Modern Blues Soloing (MBS) or Blues Rock Lick Vocabulary Level 1 (BRLV-1)

[mountain man]

So I just got my ear and fingers a little taste of the MBS today. I went through sections 1-4. This one is just a little outside...... definitely new sounds and fingerings. I'm not sure which course of Griff's two newest courses to hang with. This one "Modern Blues Soloing" or the " Blues Rock Lick Vocabulary Level 1", I also recently commented on. Maybe dabble with both?

Anyone else looking at these courses?

 

[cowboy]

both and retain what you can......just saying...later.

cowboy

 

[OG_Blues]

retain what you can

At my age, I'd probably have a better chance of becoming a doctor.

 

[cowboy]

At my age, I'd probably have a better chance of becoming a doctor.

LMAO...know the feeling...later.

cowboy

 

[Steve_Whant]

MBS is stunning, well worth sticking at. When i first went through it i had the feeling of being overwhelmed by the complexity & 'outsideness' of the licks but it has been a fantastic course for me. Still haven't got a perfect recording of any of them but this is not too shabby for lick 6 - that record button is the killer...
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zro3d358cetkc27/Solo6 - Almost.m4a?dl=0

 

[Nighthawk]

In the Funky Cajun Blues in "A", lick 4, Griff states that the "4 chord" of A is a "Gmaj7". If this tune was in "D" I would agree, but isn't the 4 chord of "A" a "D" ? Can anyone explain this to me? Griff?

 

[Paleo]

In the Funky Cajun Blues in "A", lick 4, Griff states that the "4 chord" of A is a "Gmaj7". If this tune was in "D" I would agree, but isn't the 4 chord of "A" a "D" ? Can anyone explain this to me?

Listen carefully to his explanation starting about 14:25 in.

We're playing a Gmaj7 arpeggio over the A7 chord.

We're borrowing the IV chord (G) from the key in which A7 would be the V chord.

Which would indeed be D Major.


He's treating the I chord A7 of the song as a V chord (in D) and playing its IV chord, G, over it.

He's playing the IV chord from D over the A7.

 

[Nighthawk]

Listen carefully to his explanation starting about 14:25 in.

We're playing a Gmaj7 arpeggio over the A7 chord.

We're borrowing the IV chord (G) from the key in which A7 would be the V chord.

Which would indeed be D Major.


He's treating the I chord A7 of the song as a V chord (in D) and playing its IV chord, G, over it.

He's playing the IV chord from D over the A7.

I understand what you are saying, but the song is in "A" (I) with "D" and "E", the IV and V chords respectively, as evidenced throughout the whole song (including in the tab) I also understand that a 7th chord is typically a V chord, except in blues! Is this the logic?

 

[Paleo]

I also understand that a 7th chord is typically a V chord, except in blues! Is this the logic?

Yes. You are considering the A7 (leading into the E7) to be the V7 in D Major.

Griff explains the logic in Section 4.

He starts out explaining where to create tension.

Then he explains different ways to create tension, the first of which he calls "borrowing arpeggios", starting about 3:40 in.

Example 1 is essentially the same as Lick 4 in Solo 2, borrowing the IV arpeggio (Gmaj7) from D Major, but resolves to D7 rather than E7.

The next example (about 7:50) is borrowing the ii chord arpeggio, Em7, also from D Major.

 

[Paleo]

Over the A7 chord in both Example 1 and Lick 4 in Solo 2 he plays the Gmaj7 arpeggio followed by walking down the A Mixolydian scale.

In example 1 he then resolves to a D7 and in Solo 2 to the E7.

All the notes of the Gmaj7 are also in the A Mixolydian scale, so the sound isn't really "out there", but you are "seeing" those notes in a different way that is most likely new to you.

Which is the whole point.

After "borrowed arpeggios" he moves into sounds that are more truly "out there".