Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Soulful Blues Phrasing Ideas – Lead Blues Guitar Lesson – EP379

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn a soulful blues lead, full of dynamics and phrasing ideas, all played over a jam track in A minor. We’ll be looking at both the pentatonic scales and targeting chord tones.

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

    • Philip B says

      Brian- This is just another really really good composition and lesson. I love the way it can be appropriate for someone not really advanced ( I like to thin k of myself as advanced- playing 40 years) and one can learn it rudimentarily and it actually sounds really good at that juncture. But then I can go back and REALLY learn it (this is the way I do it- memorize first and then refine- probably out of impatience) and it’s just so much more rich and complex with all the nuances . And the nuances really make it what it is. And even if someone just learns it kind of straight up without being excessively creative on the English and nuances if you will- like not really being attentive to the half bends and how they integrate with the next lick for example, and just kind of muscling through and hinting at the essence of it- well it’s been composed so well that it still floats quite well. I mean I’ve done that on occasion. I also like that somehow it just feels like your creations lend to being able also finish out or continue on with my own creativity – and most of the time that’s inspired by licks or techniques or passages that are in the composition or through what you’ve created maybe several weeks or months before.

      • ~ shaman says

        Philip, although I’ve only been playing 2 years, it’s reassuring to know that we both tend to lock the composition into memory first, and then attempt to refine it. The touch and the dynamics are actually the difficult parts… the fine muscle control. The flow with the half bends and the phrasing that moves the piece along, giving it a singing “sweetness” is what takes time to develop for me. True also, what you say about continuing on with creations of your own. Learning guitar is truly all about accumulating and layering knowledge and skills, and maintaining the perseverance to incorporate these into your own voice over time.
        Thanks for articulating what I was also feeling about this lesson.

        ~ shaman

    • Robert M says

      Well I just finished with older lessons you did on Freddie King and George Harrison. I’m gonna start this one tomorrow. Your lessons are so inspiring and there’s nothing I like better than mixing up the major and minor scales. Brian you’re the best!

    • Mark M says

      Brian…. I think EP379 is one of the “ah – hah” lessons that you create that really helps folks like me understand the structure of chords (6th & 9th chords) and how they can be used with great effect. One of the things I love about your lessons is how you “do more – with less”…. using little triads and slides, partial chords and hammer ons get it done without finger busting chord structures and changes that don’t add a lot. I look forward to your lesson every week, and there are few lessons where I don’t come away with something I didn’t know before I looked in.

      THX

  3. madams says

    Hi Brian,

    My son just returned home from the hospital. We admitted him last week for drug induced psychosis. It was the scariest and hardest thing I have ever had to do.

    We often play guitar together and this is the perfect song for us to learn! He is a great rhythm player and I focus more on lead. This will help him heal and be happy.

    Thank you!
    Michael

  9. Steven B says

    This is the best lesson ever with so many enlightening bits to (hopefully) keep in mind. Exploring the way MK thinks is surely the right road to be on. Brothers in Arms has it all as you say. I’m so glad you told us you work some things you do in arrears cos i’m thinking I don’t have the brain power to get to the next level. I am starting to see the scales on the neck but not quickly enough and wonder how it is you get to see them easily. I think the emphasis on CAGED lately has got me further anyway. Thanks for this excellent lesson.

    • Xavier-Luc L says

      Pour vous faire bosser un peu comme je bosse les leçons de Brian j’écris (d’Espagne et) en français.

      Un régal cette leçon ! Comme souvent mais là c’est juste le son que j’aime.

      Je rentre vite à la maison et même si je vais arriver après 11 pm je m’y mets.

      Have all a wonderful day and, again (and again), many thanks to Brian.
      Xavier-Luc

    • Brian says

      Yes, all of the chords in this are in the C family – in the part 2 video I even mention that you can play the C major scale which is also A natural minor and F lydian… so the C major scale works over everything. Technically this song is in the key of C for that reason – but you would describe it as “A minor” – or at least I would 🙂

      • Craig l says

        I’ve been learning a ton about secondary dominant 7th cords for some Piedmont style blues I’ve been playing. When I watched you playing this, the light bulb went off. That’s why that EMaj7 works there! It leads you to the Am! And the CMaj7 leads you to the F! I just love when something pops for me like that. This theory stuff is cool!

  19. Todd F says

    Hi Brian

    Great lesson, but one quick question…I understand secondary dominants somewhat, but you say the E is the 5 of the aminor, wouldn’t it be eminor? Or do you always play the major when playing the secondary dominant? Or could you play either maj/min there?

    Thanks,

    Todd

      • Rodney W says

        I was pleased to come across this clarification. It backs up what I had discovered by experimentation. I had gravitated towards using A minor and know the chords that are usually used with its relative major scale, C major, are C, Dmin, Emin, F, G and Amin. Thus when playing in Amin, I expected to use Amin as the I chord, Dmin as the IV chord and Emin to be the V chord. What I found however was that to my ear, the E major chord sounded better.

  21. Randy H says

    Brian:
    You mentioned that the strings on your tele are 11’s, do you run 11’s on all your electric guitars? What strings do you use on your Byrdland ??? I’m still figuring it out and would appreciate some input on string gages.

    Thanks,

    Randy

  26. cloughie says

    Really. Really. Really. Nice.

    I spent a very enjoyable Sunday afternoon learning this. Got it up to speed ( just). Now looking forward to many more happy hours practicing to get the timing and the dynamics right.

    This one is definitely worth it! Brilliant.

  27. Jay Guitarman says

    Hi Brian,
    Thanks for the effort you spent on the Lydian scale over F and the Aoleon scale over Am, both lying within the C Major scale and ending on the F or the A, depending on what chord is being played underneath. I also try to connect these scales to the relevant chord shapes lying underneath in the position they are being played. This modal excursion adds even more flavor to the lead playing since it helps to get out of the major minor pentatonic and chord playing scheme… Hope you can show us some more of this type of short modal excursions in some of your next lessons…

  29. Ray A says

    Excellent Brian. Really nice tune and exactly where I’m trying to take my playing right now thank you.

    I know you’re explaining using caged but am I right that there’s a fair usage of Aeolian mode in there? Seriously just learning a couple of modes so I haven’t got all the notes down pat but noticed the bottom notes seem to fit and the sound seemed to match.

  31. richard p says

    Hi Brian,
    I’m really curios about that G arpeggio… what was your thinking for that s3f5 added note? It sounds great, but I don’t think it’s strictly in the arpeggio, so I would not have thought of it. If I had to guess, I’m thinking:
    – you needed another beat for timing???
    – and, maybe you wanted to flow in/out between arpeggio and Am-pentatonic???

  36. Duffer says

    OK just listened to the play through looping for about 30 minutes… So sweet. New here just done 3 lessons and my brain feels like its going to burst.. so much of the stuff ive been working at the past year all seems to be starting to resolve into understanding.. Stoked.

  41. Xavier-Luc L says

    Pour vous faire bosser un peu comme je bosse les leçons de Brian j’écris (d’Espagne et) en français.

    Un régal cette leçon ! Comme souvent mais là c’est juste le son que j’aime.

    Je rentre vite à la maison et même si je vais arriver après 11 pm je m’y mets.

    Have all a wonderful day and, again (and again), many thanks to Brian.
    Xavier-Luc

  44. rjwheeler says

    This weeks lesson didn’t invite me for some reason so I went back to one that I loved but hadn’t finished learning: (EP372-Singer Songwriter Fingerstyle Composition). I final got it but the ending just didn’t feel right to me so I did what you have been teaching and rewrote the ending. I walked done the scale with three cords from the song and ended with a different kind of A chord that sounded really cool to me. Thanks for giving me the courage to jump in improvising pool.

    Bob

  45. Conroy G says

    Bryan..your lessons are great. I got into the guitar late in life, so I’m a slow but persistent player. I’ve been traveling so I picked up a cheap acoustic to practice with until I get home to my electric. Can’t wait to try this on an a good guitar with the backing track.

  46. jeannot18 says

    Very nice Brian, i have said it a few times already, but every week I think how can you make lessons that get better and better, but you just do. You are an amazing teacher. Just one thing and I could be wrong, but i think the tab is wrong, on the second video, you go from 8th fret hammering to 10th and then you go 10th fret on the G string, your tab shows 6th fret B string.

  47. Roland says

    this is so good brian! lately I have been just watching the your lessons to get the basic concepts and some ideas. this one I need to learn note by note. I want to get all the small phrasing details in my fingers! one thing that could be helpful to learn such a thing note by note would be if the “minus guitar” playback would also be integrated in the interactive player. once i have learnd to play along with you it is time to play it alone without any guidance. at this stage the main problem for me is to get the rythm right. if i miss one lick-start I am out. here it would help to see the interactive tab moving while i hear the minus-guitar playback. I know this feature form other sites. …. just a suggestion to make this site even better! maybe sometime… if you think it makes sence … also if you do this one can read the chords whild improvising. thank you for the great lessons every week!

  49. Peter C says

    Fantastic piece, Brian!
    When I joined AM a couple of years ago I was hoping you’d unlock the mastery of Ronnie Earl. I’ve enjoyed learning so many of your compositions, and have grown a lot. But this pieces level of sophistication is definitely getting into the RE headspace. Please produce more of this genre.
    Thank you.

  50. Mark N says

    Just spent two weeks trying to get this down and really nail it. I’ve been working a lot so just down a few bars each day and have to say if you get all of the little nuances of this down it sound absolutely lovely. Even my partner commented just how nice it sounds and she normally complains at my repetition sometimes. Have to say I love it too and learned a lot during this lesson. Just in time for a new one on Friday lol. Thanks again for another great lesson Brian.

  57. Harry G says

    Brian. This is great! When I first listened to it I thought this is going to be really difficult, but you break it down and explain it so logically that I am making much faster progress than I thought I would. The takeaways from this lesson are excellent for me. You have also emphasised the importance for me of learning the different patterns and the different chord positions across the fretboard. I tend to be an impatient learner and want to get to the end result a bit too quickly! A great lesson!

  58. Gary K says

    I joined as a premium member a month ago and enjoy the lessons but find the audio and video playback is really problematic. It’s hard to play over a backing track that skips, stalls and is full of static. I don’t know what could be done to improve the audio – I don’t fine this troublesome with any other sites I visit, just ActiveMelody. Does anyone else experience these issues? Thanks for any suggestions.

  59. Kenneth M says

    I’m kind of a “late beginner, just entering intermediate stage player” and I just love this little tune. Love that it’s teaching how to use a couple pentatonic forms. I belong to a couple of other sites, but yours is my go to site. Thanks so much.

  61. Harry G says

    Brian. This is a great lesson and although a bit challenging for me – especially the quicker parts near the end – I finally mastered it and have now got all the notes under my fingers. I think I get a little too tense, so I’m learning to relax and not worry too much about missing a note or two (or 3 or 4!). Taking it slower and persevering gets me there in the end. The videos are extremely helpful and your teaching style is great. The facility to slow the track right down is great! Now I need to keep practicing it and speed it up a little. I’ve made a commitment to myself and chosen 10 lessons that I will attempt until I get them right. Thanks!

  62. Gary L says

    Brian, this is my 2nd month learning under you and I have enjoyed every moment of your teaching, I consider myself intermediate, this course is just what i’ve been looking for can you please answer a question for me about this lesson EP379, I know on the tablature sheet the BPM says 55, but what is the BPM that you’re playing in the slow version above? It seems a litter faster than my metronome,

  65. Brad F. says

    Just came across this today….been working on some other stuff for awhile and not making the time to see what you’ve been teaching. This is so sweet and even able to dial my amp and Tele into a nice clean tone that your using and it sounds so nice. Hope to spend lots of time on this and study it too. There’s so much to learn with your lessons, you hit on so many ah ha moments and if I study them long enough they even start to sink in my feeble brain. Thanks for all you do.

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