Basic Blues Lead Guitar
This lesson will introduce you to the basics of Blues lead guitar. The examples in this lesson are played only within the first position (first 4 or 5 frets of the guitar). Lead guitar is played with the help of a lead guitar pattern. The pattern refers to the location of the notes on the fretboard of a particular scale. The two most common patterns (or scales) are shown next in the open position, the minor pentatonic scale and the Blues scale.
E Minor Pentatonic Scale (open position)
E Blues Scale (open position)
Practice the following examples which ascend and descend the E minor pentatonic and E Blues scales until you are familiar with them.
The E minor pentatonic and the E Blues scales can be used to play a lick or solo over a chord progression in the key of E. Try the following examples and notice that each note played is taken directly from the E minor pentatonic or E Blues scale.
Combining Shuffle and Lead
It is common practice to combine the shuffle with a lick in the open position. Try the following exercise which alternates between a basic E chord shuffle and a lick taken directly from the previous example. The symbol N.C. means no chord is played.
Now try applying the principal from the previous example to an entire 12 Bar Blues progression.
The next example incorporates the seventh chord.
Now apply the previous combination of shuffle and lead to a 12 Bar Blues progression.
