Blues Headlines with Richard Barrett
Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks
Major Blues Shuffle
PLAYING A PINK FLOYD-TYPE MINOR BLUES and a bouncy major blues like this are very different ventures and require a different vocabulary. In this ‘one chord vamp’ solo, I’ve used the major pentatonic scale (A, B, C#, E, F#) with a few extras, such as a C natural – almost always bent slightly sharp but not as far as C#! There is lots of emphasis on the F#, too. This is a real ‘blues’ thing: the F# doesn’t appear in the backing in any way, so you could say we’re creating an extra dimension to the harmony by superimposing it. I’ve made a real point of combining the C and F# together in a doublestop arrangement, too, for a dissonant effect that calls 50s-style rock ’n’ roll to mind. It’s interesting to find the patterns in which you can play these across the strings – and I’ve been pretty unsubtle about demonstrating them towards the end of the solo!
I also found myself using hybrid picking to add in some piano-style blues licks and trills. A simple, repetitive backing like this tends to draw out a more varied approach from a soloist – there’s a lot of freedom to experiment with minimal risk of getting tangled up in the harmony of the backing, although the flip side is that more conventional single-note playing might not bring enough harmonic interest on its own. In the end, it all comes down to personal taste.
Another device that adds interest and a touch of complexity is the use of chromatic runs. Like the prominent use of the 6th, this is a popular device in the blues. There are no rules here, though, so feel free be as random as you like!
Example 1
T4H5E56TH (F#) then sliding down a position to C natural (bent slightly sharp), this lick features some hybrid picking to give the piano-style voiRciincghsainrdthBealarrset of trills between the major and (Eb), minor 3rd (C and C#), plus a quarter-tone bend that does a similar job of blurring the lines between the two. Lots of too!
Example 27
the#oe GOING IN A SLIGHTLY JAZZIER DIRECTION with the ascending chromatic line at the beginning, this idea brings in F# and C#, though in this case ‘resolves’ this rather dissonant interval by sliding up a semitone to imply an A7 chord. This can be a useful device, or you can keep the tension by staying put! Another trill between major and minor leads to some single-note lines taking a more convent~io~n~al~a~pproach for the moment.
Example 3
BUILDING A PHRASE around the 6th (F#) gives a different slant to pentatonic licks like this, and is further extended by using a chromatic descending line once we work our way down to the bottom E string. A series of doublestops then goes across the strings, further demonstrating the F#/C idea, also sliding up to imply an A7 chord as before. This works well in reverse, too!
Example 4
STARTING WITH A MORE CONVENTIONAL PENTATONIC PATTERN, this example uses a sliding interval pattern to work its way down in preparation for the next phrase. This is a very intuitive thing: sometimes you want to hear some cutting high notes, other times you may want some twanging bass! In this case, I’ve gone for the middle ground, ready for a final burst.
Example 5
AND HERE IT IS! Using chromatic passing notes (including the minor and major 3rd), this line works its way down across the strings before combining the last few notes as a doublestop pattern in a similar way to what we have done previously. The slide from A to A13 puts a decisive full stop at the end – the silence following a strident chord hit like this is also an effective device.