The Power of 7th chords...Spicing up the Blues
by Ted Hall copyright 1998
In my last lesson we discussed the use of secondary dominants and dominant minors in the realm of 12 bar blues.
(See example #1)
Ex.1
G7 C7 Dmi G7 Dmi G7
C7 C7 G7 G7
A7 D7 G7 E7 A7 D7
Once you've become comfortable with the chords, here are a few tips to spice up your soloing. Excercise 1 is one of my favorite licks. Play this lick on bars 3 and 4. Remember to phrase the notes with a swing feel. The lick starts with a Dmi7 arpeggio, then flows through a Gmaj arpeggio & finishes with a chromatic lick combining notes from the Gmin pentatonic blues and Gmaj pentatonic scales resolving on a B note which is the 3rd of the G7 chord. Also note that the Dmi7 arpeggio may be implied over the G7 even if the Dmi7 is not a part of the progression.
Play with swing feel
Next on bar 5, you may play the same type of lick simply by moving the lick up the neck and starting it at the 12th fret. Next on bars 9 & 10 the Gmaj pentatonic scale G A B D E G works quite well over the A7 and D7 chords and for bars 11 & 12. Check out excercise 2. Again, the lick combines notes from the Gmin pentatonic blues & Gmaj pentatonic scales.
Exercise 2
Play with swing feel
Note: For many of you swing , bop & jazz players, we all know that there are many altered scales and other concepts that will apply over bars 9, 10, 11 & 12 as well as basrs 1 - 8. So my suggestions and approach may seem simple, but I fell it's honest. And though I may be stretching the boundaries of the traditional blues purist, these tips will spice up a basic blues progression without losing it's integtrity.