Jam tracks tips

1. Rocky 12-bar Blues (E) Here’s a fun 12-bar blues in E. The turnaround chords in bars 9-10 of the progression are C5 and B5 (bVI-V), so slightly different than your standard V-IV. Good old E Minor Pentatonic scale (EG A B D) works a treat throughout, but you can also add in some E Major Pentatonic (E F# G# B C#), E Mixolydian mode (E F# G# A B C# D), E Dorian (E F# GA B C# D) and E Minor scale (E F# GA B C D).

2. Medium Swing Minor 2-5-1 (Em) Here’s a jazz jam track in E minor. The chord progression is F#m7b5 - B7 Em7 - Em7, although you will hear extended versions of these chords – as is common in jazz. The E Minor scale (E F# GA B C D) works great for the F#m7b5 and Em7 chords, while E Harmonic minor (E F# GA B C D#) is perfect for the B7 chords. Next up, try out some more advanced colours on the dominant B7 by treating it as an altered chord and using the B Altered scale (BC D Eb FG A).

3. Whole-Tone Jam Try this Whole-Tone scale jam based around G! The scale itself goes GA B C# D# F, all notes being a whole tone apart, of course. The progression is based purely on notes of the scale, with the bass notes being G, D# and F. Top tip: try finding cool patterns and licks and then move them up and down in whole tones – or major 3rds (which equals two whole tones). The Whole-Tone scale is completely symmetrical, so you can easily move your ideas round!

4. C Minor Rockout The progression here is Cm - Bb - Ab - G – Cm - G/B - Ab/C - F/C. You can effectively mix the C Natural minor scale (C D Eb F G Ab Bb), C Harmonic minor scale (C D Eb F G Ab B) and C Dorian mode (C D Eb FG A Bb) on this track. I’d suggest using C Minor scale for the Cm, Bb, Ab and Ab/C chords, C Harmonic minor for the G and G/B chords and finally C Dorian for the F/C chord. Have fun!

Created for you by Jacob Quistgaard. For free scale maps and hundreds more tracks, visit www.quistorama.com. Also subscribe to www.youtube.com/QuistTV to get all the latest free jam tracks and licks!