7--8-9-10-|
B|----------------------------------------5-6-7-8-10---------------|
G|-------------------------------5-6-7-8---------------------------|
D|------------------------5-7-9------------------------------------|
A|--------------5-6-7-9--------------------------------------------|
E|--5--7-8-9-------------------------------------------------------|

Other guitar scales that are used often in the blues are major and minor scales.  These scales will give you more tools to work with in the blues.  Find a great video that outlines these concepts here at http://adult-guitar-lessons.com/blues-guitar-lessons-soloing-with-major-and-minor/.

Pretty soon you will be playing blues solos that get standing ovations all the time.  Use these tips and find inspiration everywhere for your guitar solos.

Have fun and stay tuned!

Mike