Jam tracks tips

Use these tips to navigate our bonus backing tracks.

1. A Minor Epic Acoustic

The strummed acoustic riff uses the chords Am – C – Dadd4. You can rely on A Minor Pentatonic (A C D E G) throughout, adding the blue note (D#) for extra colour. For more variety and a jazzier flavouring, try A Dorian mode, with its natural 6th step (A B C D E F# G).

2. Slow Minor Blues (Em)

As all the chords are minor, E Minor Pentatonic (E G A B D), E Blues scale (E G A A# B D) and E Natural Minor (E F# G A B C D) will all work well. Experiment with both B and A Minor Pentatonic scales – not just following the chords (Bm/Am). B Minor Pentatonic can add nice colour to the Im chord (Em) as well.

3. B Dorian Mode Groove

This progression continuously moves between Bm7 and E. Use B Dorian (B C# D E F# G# A) to make it nice and jazzy and try emphasising the natural 6th (G#), especially on the E chords. G# is of course the major 3rd of E, so landing on a G# here will always hit the spot. Alternatively, keep it simple and get your blues chops out with the B Minor Pentatonic scale (B D E F# A).

4. 7/4 Fusion Groove

This track is in E and revolves around an E7#9 chord (commonly referred to as the Hendrix chord!). The groove may be a little tricky at first, but try thinking of it as a bar of 4/4, followed by a bar of 3/4 – counting 1-2-3-4-1-2-3. You can use E Minor Pentatonic (E G A B D), but to get more fusion out of it, try the symmetric Diminished scale (E F G G# A# B C# D) and play around with moving your licks and patterns in minor 3rd (three-fret) intervals. Jam tracks by Jacob Quistgaard. For free scale maps and hundreds of tracks, visit www.quistorama.com. You can also subscribe to www.youtube.com/QuistTV to get all the latest free jam tracks and licks!