EXAMPLE Solo 1: Joe BonamaSSa Style

cd track 27

[Bars 1-4] In typical blues style we kick things off with some minor-against-major melodic action. Essentially it’s E minor, albeit chromatically decorated, against the E7 tonality. In bars 2-3 Joe highlights both E (E G# B) and D triads (D F# A) against an E root, alluding harmonically to E11, before descending through E Blues scale (EG A Bb B D). [Bars 5-8] This minor against major action continues here, with a selection of lines that contain both minor and major 3rds against our C#7#9 chord. In bar 7 we slide into the D-form of the appropriate C# Minor Pentatonic before anticipating the transition to E7 a good half a bar early, towards the end of bar 8. This adds a touch of sophistication to proceedings.