Examples mixolydian and minor blues scale licks

The country-influenced start to this line is taken exclusively from CAGED shape #1 of A Mixolydian (see 1-2-3-4-5-6- within Diagram 1); however, towards the end of beat 3 of bar 1, we see the introduction of the first C note (minor 3rd). Before we know it, we’re using straight A minor Pentatonic scale in the following bar. Interestingly, we’ve gone from consonance to dissonance (in other words, from musical stability to musical tension).

In contrast, this next example (also within shape #1 CAGED system) starts off in minor in bar 5, but then goes dominant, minor, dominant in the following bar, while finishing on a very resolved-sounding C# note. The second note in bar 5 is a strange but ear-catching chromatic move (G-G#-G) using the first finger; this is commonly used by bass players and also employed heavily by jazz guitar great George Benson.