Play in the style of Peter Green TECHNIQUES

FLEETWOOD MAC

FREDDIE KING AND BB KING HEAVILY INFLUENCED GREEN’S STYLE

– both players were proficient major key improvisers and this obviously inspired him to experiment with notes from outside the basic minor pentatonic. Peter’s solos frequently included notes from the blues scale, natural minor (Aeolian), BB King ‘blues box’ (see below) and the Mixolydian mode. BB King praised Green when he was asked what he thought of the 60s British blues boom players: “He has the sweetest tone I’ve ever heard. He was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.”

Green’s precocious talent certainly seemed at odds with his background and young age (Fleetwood Mac formed when he was just 21). But proposing he might have traded his soul at the junction of the A406 and A40 doesn’t evoke the same folklore ‘cred’ as Robert Johnson’s alleged deal… Green was arguably the finest – and certainly the most authentic – of the British blues boom players, which probably makes him the greatest blues guitarist ever to be born outside of the USA.

As I referenced above, the ‘blues box’ pentatonic is basically the BB King blues box expanded over a full two octaves in shapes 5 and 3. The BB blues box is a five‑note scale, similar to the major pentatonic but with the major 3rd interval omitted and replaced with the perfect 4th (from the minor pentatonic). The minor or major 3rd can then be added as required, either by fretting or by bending the second interval of the scale up a half or whole tone respectively. Learning this blues box will give you a greater understanding of the blues’ major/minor ambiguity and, ultimately, true control of your note choices when improvising.

The following examples are designed to revive your playing with new and exciting sounds that the minor pentatonic alone can’t provide. It should also engender deeper appreciation for one of our greatest players and inspire you to develop your musicality, as well as a deeper feeling for the blues. Peter favoured the neck and middle (out‑of‑phase) positions when soloing, so those are predominantly the sounds featured here (although neck and/or both pickups is also fine). Whether you’re using amp overdrive, a pedal or modelling software, it’s important to keep your drive settings low. Green used distortion but it was achieved by playing an amp loud, not with preamp distortion; this will stifle picking subtleties and your guitars’ character and timbre.

Phil Capone analyses the pioneering work of Peter Green during his influential but all-too-brief stint as Fleetwood Mac’s frontman