Session 6: Mastering the Blues

Playing Tip

Use the jam along CD and DVD to help you learn how

to solo. Practice with the tracks often to get the

practice necessary for playing an effective solo by ear.

• Use the musical tools you have. Throughout this course you have learned numerous concepts,
  scales, riffs, finger patterns and the like. Pick one of these as a starting point. For example, the blues
  scale or the sliding 6ths riff and begin there. Finger patterns alone don’t make a very interesting solo
  but they can help get you started.


• Start by picking one note or group of notes. Experiment with creating ideas out of a very
  limited supply of notes. Remember, the notes aren’t the goal as you are practicing playing by ear, it’s
  the creativity being guided by your ear that is the goal.


• Creativity gets better with practice. Don’t give up after the first few times. It may take a
  month before you start to feel comfortable soloing, don’t give up.


• Stay out of the rut of the familiar. You can start a solo from a familiar starting point but don’t
  end there. Go beyond familiar finger patterns and licks. Force yourself to be creative.

Upstroke Pull-Off Technique

This is a technique that is used in blues guitar playing to create fast licks. It is the combination between the
upstroke with the pick on the bottom of the two strings and the pull-off with the fretting finger on the
adjacent upper string that creates the speed in this riff.

The notes in this example are not the focus. The focus of the example is the upstroke and pull-off technique
that can then be applied to any number of combinations of notes.

This example is based on a Bb minor pentatonic scale.

Try this pattern on the other string combinations of the pentatonic scale as shown in the session. Experiment
with incorporating this technique in your soloing with a variety of ideas and places on the neck.

Blues Guitar with Steve Krenz 73 http://www.learnandmaster.com/bluesresources