When you solo over a blues there are a lot of root notes to think about…
There’s the “root” of the key…
There’s the root of the I chord, the root of the IV chord, the root of the V chord…
So which ones matter and which ones can you ignore?
I’ve got all the answers here for you:
10 replies to "A Root By Any Other Name"
Thanks Griff! Always heard you say you can only use the major over the 1 chord but I didn’t know technically why, except it never sounded right. Never realized that the 4 chord and the 5 chord were just not in the Major pentatonic scale. Helps to free up my brain-lock🤪
Basically because we can’t play all the notes in an E13, we don’t have enough strings or fingers. You could call it E9 add 13, to be more technically correct since we aren’t playing the 11, but the E13 is just common usage and most guitar players will know what you’re talking about.
Griff, great video, thanks. What piqued my interest most was your mention of mixing the major and minor pentatonic. I read an interview years ago in Guitar Player mag where the author talked about Clapton effortlessly moving between the maj and min pentatonic in his iconic Crossroads solo. I have looked fairly closely at the solo and never quite understood where he was switching between the two and when you can or “should.” It would be HUGE if you could teach us how to move between the two scales in the context of that song (and other Cream songs)! Perhaps it will culminate in a new and very popular course for you, b/c like modes, this area is not well understood by most.
Please also provide any links to moving between the two scales since unlike most other teachers you know how to explain complex things in fairly simple terms for your target audience. Thanks! 😎
Maybe check out these courses of Griff’s:
Sunshine of your love workshop
Cream era Clapton soloing workshop
Major minor blues shapes
And the Clapton solo in Lessons From The Masters
Thanks. I have the latest Clapton course by Griff (and I believe another Clapton course—need to check my acct)…haven’t gotten to it yet but am very interested to get into it. What’s “Lessons From the Masters?” Do you have a link to it? I appreciate it.
Yes…that really frees up the headspace!!
Great lesson Griff! You explained this so well and easy to understand! Cleared up a question I have had for a long time. Thanks so much!!
Dave
When you showed the D9, the E9 or E13 why is the E13 called just anE13 and Not E9/13?what I mean You’re still using the E9 shape and adding the 13 …not a big deal just curious as to the proper way to call out a chord if explaining it to someone else …like can’t I play an E13 in a regular A root bar chord shape also? Which if I’m correct would then technically be just the “E13” cause only the 13 is added or used as a replacement …or am I over thinking again, like I tend to do ?
Technically an E13 contains all the extensions: b7, 9, 11 & 13.
Since we can’t play them all at once on the guitar we can leave the 11 out.