Playing the Blues got me blue

[fretdancer]

I have just played with some others for the first time.
What an eye opener.
First off I will tell you I loved it - there were a few moments when it all came together and we were actually jamming and making music.

We then decided to do a 12 bar blues, and my woes began.
I have read all about the blues and sort of understand the structure but I was at a complete loss of what to play and when. I could strum a chord at the right place, sometimes even the right one but as for anything else, I was totally lost.

I am now going back over a lot of old ground and stuff I did not really understand before makes perfect sense now so there is progress.

A question though is this, when soloing over the blues, I "think" a pentatonic or blues scale should be ok, but do you change the shape according to what bit of the 12 bar your in - ie, in the key of A, would I play the Pentatonic at the 5th position, when the rhythm changes to D would I change to a different position on the neck - then change to a different position for the E?

Pete.

[Danny Poole]

First of all Excelent on the Jamming around, as a professional muso I havn't sat and jammed for years!

Now as for the 12 bar blues, (members info: Lesson - 12 Bar Blues) you don't change your scale when you change the chord. If you playing a 12 Bar in A then the following chords D & E are still ing the key of A. When you're playing your A Minor Pentatonic or Blues Scale, that also is in the key of A (every note you play in that scale relates back to A) by changing that scale when you change the chord, you then change the key of the scale you're soloing in!

If you're playing a 12 Bar in the key of A then start these http://www.guitartutoronline.com/les...35_blues01.htm scales from the 5th fret. The added notes in the Blues Scales give it a more bluesy sound (I guess this is why it's called the blues scale and not the classical scale!)

I hope this helps!