Blues Speak: Playing the Changes

Hello, I'm Matt Schofield and welcome to this "Playing the Changes" edition of Blues Speak.

Most of us start soloing over a blues using the minor pentatonic scale over the entire progression. Thankfully that scale gets us up and running quickly. But at some point, our ear tells us that there's something missing from our solos. Something that all of the great blues players are doing that we're not.

Of course, phrasing, rhythm, and technique are all important - and all that will come in time with practice - but the one thing that can really make a difference, and make it immediately, is learning how to "play the changes."

While learning the scales and harmony behind the blues are vital, it comes down to playing the right note, at the right time.

And that's what we'll focus here in this edition of Blues Speak.

I've organized this course into five sections. I'll start by taking you through three of my own influences that pioneered unique approaches to playing the changes - BB King, Albert Collins & Albert King.

In the second section, we'll explore a selection of go-to scales and modes for soloing and improvising over each chord in a common blues progression. We'll talk about the importance of focusing on the third degree of the scale, the power of the major pentatonic, and some ways I utilize diminished sounds over the changes.

The third section looks at the changes from another perspective, this time as clusters of chord tones - melodic material to draw from - so you can easily morph between chordal and single note lines, in the moment, anywhere on the neck...

The fourth section explores combining these two approaches while simultaneously expanding into more sophisticated changes to include six-two-fives, raised fives, diminished, and minor chords...

We'll wrap up the course with six full-length performance studies in a variety of common blues feels and keys. I'll first perform each solo and then break down the approaches I used to "play the changes."

All of the key examples are tabbed and notated and you'll have all of the backing tracks to work with. You can loop or slow down any of the videos so that you can work with the lessons at your own pace.

Grab your guitar and let's speak some more blues.