Level 3 (follow the chord) Soloing

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
@Griff
In your blog today (This is a question I hear all the time...)
You say that playing the minor pentatonic & following dominant 7th chord is never used.
How does that square with. Level 3 Follow The Chord Soloing?
What did i miss here?
Is it that Major is used but minor is not when following the 7th chords?
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
You say that playing the minor pentatonic & following dominant 7th chord is never used.

You can follow 7 chords with the minor pentatonic, as he demonstrated, it's just that he's never heard of anyone doing it.

It "works" over the I, but not so much over the IV and V.


Is it that Major is used but minor is not when following the 7th chords?

It's not so much a question of "do you use Major exclusively and not minor" over each 7 chord as it is of when you use which Major or minor or a mix of both.

Level 1 you use the minor of the I chord over all chords.

Level 2 you use Major over the I and minor over the IV and V.

In Level 3 he talks about treating each 7 chord as a new key and using a mix of "new" Major and minor pentatonic scales over each.


Attached is a "Cheat Sheet" Griff once put out with a lot of options of what to play over each 7 chord.
I think being able to apply all of them would put you somewhere in a transition zone between Level 3 and 4. :unsure:


Following the chords with the Dominant scale (aka Mixolydian) "fits" perfectly" but, again, in other lessons Griff's describes its use as "blocky" and has lessons on "bluesifying the 3rd".
 

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MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
You can follow 7 chords with the minor pentatonic, as he demonstrated, it's just that he's never heard of anyone doing it.

It "works" over the I, but not so much over the IV and V.




It's not so much a question of "do you use Major exclusively and not minor" over each 7 chord as it is of when you use which Major or minor or a mix of both.

Level 1 you use the minor of the I chord over all chords.

Level 2 you use Major over the I and minor over the IV and V. Didn't ask about 1 & 2

In Level 3 he talks about treating each 7 chord as a new key and using a mix of "new" Major and minor pentatonic scales over each.
Except you "never hear anyone using major"... Hence my question.



Attached is a "Cheat Sheet" Griff once put out with a lot of options of what to play over each 7 chord.
I think being able to apply all of them would put you somewhere in a transition zone between Level 3 and 4. :unsure:
Aarghhhh Level 4??? Man I'm still struggling with 1,2 & 3.... LOL


Following the chords with the Dominant scale (aka Mixolydian) "fits" perfectly" but, again, in other lessons Griff's describes its use as "blocky" and has lessons on "bluesifying the 3rd".
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
I only mention Levels 1 & 2 to show the progression to get to Level 3. We need to understand what came before.


Level 3 you consider each chord as I in a new key.

But you don't play strictly the I minor (or I Major) of each.

You mix Major and minor for each chord, i.e. use the Composite Blues Scale following and changing with each chord.

Scale choices over each chord are summarized in a "more manageable" chart in SBS in Chapter 11 "Every Chord Is I?".

Composite.jpg

Level 3 would be following the I Composite, IV Composite, V Composite path through the chart.:unsure:
 
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Randy S

Blues Junior
And, don't forget Arpeggios over each chord (Chord by Chord sol0ing) and "outside" shapes (Modern Blues). It's easy to end up with "paralysis by analysis".
I can't do it in real time- maybe with another 10-15 years of practice. I have to come up with some licks using these different approaches over different parts of the progression, learn those licks well, and then put them in my lick portfolio to pull up when I want them.

Here's one hack that I use sometimes. The IV Major blues Box 1 ( root on the 3rd string index finger) is two frets up from the I minor blues Box 1 (b3rd on the 3rd string index finger). So going from I to IV you can play a 1 bar lick, move up (or slide up) two frets and repeat it. Or going from IV to I go the opposite direction. And of course the V is two frets up from the IV so, between the V and IV chords at bars 9 and 10, you can do the same thing.

The same relationship exists for all 5 pentatonic boxes, with different root locations of course.
 
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Griff

Vice Assistant General Manager
Staff member
@Griff
In your blog today (This is a question I hear all the time...)
You say that playing the minor pentatonic & following dominant 7th chord is never used.
How does that square with. Level 3 Follow The Chord Soloing?
What did i miss here?
Is it that Major is used but minor is not when following the 7th chords?
Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but @Paleo answered it.

When following 7th chords, you really have to mix in the major sound at some point. Using exclusively minor isn't a common (or, in my opinion, good) sound.
 

MikeS

Student Of The Blues
Staff member
Not sure how I missed this yesterday, but @Paleo answered it.

When following 7th chords, you really have to mix in the major sound at some point. Using exclusively minor isn't a common (or, in my opinion, good) sound.

I guess my questions is:
As a "rule" for "Level 3" playing, when the IV & V come around, play major NOT minor. You will probably like the sound better..
I think this may have always been my stumbling block, because I've tried to play minor and haven't really liked it.
 
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