Fusion Blues: - Modern Lines For The Advancing Blues Player

Welcome to this tutorial and thank you for your interest in this lesson. As
a guitar player I’m sure the Blues is something dear to your heart and a
genre you’ll be very familiar with. What I want to present to you today is
a ‘fusion’ based approach to soloing over a standard blues progression.
By standard I mean a basic I, IV, V chord sequence. This is the ‘Blues’
variant that most people will be familiar with and simply means that we
will use dominant 7th chords built from the 1st, 4th and 5th degrees of the
key that we are in.
Throughout the tutorial we will be using minor pentatonic, chord tone
ideas, mixolydian scales, melodic minor scales and diminished ideas. All
will be explained and their application described. Refer to the video
demonstrations of each lick for details of phrasing and fingerings. Many
16th note ideas and triplet lines will be utilised using modern techniques
and phrasing devices.
We’ll be dealing with a 12 bar blues in the key of G. The structure looks
as follows,
G7 / / / | / / / / | / / / / | / / / / |
C7 / / / | / / / / | G7 / / / | / / / / |
D7 / / / | C7 / / / | G7 / / / | D7 / / / |
Even with a simple structure like this there is a great deal we can do to
create interest and a more modern sound.
The most common approach to soloing over a blues progression is to use
the ‘minor pentatonic’ scale built from the root of the key that we’re in.
In this case we would use a Gm Pentatonic or Blues scale. This is a great
approach in that it gives us a very ‘bluesy’ sound, full of blues
vocabulary. The term ‘vocabulary’ is used in a musical context in much
the same way it is in a language one. In order to sound ‘bluesy’ we play
certain licks and lines that have arisen over the decades people have been
exploring and developing blues phrasing. The larger your vocabulary, the
more interesting and free you’ll be as an improviser.
In this tutorial I want to take your vocabulary beyond the standard
pentatonic territory, giving you a set of ideas to both outline each chord
and push further to imply ideas that aren’t even in the original chord
progression. Some of the licks require a high level of technique and co-
ordination. By starting very slowly and practicing accurately on a daily
basis the speed element will eventually take care of itself. Once you’ve
learnt each solo or lick, transpose it to other keys, making note of how the
lick fits with the scale and chord it fits over. By moving the licks around
and making them your own, you’ll truly be able to use them
improvisationally as opposed to regurgitating them in a ‘copy and paste’
manner.
Good luck with these solos and in building your blues vocabulary for a
more ‘fusion-like’ sound. Lets move on to the first solo.
 Blues Solo Number 1: - Modern 16th Note Solo
When we think of the blues we tend to think of long, vocal phrases with screaming
bends and emotive nuances. Phrasing tends to be very much based within the
pentatonic scale and the time feel is loose, floating over the bar-line. This is the style
of blues that most of us are very familiar with but I want to introduce another, more
structured phrasing approach.
Jazz players tend to play blues with a much stricter rhythmic approach than straight
blues players would, using 16th and 8th note lines. The goal with these lines is to
outline the harmony of each chord as it passes by and create tension and release
within that harmonic framework. As a ‘fusion based’ blues improviser, we can use
this approach to inform our lines and this first solo takes 16th notes as its base for each
phrase.
The solo is broken up into 6 Licks that I will analyse here for you. Once you
understand the concept used in these lines, try to use them in your own line writing
and perhaps keep a ‘diary’ of phrases that you like and try to apply them to as many
musical scenarios as you can.
Lick 1
This first lick is based almost entirely on the use of chord tones, derived from a G7
chord. When using the G minor pentatonic scale over our G7 we outline the root, 5th
and 7th of the chord but not the major 3rd. Instead we get a minor 3rd and it is this note
that gives us our characteristic ‘blues’ sound when played against the major 3rd of the
chord. We can use this to our advantage by playing the minor and major 3rd off
against one another and this is precisely how the lick starts. I bend from the minor 3rd
of the G7 chord (contained within the G minor pentatonic scale), up a semitone to the
major 3rd contained within the G7 chord. This is what you would term ‘blues
vocabulary’ in that it sounds inherently ‘bluesy’. The line continues on beats 2,3 and
4 of the bar, based on 16th notes lines, with nothing but chord tones outlining the root,
3rd, 5th and 7th of the chord. These are explained on the video for you if you’re not
sure where chord tones occur on the guitar. Each time I play the 3rd of the chord it’s
preceded by the minor 3rd from the minor pentatonic scale. I really want to make the
most of that blues vocabulary. By using the chord tones we really outline the sound of
the chord and create strong sounding lines.
In bar 2 I slide up to the 3rd of the chord adding the 6th (E) into my chord tone line on
the 3rd 16th note of beat one. At the end of the bar I bend up from F# to the root note
G. Playing a semitone behind the note you want and bending up to your target pitch is
a great phrasing device that adds a ‘bluesier’ feel to your lines.
Lick 2
Lick 2 starts where Lick 1 left off using the same bending technique of targeting a
note from a semitone below. In this case it’s A# bending up to the 3rd of the chord B. I
then proceed up chromatically to the 5th of the chord D. This is another classic blues
vocabulary phrase, playing chromatically from the 3rd to the 5th. I’m sure you’ll
recognise the sound. The bend at the beginning just gives it some new life. Next I
play a pure pentatonic phrase, creating some tension with the minor 3rd/major 3rd
clash of the pentatonic against the chord played in the backing track. I do a very quick
slide into the G root note and pull off to the 7th. I then repeat the phrase a 5th lower
before doing a classic sliding, pull-off lick. The last beat of this bar resolves back to
the major 3rd of the chord
The second bar of this lick utilises a G Superlocrian or Altered scale. This is the 7th
mode of the Ab melodic minor scale and is used in this context to create tension
before the chord change to the C7 chord in bar 5. See the ‘Scale Compendium’ at the
end of the tutorial for more on this scale. This lick outlines the b9, #9 and b5 of the
G7 chord and gives an awesome ‘outside’ feel to the lick that resolves beautifully
when the C7 chord comes in. Check out my tutorial ‘Blues – The I-IV Movement’ for
more information on this kind of playing. Be careful with the fingering in this bar as
you can very easily wrap your fingers in knots by mistake!
Lick 3
Here we’ve moved to the C7 chord and this lick outlines the chord tones of that
particular chord – C, E, G and Bb. The lick starts with a slide up from the b3 to the 3rd
of the chord and this acts as our resolution from the very ‘outside’ sounding
Superlocrian scale in the previous bar. When using a Superlocrian scale in this way,
always try to resolve your lines onto a chord tone in the next bar. This way your
resolution will be strong and the audience will be more convinced of your ‘outside’
moment. On beat 3 a bend up from the 9th (D) to the 3rd (E). The lick finishes with a
bend from A (the 6th) up a semitone to Bb (the b7th) of the chord. Again, almost
everything here is a chord tone.
Lick 4
This lick starts on beat 3 of bar 6 over the C7 chord, but outlines a G7 sound, pre-
empting the G7 in bar 7. I bend up from A# to B (minor to major 3rd against the G7
again) and include a very quick slide up to the 5th at the end of the bar. Pre-empting a
chord change in this way creates an element of tension and release with
sophistication. It works best in beat 3 or 4 of the previous bar; just before the chord
change occurs. In bar 7 we start with a fast trill between that all-important minor to
major 3rd combination before descending down a standard minor pentatonic lick.
Lick 5
Lick 5 starts on beat 4 of bar 8 and again pre-empts the D7 chord that it is based on. I
start by ascending a D7 arpeggio from the root up to the 7th. The rest of the bar is
based on chord tones again (you may be getting the idea here that I’m not thinking
about scales here as much as chord tones) but with an interesting twist. Each time I go
from the root to the b7th I move between them chromatically filling in the semitone in
the middle.
The second bar of this lick is an intervallic lick over the C7 chord. It is based on
sliding 5ths moving up the A and D strings finishing with a ‘dirty blues bend’.
Intervallic lines sound naturally strong as the listener has an interval thread to follow
aurally. Notice how the last note of the phrase holds over the bar line to become the
b7 of the G7 chord.
Lick 6
The final lick of this solo starts over the G7 chord in bar 11 and is a basic minor
pentatonic phrase. In this case I stick with the minor 3rd of the scale and don’t resolve
it up to the major 3rd of the chord.
Bar 12 is over a D7 chord and I use another Superlocrian scale here. In this case it’s a
D Superlocrian scale (the 7th mode of Eb Melodic Minor). The lick starts with a
chromatic, bebop style phrase and then descends down the same 4-note motif played
in 3 different octaves, outlining the b9, b7th, #5 and b5 of the chord. This phrase then
resolves to the root of the G7 chord at the end of the solo, but instead of playing the
root directly I bend up to it from a semitone below.

 

 





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 Blues No 2: - Adding Rhythmic & Harmonic Interest
16th note lines are superb for outlining each chord as we found in the first solo, but
we could perhaps do with some more interesting rhythmic playing. This second solo
is again built from a 16th note feel but adds some rhythmic variety and some cool
harmonic devices such as chromaticism, diminished scales and ‘outside’ playing. I’ve
even included a country lick for good measure.
Lets look at each lick in turn.
Lick 1
We start on the 16th note before the start of bar one. Because the first note starts on
the weakest part of the beat we can play a chromatic note here leading up to the 5th of
the G7 chord in bar 1. I proceed up an F major 7 arpeggio and then down 3 triads – a
G, F+ and Asus4 triad. These triads come from a G Lydian Dominant scale. (see the
scale compendium for the Lydian Dominant). The Lydian Dominant scale contains all
the same notes as a Mixolydian Scale but the 11th has been sharpened to a #11. The
#11 sounds great over the G7 chord. This is a harmonic device employed by players
such as Miles Davis, Robben Ford and Scott Henderson all the time. You can also try
using a C Lydian Dominant scale over the C7 chord.
The lick finishes with a chromatic run around the 3rd of the G7 chord. This is another
classic jazz vocabulary line and is a great one for your arsenal. This lick is based
entirely on 16th notes with no rests.
Lick 2
Here’s the first of our rhythmic licks based around a G7 sound. Here I employ 16th
note rests to create a broken rhythm that may take some practice to play tightly. As
with the previous solo I move from the b3 to the major 3rd of the G7 chord and then
move chromatically from the b7 to the root. The last part of the bar is based on a Gm
Pentatonic scale but uses open strings for interest and a triplet to break up the rhythm.
In bar 5 I use a country guitar technique for playing G Mixolydian scale utilising open
strings for a rolling, hybrid picking sound. The G Mixolydian scale outlines a G7
chord and the last part of the phrase is a G7 arpeggio ending on the root note. Try to
sustain the B (9th fret), D (7th fret) as you hammer on from F to G at the end of the
phrase.
Lick 3
Lick 3 starts on the 9th of the C7 chord and descends chromatically to the root note. I
employ a semitone below bending technique at the 9th fret for a bluesy nuance. The
final part of the bar is a sneaky side stepping, outside phrase based on 4th intervals.
This resolves up to the root note (C) in bar 7 and then moves around a G Mixolydian
phrase with some chromatic elements. The fingering on this last section is a little
tricky but it helps with the position shifts so persevere for best results.
Lick 4
Here we have a pure pentatonic phrase using position 1 of a G Minor Pentatonic
scale. I’m using 16th note triplets so start slowly and make sure you’re playing
accurately before speeding up. Try to keep all the bends in time and in tune. Not
much else to mention until we move to the next bar. Here I repeat the same phrase
down the octave but set up some tension at the end of the bar in beats 3 and 4 by
using a G diminished scale. The G diminished scale is a symmetrical scale comprised
of a semitone-tone repeating pattern. Against the G7 chord it gives us all the chord
tones (root, 3rd, 5th and b7th) plus some tension tones – b9, #9, b5 and the 6th or 13th.
This gives us 8 notes to play with as opposed to the usual 7 found in most scales and
we can create some awesome licks with this scale. I will be doing a full tutorial on the
diminished scale in the future.
Lick 5
The tension created in the previous lick is resolved here over the D7 chord as I
resolve onto the 3rd of the D7 (F#). The rest of the lick is based on playing chord tones
from the D7 chord with some bluesy slides and some syncopated (off-the-beat)
rhythms. Bar 11 contains some more broken 16th note rhythms and is all built from
chord tones, including the 9th (D) and the 11th (F). The last section of this lick is
based around the Gm Pentatonic again.
Lick 6
This lick is comprised of the chromatic run we saw in the first solo moving from the
3rd to the 5th of the chord. This time, however, we start out chromatic run on the b3rd
and move up to the 5th. This run is then repeated up the octave before descending
down a G major triad. I finish on the D7 by playing a lick based around a D triad,
including the 9th and 11th intervals for colour. This last phrase is very Mixolydian in
nature but retains a pentatonic quality by the use of 2nd and 4th intervals. Finally we
resolve to the G7 chord by playing the root note G.

 

     



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 Blues No. 3 – Modern Diminished Blues

I hinted in solo number two at the use of the diminished scale in blues soloing. The
diminished scale is unusual in that it is constructed from 8 notes as opposed to the 7
we are used to with major and minor scales and the 5 of the pentatonic scale. The
scale is one of a family known as the ‘symmetrical scales’ in that it is constructed of a
repeating intervallic structure. It is made from a repeating series of semitones and
tones giving us the sequence ST-T-ST-T-ST-T-ST-T. The scale is useful for the blues
for a number of reasons but lets look at its harmonic nature first and find out how it
functions over our G7 chord (chord I).
We use the diminished scale built from the Root of the chord we are playing over so
G diminished fits over a G7 chord. Using our semitone/tone structure, we get the
following notes from G,
G – Ab – Bb – B – C# - D – E – F
Written as a series of intervals against the G7 chord we get,
Root – b9th - #9th – 3rd – b5th – 5th – 6th (13th) – b7th
This gives us the G7 arpeggio with all chord tones – R, 3, 5, b7th and then four
tension tones – b9, #9, b5 and 6 or 13.
What we can create using these notes is a fantastic ‘inside/outside’ sound using the
inside sounding chord tones of the G7 arpeggio, embellished with the outside
sounding tension sounds of the other 4 notes. Just be careful how you use the tension
tones – if you stay on them for too long we hear more tension (outside) than chord
tones (inside) and the focus of the chord sound is lost, meaning you’ll sound lost too.
Try to resolve each of your lines to a chord tone for best effect. The exception to this
rule is the 6th or 13th which will sound great if you finish the line on it.
There is a further bonus to using the diminished scale contained within its symmetry.
Any ideas that you play can be repeated up or down the neck every three frets (up or
down a minor 3rd). You’ll see this idea used in the solo below quite a bit. This makes
repeating an idea very easy as you simply need to play the same idea up or down the
neck at each three fret interval. There are many cool shapes and structures that can be
built from the diminished scale that would take a whole tutorial to go through on their
own. I will be doing an extensive diminished tutorial in the future but for now I
suggest checking out the scale in the scale compendium at the end of this tutorial and
learning the shapes and intervals, coming up with some interesting lines of your own.
The diminished scale can be played over any of the chords in the blues. Simply use
the diminished scale starting from the root of the chord you are playing over.
Lets check out the licks and break down what’s happening. We’ll be looking for all
the chord tones and tension tones contained within the scale.
Lick 1
This starts on the 5th (D) and uses the b5th and 6th tension tones (C# and E
respectively). At the end of the first bar I sustain the 7th (F) against the 6th to further
increase the tension in the phrase. You hear jazz guys such as Adam Rogers and Bill
Frisell do this all the time. In the second part of the phrase (bar 3) I start on the b9
interval and drop the whammy bar to create a Scott Henderson type phrase. The line
then proceeds through the root and b7, sliding up to the 6th or 13th for more tension.
Lick 2
Here’s the first of our sequenced ideas using major 6th shapes moved around in minor
3rd and tritone intervals (a tritone is two minor 3rd intervals). The listener will follow
the phrase because of the constant 6th shape. For maximum effect try to let each note
in the 6th shape ring together to increase the tension. The second bar of this lick is a
repeated bending phrase moved up a minor 3rd from the 14th fret to the 17th. Again,
I’m using the symmetrical nature of the diminished scale to its best effect. Notice the
resolution of the lick to the 5th and 3rd of the C7 in the following bars. The resolution
really helps to solidify the original idea.
Lick 3
This is a tricky lick consisting of a series of bends around the chord tones of a C7
chord. As in the previous two solos, rather than just playing each chord tone, I bend
up to certain notes from either a tone or semitone below to add more phrasing interest.
This is an interesting way to create music out of arpeggios rather than just running
arpeggio shapes in a more boring and predictable manner.
The second half of the lick occurs over the G7 chord and is comprised of all major 6th
shapes again, sequenced down through the diminished scale giving us inside and
outside sounds as we go down the neck. I love this kind of sound and it really adds a
modern, fusion element to your lines.
Lick 4
I mix things up a bit here over the D7 chord and move away from the diminished
scale, preferring to use the D Superlocrian scale instead. Too much of one thing can
become boring and predictable so try mixing harmonic ideas up for the best results.
Things speed up with some 16th note triplet legato lines and tricky ‘in-time’ bends.
Over the C7 in the following bar I return to a diminished scale idea, starting with
chord tones and moving back to my thematic 6th’s idea moving up through a C
diminished scale. Again, notice how I resolve the idea back to the chord tones (5th and
3rd) of the C7 chord.
Lick 5
In bar 12, over the G7 chord, I start on the root note (G) and bend up a major 3rd from
the note A# (the b3) to D (the 5th). This is classic Scott Henderson territory and I must
admit my intonation here requires some work. This is a really tricky bend and I have
extra tension on my 10 gauge strings due to tuning my B and E strings to C and F. In
the videos I am in standard tuning however.
The lick is finished with a symmetrical idea based around the tension tones within the
G Diminished scale, sequenced down the neck in tritone intervals. I finally come to
resolve on the root note of the G7 chord.

 

 




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Pentatonic Expansion Blues: -
The three previous blues solos have all been very much based on
outlining each chord using a number of different scales and approaches
based on tension and release scale choices. For our final solo I want to
introduce a concept that I closer to the standard pentatonic approach but
still outlines each chord and creates tension on the V chord leading back
to the I chord.
The basis of this approach is to extend our basic Gm Pentatonic scale by
adding one extra note or substituting one of the existing notes for another
note. The nature of the minor pentatonic is that is contains a minor 3rd,
giving us a great blues sound but not outlining the major 3rd of the G7 I
chord. For the G7 we are going to add the major 3rd (in this case B) into
the Gm pentatonic giving us a 6-note hybrid scale containing both the
minor and major 3rd. It is this juxtaposition of major and minor that gives
the characteristic blues tonality. We’ll call this scale the G7 pentatonic.
We don’t need an official name for this scale – we just need to add a
major 3rd to the Gm pentatonic scale. Make note of how I use the minor
and major 3rd. Usually I will lead from the minor to the major 3rd to
outline the G7 sound with a bluesy inflection.
For the IV chord, C7, we will add the 6th, E, into the Gm pentatonic scale.
The E is the 3rd of the C7 chord and now each chord tone of the C7 is
outlined in our 6-note scale. From the C root note our new hybrid scale
outlines the Root, 9th, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th of the chord. You can visualise
this scale from either the C root if looking from the perspective of the
chord (C7) or from the G root if looking from the perspective of the Gm
pentatonic scale.
For the V chord, D7, we’re going to substitute a note instead of adding
one. If we take the root note of the Gm Pentatonic and move it back a
semitone to Gb (A#) we get a great 5-note scale that resembles the
pentatonic shape we’re all so used to but outlines a D7 chord with some
tension notes added for colour. This scale outlines the following intervals
against the D7 chord, Root, #9 (b3), 3rd, #5 (b6), b7. Try taking your
standard blues licks and applying them to this scale, using the same shape
to your lines but changing the notes to fit the D7 chord.
The idea behind these hybrid pentatonic scales is to easily learn the new
scale shapes and quickly gain the ability to outline each chord without
having to learn lots of complex scale shapes.
Good luck with the solo.



  


  



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 Blues Scale Choices Chart

The following scale charts outline some available scale choices for
playing over the blues backing tracks provided with this tutorial. Each of
these scales is used at some point during the transcribed solos.
There is a huge amount of information here and it would be unwise to
attempt to digest it too quickly. Try to learn the sound of each scale and
use one at a time so you don’t become over-whelmed. Everyone learns
scale shapes in slightly different ways and there is no right or wrong
method but one thing I would certainly recommend is to learn the
intervals within the scale and how they look in relation to the root note in
each position. Fretboard knowledge is your friend and you should spend
as much time as you can trying to learn where each scale lives and where
each interval within that scale is. Only this way will you truly be in
control of your note choice and changes playing.
Good luck with this information and playing some killer blues solos!
Tom