Theory

• Where to start

  One key, one form, one scale and one habit. Fifteen minutes a day over a backing track.

• Intervals

  Distance from the root. In A, R = A, b3 = C, 3 = C#, 5 = E, b7 = G.

• Dominant 7th chord

  R 3 5 b7. A7 = A C# E G. A blues in A uses three of them.

• Pentatonics

  Minor R b3 4 5 b7 at fret 5; major R 2 3 5 6 is the same shape three frets lower.

• Blues scale

  Minor pentatonic plus the b5. Pass through it, never rest on it.

• Mixolydian

  The major scale with a b7, the scale that fits a dom7 chord.

• CAGED

  The map of the neck. Where each pentatonic box sits, and which chord hides inside it.

• The 12-bar blues form

  Three lines of four bars. Learn it as three lines, not twelve bars.

• What to play over each chord

  Keep box 1, but land on each chord's 3rd or b7 as it arrives.

• Phrasing and vocabulary

  A blues solo is a conversation, not a scale. Six short phrases fill a chorus.