Abusing The Blues

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues

Excerpt: Welcome back IGers! This month, I wanted to break down and analyze a few of my "go-to" licks within the blues scale. But before we do, let's expand our harmonic spectrum of the blues scale, to spice things up. First, let's play through the regular old blues scale with a #4. (As written in bar 1) Now, let's add some intervals: 2, #3, #7. This will give us a...

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues

Excerpt: So this first lick is pretty "twisty" in that it highlights a fair portion of the first position A minor pentatonic scale while adding hints of the major third (C#) through out. This is a great mechanism for adding a more "Down South" kinda vibe to your minor pentatonic licks. This lick is very heavy on the hybrid picking, so keep an eye on the capital "M's"...

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues

Excerpt: In much the same descending motion, this lick makes use of the second and third position pentatonic scale. Again, be sure to keep an eye on the techniques involved and execute the lick as cleanly as possible.

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues

Excerpt: Lick 3 approaches the blues scale from an ascending perspective. With three notes per string, our intervals are spread up to six frets apart. The main "purpose" of this lick is to highlight the #4 (D#) in a pretty blatant way. Be sure to note that this lick is written/played in eighth note triplets.

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Instructor: Chris Feener Level: Advanced Topic: Cool Riffs Style: Blues

Excerpt: And last but not least, lick 4. This one is very "pentatonicy" in the sense that we see a ton of two-note-per-string-ness. Note the heavy use, again, of the major third interval (C#) on both the D and B strings. I hope you enjoyed playing through the licks and as always, hopefully you've got some new weapons to add to your arsenal!

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