By: Simon Joseph James

The classic 12 bar blues shuffle riff can be played either straight or with a swing feel. In addition to this,  it can be tremendous fun to play around with and to try out a few variations of your own.

I first learned to play my own Blues riffs whilst trying to decode other tunes, and often my own licks evolved out of me misinterpreting what I had heard in the originals.

The following examples are variations all based around the standard 12 Bar Blues shuffle:

Chuck Berry Rhythm Riff

The classic 12 bar Blues rhythm riff

Click for Audio of this lick.

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Overview

Even though it is not one of the most commonly used scales for guitarists, The Major Scale is the fundamental building block of western harmony for the past 800 years, which we will look at in this major scale introduction.

Most of the chords you hear in music can be formed from this scale. It is essential to understand how this scale works because it is the yardstick by which we describe any other sound.

Of course, the Major Scale is used in rock, but generally it’s extremely happy vibe is a bit too bright for us. There are some great exceptions however.

Check out Friends, by Joe Satriani for a truly triumphant major feeling.

Other tunes you might want to check out, depending on your musical taste are:

• Jessica, by the Allman Brothers
• The main theme from Cliffs of Dover, by Eric Johnson, (this kicks in at 2:32)
• Or even, Like a Rolling Stone, by Bob Dylan

Often, you may find that a melody is created from the major scale, before a guitar solo is played in a minor key for a more rocky sound, for example:

• Jump, by Van Halen

It is extremely important that we understand how the major scale functions and how we create melody and harmony from it before launching into the rest of this book so make sure you are comfortable with the ideas in the following sections before moving on.

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By: Simon Joseph James

When approaching a chord progression for the first time with a mind to improvise, I always encourage my students to learn the tune first and foremost, followed by the chord progression and other material second, as an “Improvising Made Easy” approach to the song.

After all the melody is the tune, and by mastering it before anything else, you already acquire a sense of the rhythm, feel and harmony of the piece.

This doesn’t require you to be a particularly seasoned improviser either, as musicians of all levels are able to learn a melody, play it with a good deal of expression, and from there add embellishments and make steps towards improvising.

In this lesson, I will outline three useful and very simple techniques for embellishing a melody to build your soloing chops and vocabulary.

The phrase that we will use in this study is the opening to “Autumn Leaves,” where the target note at the end of the phrase is Eb.

Here is the opening phrase in it’s original form.

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These days we travel the world and we can be in a whole other country and culture within a matter of hours. Whether you are going on holiday or visiting family, you may want to take your guitar, so it is important to know about flying with your guitar.

These days though, travelling with a guitar isn’t as simple as it may have been in years gone by.

Airlines these days want to charge you for anything they can, and taking a Guitar on a plane may incur extra charges if you don’t do it properly, not to mention taking your Guitar with you and not preparing could result in damages to your most prized possession.

Below are five important things to remember when you are flying with a guitar:

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By: Joseph Alexander

This is the 10th entry in my 10-part series on Drop 2 Chords.

In order to consolidate the techniques in the proceeding chapters, it is important to combine the ideas that have been taught into one etude.

I’m sure you will recognise the song, but it shall remain nameless for copyright reasons!

If you want a sneak peak, just play through the top line of the melody. All will be revealed!

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