4 Approaches to Soloing over a 12-Bar Blues Progression

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Timestamps:

0:00 - Lesson Intro
2:00 - Approach #1: One Scale Over All 3 Chords
4:42 - Approach #2: One Pentatonic per Chord
6:24 - Approach #3: Target Chord Tones of the Dominant 7th Variation of Each Chord
12:35 - Approach #4: Confining Everything to Just One Area

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[surfzup]

Brian - I have been playing guitar for almost 60 years. I have toured nationally for decades. I have learned what you teach over the years, but I never really had clarity. You provided that clarity with this simple lesson. Well done. I am a fan.

[zombieguitar]

Keep in mind that these are just several different "approaches" to soloing over a 12-bar blues progression. You will still need to do some work when it comes to targeting specific notes as well as AVOIDING certain notes that don't sound exactly like you intended.

"Blues theory" is not as cut and dry as "diatonic theory". The "rules" are more just guidelines, and not necessarily set in stone.

For example, if you are doing approach #2 - one pentatonic per chord - you may want to avoid the 4th most of the time and replace it with the note that falls 1/2 step lower, which is the major 3rd.

I probably should have talked about this in the video, but I was trying to keep it relatively short 😀

[joshshamrockk]

I've been using the minor pentatonic in the one chord position for 20 years. Why hasn't anyone explained it like this to me before? It's almost like some guitar players try to confuse on purpose the way they explain things. Thank you so much for this lesson sir!

[heartoftexan]

I've been growing into this level 4 groove for 5 years and you broke it down in 19 minutes.

[edlauer]

I’ve been playing for years professionally. I know most of this …. BUT…..The way you plot out the guitar neck has turned on lightbulbs for me.
12 bar blues is an art and I really appreciate the way you glue these scales and chord tones together.
🙏🏻.

[namronmanelok]

I can't believe how much information I got from this lesson. Short, sweet and to the point.

[FEARnone-evqg]

man you are the only teacher i have evr got... your the best

[iipopoloo]

Brian, you`re my favorite guitar teacher! Greetings from Bulgaria!

[Sled]

Amazing how you can instruct in a manner that makes the content so easy to understand. So many others try to explain in their approach, but just ends up as a ball of confusion with little incomplete tidbits of information. You are a natural Teacher and motivator. Thank you.

[frederickthompson]

Brian, you're a gifted teacher... YouTube is full of teachers who are well-intended, but you've actually thought things through and the result is "creative clarity!" Thanks again for another great lesson.

[TheMartinRNR]

Finally someone who explain this different approaches in a very simple way, In my case I usually use the minor scale with the major third, blue note, minor seventh, and some chromaticisms and emphasize the accents in the target notes of every chord, I usually use the pentatonic of the IV and V in the turnaround, or maybe in the V it all depends on what flows, almost nobody explained it as well as you, good job Brian!

[Antoniu]

Finally, someone who makes perfect sense. Thanks to the big Kahuna! Aloha

[peterfinch]

From a UK beginner guitarist, thank you so much. Never learned more stuff in such a short time!!

[dirkgibbens]

What an outstanding lesson! I've been playing guitar for over 40 years. Now that I'm retired I am finally putting effort towards being able to improvise solos instead of learning them note for note from recordings or tabs. When I started playing there was no YouTube... or internet... or personal computers. :-)

These approaches provide building blocks from simple to difficult that will help me manage chord changes, allow me to use the entire neck and add color to my solos instead of just playing the the pentatonic scale from the I chord over the entire I-IV-V progression (which works, but gets boring).

Thanks! My looper pedal is about to get a workout!

[CraigStetsonScottsdale]

Well done. I’ve been struggling with this Am pentatonic stuff for many months. You’re the only teacher that could actually explain how to use the pentatonic position over the standard blues progression without trying to impress me with your talent and without confusing the heck out of me. Thanks for drawing back the curtain for me and others.

[DannyGatton]

I’d always appreciate these blues based instructions. Thank you Brian

[vincevaughn]

This has to be in the top 5 of how to solo videos on Youtube.

[lespauljunky]

Bro, your videos are literally changing my guitar life.

[tomjmartinez]

I've been playing my 1964 strat all this years and never really knew that I was playing these shapes. I just learned by ear. So nice and simple the way you explain it all. Love it!

[afri-dancer]

So I' started to play guitar again after 45 Years having picked up the guitar perhaps twice during that period.I did originally start playing Classical Guitar, Flamenco and basic pop songs.A big thanks to you young brother, your explaination of the scales has really helped me to understand what's going on and have given me a direction as to how I should go about learning to improvise.Thanks for sharing.