The Blues Language

Intermediate Grade 5 Essential Blues Lead Guitar
1

Few people have said that this is one of the most useful and important lessons on my whole website and they might be right!


View the full lesson at The Blues Language | JustinGuitar

2

Thank you Justin. these is the best explanation i have heared on what is blues. So, blues is wonderful musical language with which we express what is going on within our souls.

2 Likes
3

Check this supplementary topic for additional guidance and support on learning and using blues licks to play lead improvisation: First Steps in Blues Improvisation using Minor Pentatonic Scale Pattern 1
Cheers :+1:
| Richard_close2u |

4

If Iā€™ve understood so far: thereā€™s an ā€˜alphabetā€™ of notes and using the notes we can form ā€˜wordsā€™. So what is a riff. A ā€˜sentenceā€™?

1 Like
5

I found this post a couple of weeks ago (thanks Richard) and have pretty much stopped all other practice (apart from the F barre chord changes, which I canā€™t get above the high twenties at the moment) to concentrate on the. Working my way through the 3 and 4 in a line patterns, which I can just about do slowly. Had a go at the licks but they will need some work :slight_smile:

1 Like
6

There are some grey areas and some confusing thoughts on the terminology John.
My take is that licks are sentences, exclamations, comments, words strung together to make expression and tell a story of some kind with a beginning, middle and end, with maybe some highs and lows etc.

Riffs are repeating motifs that form the rhythmic / melodic basis of a song and its structure.

Here is a riff:

Here are two licks (taken from a longer solo):

1 Like
7

Hi, Iā€™m really liking the Blues section of Grade 2 and would like to focus a bit more on Blues. The Blues language course is Course 4 and on this thread it is Intermediate 5. If I wait to get rhough Grade 3 it may be another year. Can I move on to this Blues Language course or is that not recomended?

Thanks

1 Like
8

Hi Roch, @sticktothemuse
If you would like to get into the blues I would start with it,ā€¦blood creeps where it canā€™t go :sunglasses:ā€¦ but I would definitely spend some time ( every time to start with or end a day) on grade 3, because there is a lot to learn there which will also help you with the blues. .an advantage is also that you know where to look if you get stuck during your blues tour and you will find blues there to :smiley:ā€¦that learning the blues is really going to take much longer than a year so I would add itā€¦the best of two worlds and more :sunglasses:

Grade 3 is definitely another very important foundational course :smiley:

Have and keep the fun :sunglasses:
Greetings,Rogier

2 Likes
9

The 1st lesson in the Blues Lead 1 module (Grade 4) is called ā€œThe Blues Languageā€, is that what you are referring to? If so, I think this is too advanced for somebody in Grade 2. You could check out ā€œSolo Blues 1, Lick-inā€™ Riffā€ in Grade 3, Module 18. If youā€™re still wanting more, you could check out the module called ā€œBlues Guitar Studiesā€. Itā€™s also Grade 4, but more approachable than ā€œBlues Lead 1ā€ imo. You can learn a lot about blues guitar with those 4 studies.

BTW, I would agree with @roger_holland that you should continue your path through Grades 2 and 3 and check out the blues stuff in addition to that.

2 Likes
10

Hey Roch,

Nothing wrong with casually checking it out mate.
Iā€™d just be mindful that the Level 4 and above Blues stuff will assume prior knowledge and skills that you may not yet have been exposed to, or are still developing.
Again though, if you have a keen interest, no need to treat it like a lesson; more like a preview.

Cheers, Shane

1 Like
11

Thanks all, good direction, much appreciated.

I know Iā€™m getting ahead of myself but the Blues module 13 in Grade 2 has really peaked my interest. Itā€™s put the history of rock and roll in proper focus. Now I can understand how it all came about. From America to the UK and back out to the world!

I took a classical guitar course and a theory course a local community college this winter in addition to working on grade 2. I mostly put Grade 2 on pause during that period but the classical guitar class tied in nicely to Justinā€™s finger picking module in Grade 2 and Justinā€™s theory class really helped with with the theory class at the college (Cato method :)). The professor had a doctorate in music but was way too smart to teach. He spoke a language that hardly anyone in the class could understand.

Having said all that I feel taking the two courses in conjuction with Justinā€™s course really turbo charged my journey. There is something to be said about being in a group setting and playing and discussing music! It was a lot of work though. Iā€™m going to spend the summer playing the guitar and not working the guitar like I have been doing the past several months.

I will stick with Jusinā€™t program and continue with Grade 3 although at a much slower pace. I have not done the module 14 consolidation yet. As the saying goes itā€™s the journey not the destination.

At my age I know I will never get to be an accomplished musician but I am dedicated to making music a big part of my life for as long as I can.

Again, thanks for the recomendations. I will stick with the plan but ā€œpeakā€ at some of the Blues stuff in the other courses.

2 Likes
12

The analogy to grammar can become a bit shaky as you examine longer structures. I donā€™t think thereā€™s a musical analogy to a sentence in the sense of a coherent / logical statement, subordination, etc.

I think riffs are more akin to catchphrases or shorter utterances you often hear from someone (their idiolect).

1 Like
13

Apologies for bumping an old topic, but the alternative was to create a new one which clogs up even moreā€¦
Without going too deep into theory-
If many associate major keys with more uplifting feeling, and minor key with sadness, why does the blues employ a I, IV, V blueprint? :thinking:

1 Like
14

Interesting perspective to ask that Brian.

The harmonic structure of blues is indeed ā€˜majorā€™ in its character. A superficial analysis would be to categorise that as ā€˜happyā€™.

|  I  |  IV  |  I  |  I  |
|  IV |  IV  |  I  |  I  |
|  V  |  IV  |  I  |  V  |

BUT ā€¦ rarely will tjose chords be simple major triads in form. They will more than likely be dominant 7th chords (or perhaps extensions beyond the 7th such as 9ths).

Dominant 7ths chords are not inherently happy even as stand alone chords because within their structure is that ghoulish thing - the tritone interval. They are somewhat unstable and unsettling. Further, playing all three of the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords (the I, IV and V respectively) as 7th chords creates a world of uneasy tension. No diatonic key rightly has more that a single 7th chord - the V chord. The I and the IV should categorically not be dominant 7ths. That is plain wrong.
So the harmonic structure is already upsetting the natural order of things, causing ā€˜disharmonyā€™. These ā€˜unhappy vibesā€™ are compounded by the fact that the blues melodies and the blues riffs / licks played over the tense harmonic structure use another device that causes further friction.
A large amount of blues is major key harmony mixed with minor key melody.
I7, IV7 and V7 (major type dominant 7th chords) with minor pentatonic notes played over them.

It is the rub of the flat 3rd in the minor pentatonic against the major 3rd of the chords that is the sound of the blues. It shouldnā€™t work but it does. And it gives the fertile ground upon which we can express all human emotion. Especially when we have articulation techniques such as bending, slurring, trilling etc to make the guitar sing like a human voice.

:slight_smile:

5 Likes
15

Thanks for that Richard- you pitched that perfectly at the ground floor, right above where I usually hang out in the basement :laughing:
(I hadnā€™t realised it used the dom7 in all the chords)
Itā€™s all about tension, innit?
It probably evokes more sadness to see a grand estate house in a state of neglect/dilapidation than an inner-city tenement block. Minor key with sadness- thatā€™s what we expect; Major key with ā€˜wrong bitsā€™ā€¦ Woah! :exploding_head:
Iā€™m surprised itā€™s not my cup of tea.
Have a nice weekend :smiley:

1 Like
16

Hi Brian,
Yes, it has been said by several of us over the years that we are surprised that this does not float your boatā€¦ Isnā€™t it that dissonance that you (and my wife) often cannot stand ?
That is different from just ā€œsadā€ sounding minor chordsā€¦
I know it is often the case with my wife at leastā€¦ ( edit: no jokes please about my dissonance :thinking:ā€¦ :laughing:)

Bye and have a nice weekend ā€¦

1 Like
17

Very poetic. I like it.

There is minor key blues too. It often veers away from the standard 12-bar structure a little, especially in the final two bars. Also, minor blues is often in 6/8 or 12/8 instead of 4/4 time.

Major:

Minor:

1 Like
18

Richard isnā€™t this the most famous in minor?

19

Au contraire, mon ami!
I love me a bit of dissonance with the dark, as long as itā€™s not too complicated :wink:
(Kid A by Radiohead was one of my favourite albums when it came out)

20

The differnt with dissonant in the blues and this is for me a very different one and for me it is actually impossible to explain what I mean in Englishā€¦this

is very disturbing that you are okay with this :joy:ā€¦
A small attempt, with blues we play nice flowing chords that sound harmonious and occasionally we break/bring in some of that dissonate instead of in one piece with Radiohead witch is only ā€¦well not smooth rolling sounding ā€¦etc :flushed:

Like I say, I canā€™t try to explane this in another languageā€¦ Maybe Richard will make an attempt nowā€¦Kid A isā€¦well not our music ā€œput out that noiseā€ I hear from behind me :grin:

1 Like