JAM TRACKS tips

Use these tips to navigate our bonus backing tracks

Chicago Blues Shuffle (C)

Here’s a fun Chicago style shuffle to get us started. You can mix C Minor

(C-Eb-F-G-Bb) Pentatonic and C Major Pentatonic (C-D-E-G-A) for that classic blues vibe. Knowing the main 7th arpeggios will also come in

(C-E-G-Bb), handy: C7 F7 (F-A-CEb)

and G7 (G-B-D-F). Enjoy!

Altered Scale Groove Jam (Am)

This track was made for practising the art of musical tension & release. Release = A minor chords Ttension = E7alt chords. Use A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-DE-G), A Minor (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) and A Dorian (A-B-C-D-E-F#-G) as your ‘release’ and E Altered scale (E-F-G-G#-Bb-C-D)

for the E7alt chords as your ‘tension’.

G Jazz-Blues

This is a standard jazz-blues progression, but as it’s basically just a slighly more sophisticated blues you can use G Minor Blues scale (G-Bb-C-C#-D-F)

as your go-to scale, adding in some G Major Pentatonic too (G-A-B-D-E). However, the real jazzy colours don’t come out till you start chasing the chord tones and adding chromatic ideas as well.

Blues Ballad (Bm)

Slow Blues in B Minor with an F#-G-F# turnaround. Use B Minor Pentatonic (B-D-E-F#-A) as a b5 starting point, adding the (F) to the mix as well. The basic triads will come in handy: Bm (B-D-F#); Em (E-G-B); F# (F#-A#-C#); and G (G-B-D). You can also search for ‘Bm Blues quistjam’ on YouTube to watch and learn a solo for this track.