Jam Tracks tips
Use these tips to navigate our bonus backing tracks
➊ Slow blues (G)
We start with a very slow blues in G. It’s perfect for warming up on, but also lends itself well to really giving it all you got. Mixing G Major Pentatonic (G-A-B-D-E) and G Minor Pentatonic (G-B C-D-F) works great, as does outlining the four-note arpeggios: G7 (G-B-D-F), C7 (C-E-G-B and D7 (D-F#-A-C).
➋ Acoustic blues jam (A)
Here’s a fun blues shuffle in A. In terms of scales, this track is ideal for mixing A Major Pentatonic (A-B-C#-E-F#) and A Minor Pentatonic (A-C-D-E G). Knowing the 7th arpeggios will come in handy - A7 (A-C#-E-G), D7 (D-F#-A-C) and E7 (E-G#-B-D).
➌ Jazz funk in 7/8 (D Dorian)
This is a simple two-chord vamp (Dm7-G7), that works perfectly with D Dorian (D-E-F-G-A-B-C) and Minor Pentatonic (D-F-G-A-C). The tricky part is of course the time signature (7/8), but if you start by simply counting 1-2-3-4-1-2-3 and then take your time getting used to the metre it’s a ton of fun and quite a workout too.
➍ Funky A minor blues
Give your time-keeping and groove playing a workout on this funky A minor jam. You could work on chords, double-stops and single note lines – picked from A Minor Pentatonic scale (A-C-D-E-G), the A Minor scale (A-B-C-D-E-F-G) and from the chords’ arpeggios - Am7 (A-C-E-G), Dm7 (D-F-A-C) and Em7 (E-G-B-D). Happy jamming!