Phrasing and vocabulary
A blues solo is a conversation, not a scale. Six short phrases fill a chorus.
A blues solo is a conversation, not a scale. Six short phrases fill a chorus.
- Call and response. Two-bar question, two-bar answer. Three pairs per chorus. Sing the phrase first, then find it on the neck.
- Space. Rest at least as much as you play. Start phrases on beat 2 or the “and” of 1, not on beat 1.
- Repeat with a twist. Play the same lick over line 1 and line 2, then change the ending over line 3. This is the AAB form inside your solo.
- Bends to pitch. Whole step: G string fret 7 (D up to E), B string fret 8 (G up to A). Half step: G string fret 5 (C up to C#). Check each bend against the fretted target note.
- Vibrato. On the last note of a phrase only. Slow and wide. Practise it on one note for a full minute.
- Quarter-tone curl. Push the b3 (C) a little sharp, not all the way to C#. The most “blues” sound there is.
- Slides and hammer-ons. Slide into the root from a fret below. Hammer b3 to 3 (C to C#) on the G string.
- Dynamics. Play the question softly and the answer harder.
- Licks. Learn five from the players in the listening list. Play each in A, E and G, and in two positions. Then change the ending of each one. That is how you build your own vocabulary.