Chord by Chord course

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
So I just broke open this course and I am practicing your arpeggio for the E,A,C shape .There is a major, a minor , and( dominant ) 7th arpeggio so my question is when do I use which one. If Griff explained somewhere I must have missed it somewhere cuz I don't know which scale to use over what? Or can I mix and match.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
I don't know which scale to use over what?
The idea is NOT to use scales.

You solo over each chord in a progression using notes in the chord, i.e. arpeggios.

The title of the course says it all, "Chord By Chord Blues Soloing".

A different approach to soloing.

Soloing "by chord", rather than "by scale".

Then when you combine the two, look out.:whistle:
 
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Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
The idea is NOT to use scales.

You solo over each chord in a progression using notes in the chord, i.e. arpeggios.

The title of the course says it all, "Chord By Chord Blues Soloing".

A different approach to soloing.

Soloing "by chord", rather than "by scale".

Then when you combine the two, look out.:whistle:
Ok-I didn't mean scale , I meant Arpeggio. Not getting which one to use where.
 

Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
Still don't get it. There are 9 arpeggios. Can I play any of them over any chord.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
Playing over a Dom7 chord you use a Dom7 arpeggio.

Playing over a Major chord you use a Major arpeggio.

etc,etc

The arpeggio is the notes of the chord played one at a time. When you strum a chord you play them all together.

They are the same notes. The notes of a chord.

Strumming you can only play 6 notes at a time, with an arpeggio you can play any note of the chord within reach.

There are as many arpeggios as there are chords. You're just playing the notes one at a time rather than all together.
 

OG_Blues

Guitar Geezer
The concept is almost trivially simple (just like Paleo explained) so you must be overthinking it.
Of course, actually using the simple concept is not as immediately trivial to implement - it takes practice.
In the vast majority of "standard" blues, you are either playing over minor 7th or dominant 7th chords - the major 7th is very rare in blues, so you can ignore it for all practical purposes - Griff just included it for the sake of being complete - or if you want to start dabbling in jazzier chord progressions where the major 7th is actually more common than the others. The standard jazz II - V - I progression is often a minor 7th followed by a dominant 7th followed by a major 7th. e.g. Cm7 / F7 / Bbmaj7
Use the arpeggio as a basic framework on which to add other notes of the scale that "work" over that chord as well as standard embellishments as slides, bends, etc to add blues flavor. I find this "additive" approach very effective. Playing ONLY the arpeggios (notes of the chord) will pretty much sound like you are just playing the chords one note at a time, because, well, that is exactly what you are doing.
I found it very helpful to plot out the arpeggios using Neck Diagrams in order to gain a better mind's eye picture of what's going on. Then plot out on top of that the other possible notes and embellishments to add. I wish Griff would have included that kind of visual in the course as well, but it's always highly instructional to work out stuff like that for yourself too.
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
I'll also point out that Griff explains all this in the introduction, especially the last 2 paragraphs.

If the progression in not a 12 bar blues, you can simply use the notes of each chord without having to analyze anything. You don't even have to know the key!!!

If it is a 12-bar, you can combine the arpeggios with the scales and licks you already know (as OG also states). Grif discusses this further in Lesson 11: "Making Music From The Exercises".
 

Paleo

Student Of The Blues
One last comment.

If, for example, you have a Major chord in a progression:

You can play the Major chord in any of the 5 CAGED chord shapes. Which voicing you use is entirely up to you.

Once you decide, then you simply play the notes of the chord one at a time.

Same for any chord of any type in any progression. Decide where to play it, then play the notes one at a time.

Of course just playing an arpeggio up and down is no more musical than just playing a scale up and down.;)
 
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Mr.Scary

A Blues Legend in My Own Mind
Thanks for the help. Maybe once I get as little farther in it will make more sense. You're explanation had helped though
 
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