Jazzin The Blues

I’ve put together a 5 track package of playalongs for you to practice soloing over a swing/blues groove. It’s important to understand that the main difference between this feel and the feel of say, Texas or Chicago blues, is in the phrasing.

i.e you need to use more swung 8th note phrasing and less triplet based phrasing. Hopefully when you listen to my examples you’ll get what I mean. What I love about play- ing this style of blues is that while I can stay pretty much in a basic Pentatonic tonality, the nature of the groove and chord changes gives me an opportunity to slip in some jazzier lines if I feel like it. Assuming that you know how to work the Pentatonic scale over a blues sequence, I’ve focused my solo examples more at the Jazzy end of things to give you an idea of what’s possible. I tend not to think of scales when I’m soloing this way. I like to think more along the lines of chord tones linked together with chromatics. I can’t stress enough how important it is to know the arpeggio of any chord you are playing over as these notes are the ones with the “weight” behind them. Start and end your phrase on a chord tone and your audience will be happy!! Here are a few “tips” for you to think about when practicing with these tracks:

1) Always try to play as you would sing, make your phrases have the rhythm of sentences.

2) Don’t panic through the chord changes, leave some space and give yourself time to listen to what’s going on behind you.

3) Remember, the Pentatonic will always work but spend some time familiarising yourself with some of the Major and Dominant tonality you’ll hear in my examples.

4) Experiment with linking chord tones with chromatic passing tones (as I said before, the first and last notes of your phrase are the ones that are most important).

5) This music always sounds better with a fairly clean amp sound.

6) This music mostly sounds better if you have an archtop guitar or something with humbuckers. Always use the neck pickup.

7) If you don’t already, try to get used to using a heavy gauge plectrum and medium/heavy strings. (I use 12- 54’s on my archtop)

8) Listen to great swing/blues/jazz players like T-Bone Walker, Kenny Burrell, Slim Gaillard etc.

9) You’ll notice I’ve included intros and endings on the backing tracks; feel free to compose your own little melodic ideas to a) set up your solo and b) bring it to an end.

10) A well established “jazz” practice is to do what we call “swapping fours”. Get together with a friend and take it in turns playing 4 bars each. Learn to end your phrase as your friend takes over and vice versa. It’s great fun and will improve your soloing immensely.

11) For those that are interested, I used an early 80’s Japanese Epiphone Emperor (Gibson L-5 style) plugged into a DV Mark 40 watt valve combo.

12) Good luck and have fun!!

Cheers, Denny Ilett