There is a lot of information available on playing blues guitar solos, but where do you start if you’re just beginning? You could spend ages learning and memorizing scales, scale positions, boxes, patterns, bends, slides, hammers and so on. But what you want is to have some fun jammin’ the blues, right?

So to get you off to a quick and simple start, here’s a lesson that shows you a minimal set of notes you can use to start playing beginner blues guitar solos right away.

12 Bar Blues Recap

In this lesson we’ll learn how to play some easy blues guitar solo licks over a blues in E major. Before we look at the licks, let’s make sure you know the E major blues, shown below with the E7, A7 and B7 chords.

/ E7 / E7 / E7 / E7 / A7 / A7 / E7 / E7 / B7 / A7 / E7 / B7 /

To practice blues solos over this progression record yourself as you play it using any chord shape you want.

Beginner Blues Guitar Solo Position

Blues player most commonly use the minor pentatonic scale to play their blues guitar solos. If that all sounds like Greek to you that’s because it is. Penta is Greek for five – the scale has five notes, and tonic is a note. As we’ll see you don’t have to speak any more Greek to use it.

The five notes of the blues scale repeat many times on the guitar fretboard, which can confuse you. To keep things simple in this lesson we’re going to look at just one occurrence of each note, right up near the end of the neck close to the open chord positions you’re probably familiar with.

The fretboard diagram below shows the notes of the E pentatonic scale: the root note E (marked R), the b3 (pronounced flat third), the 4, 5 and finally the b7 (flatted seventh).

1    |---|---|---|---|
2    |---|---|---|---|
3 b3 |---|-4-|---|-5-|
4 b7 |---|-R-|---|---|
5    |---|---|---|---|
6    |---|---|---|---|

Use your index finger to play the R and 4 notes and your ring finger to play the 5. The b3 and b7 are played on the open 3rd and 4th strings.

Example Blues Licks

Now you have some basic blues note positions, but how do you make a solo with them? The answer is, make up licks with the notes and play them one after another.

A lick is a short sequence of notes. You can think of the five pentatonic notes as the letters of your musical alphabet, and licks are like the words or phrases you create by combining these letters. This might sound complicated, but it’s actually really easy because unlike a language like English there are virtually no spelling mistakes in the blues.

The easiest way to get the hang of this is to take a look at some example licks.

We’re going to use guitar tab notation, this presents the six strings of the guitar, lowest string at the bottom, and marks the fret number to play on each string. Read the tab from left to right and play the indicated notes one after another. The beats are marked above the tab lines.

Blues Solo Lick 1

   1  &  2  &  3  &  4  &
1 --------------------------
2 --------------------------
3 -------------------0------
4 ----0--0-h2--0-h2-----2---
5 --------------------------
6 --------------------------

Blues Solo Lick 2

   1  &  2  &  3  &  4  &
1 --------------------------
2 --------------------------
3 -------2--4--2--0---------
4 -2-----------------2~~~~~-
5 --------------------------
6 --------------------------

Blues Solo Lick 3

     1  &  2  &  3  &  4  &
1 --------------------------
2 --------------------------
3 -2h4---2h4---2h4--4-------
4 ---------------------2~~~~
5 --------------------------
6 --------------------------

Put It Together

Practice these licks until you can play them comfortably and in time. Then you can build a solo by stringing them together over the 12 bar blues progression. Once you’ve mastered these make up new licks of your own using the five notes, try any idea you like to discover how it sounds.

That’s it, you’re on your way to becoming a blues guitar player. If you’d like to learn more about playing blues guitar, I recommend this easy to follow beginner blues guitar video lesson.

Would you like to learn to play easy blues guitar with only one chord position, without moving all over the fretboard? Well, here’s a lesson that shows you how to play cool sounding 12 bar blues guitar with only one easy beginner chord position.

12 Bar Blues Recap

First up, you need to know the 12 bar blues pattern. If you don’t know it already then let’s take a quick look at the chords normally used to play it. We’ll take a look at an example in the key of E major, a common key for blues guitar songs. The pattern, not surprisingly, contains 12 bars like this.

/ E7 / E7 / E7 / E7 / A7 / A7 / E7 / E7 / B7 / A7 / E7 / B7 /

Now you know what the 12 bar blues looks like let’s see how this pattern can be played with only one chord position.

D7 Chord Position

To play our really easy 12 bar blues we’re going to use the simple D7 chord shape shown in the chord diagram below. This is a chord that any beginner guitar player learns early so shouldn’t be too difficult.

1  |---|-3-|---|
2  |-1-|---|---|
3  |---|-2-|---|
4  |---|---|---|
5  |---|---|---|
6  |---|---|---|

Finger the chord by placing your index finger on the second string at the first fret. Then place your second finger on the third string at the second fret. Finally put your third finger down on the first string at the second fret too.

Notice how your finger tips make a little triangle formation on the bottom three strings? For this easy blues progression you’ll need to strum or pluck only these three bottom strings.

Practice grabbing that chord position to get comfortable with it, then we can move on learn how to play a 12 bar blues with it.

12 Bar Blues In E With D7 Chord Shape

To play the 12 bar blues we’ll take the D7 chord shape and move it up and down over only three frets. We start with the E7 chord which you play by placing the D7 shape two frets higher – your first finger at the base of the triangle should be on the third fret of the second string.

We’re going to make the other two chords of the 12 bar blues – A7 and B7 – really easy to play by using a little trick called a flat fifth chord substitution. You don’t have to worry about what this is or why it works for now, just use and enjoy it.

The A7 chord substitution is played by sliding the E7 chord down just one fret. Your index finger should be on the second fret of the second string. The B7 is played by moving the E7 position up one fret, index finger on the fourth fret of the second string.

Using these chord substitutions has the neat advantage of putting all three chords on adjacent frets, and even better with exactly the same chord shape. All you have to do is move this shape down one fret or up one fret from the starting position on E7, things could hardly be any easier, could they?

Now you can enjoy playing the 12 bar blues progression in the key of E major with this easy blues guitar chord trick.

Blues guitar is a very popular style that many guitar beginners want to learn to play. The blues is fun, sounds great and gives plenty of opportunity to express your creativity. But just what do you need to learn to play blues guitar? In this post we’ll answer that question as we take a look at the different things you need to learn to become a blues guitar player.

In summary the blues guitar skills you need are:

1. Blues chords
2. Blues chord progressions
3. Blues scales
4. Blues guitar techniques
5. Blues riffs and licks
6. Turnarounds
7. Intros and endings
8. Blues rhythm styles
9. Blues songs

Now this might look like an impressive list, but don’t be put off. You don’t have to master everything in one go and you can enjoy exploring all these topics for a long time to come. To get started let’s take a brief look at these elements one by one…

1. Blues Chords

First thing on your blues guitar learning plan should be blues chords. With only a few chords you’ll be able to start playing real blues songs and they’ll provide you with a foundation you can use no matter how far you progress in your blues playing.

The blues uses chords called dominant chords, often known as 7th chords too. Dominant blues chords can be played in many ways including easy open chord positions if you’re a beginner. Later you may progress to play more exotic sounding chords such as dominant 9th, 13th and minor 7th chords.

2. Blues Chord Progressions

The blues chords you learn are put together in standard patterns – called progressions – that are the basis of blues songs. The most common progression used is the 12 bar blues and its variants. You can also learn to play blues in 8 and 16 bars as well as minor blues and maybe some jazzier progressions as you become more advanced. Good knowledge of blues chord progressions will help you easily understand and play many blues songs in different keys.

3. Blues Scales

The most commonly played scales in the blues are the pentatonic minor and pentatonic major scales as well as the blues scale, which is simply an extended pentatonic minor scale. Blues scales are used to play solos, but also come in handy to create short phrases to link chords and make the rhythm playing more interesting and fun.

4. Blues Guitar Techniques

Blues guitar uses some special techniques that are essential to creating a good blues sound with your scales. Hammer-ons and pull-offs, bends, slides and vibrato skills will ensure you deliver the blues effects of your favourite players.

You will practice these skills regularly to develop them and maintain them. Although the basic set of techniques is not very extensive they can be one of the hardest elements of blues guitar to really master. Pro players continue to work on these to hone and perfect them as they are essential to your blues sound.

5. Blues Riffs and Licks

Armed with your knowledge of the blues scales and playing techniques you can start to learn to play the licks and riffs of the blues masters, as well as make up some of your own. Licks and riffs are the building blocks of blues guitar solos and are also widely used to add spice to rhythm playing.

A good vocabulary of popular blues licks and riffs will give your sound a characteristic blues flavour familiar to blues fans everywhere. You should learn as many of these cliche licks as you can and incorporate in your playing. As you begin to understand how they are made you can have endless fun as you make up your own new and original licks and add them to the mix.

6. Turnarounds

At the end of 12 bar blues the turnaround sets up the return to the beginning of the cycle and launches another verse or solo. It’s important to understand how turnarounds work and to build yourself a library of turnaround licks to play.

7. Intros and Endings

Similar to turnaround licks there are many standard styles used to start or finish blues songs. It’s often hard to get a band started and to finish together elegantly and a good knowledge of blues intros and endings will help you fit in with other blues players in a band or jam situation. Mastery of clean intros and endings will set you apart from the crowd of wannabe players – remember first, and last, impressions count.

8. Blues Rhythm Styles

So what will your style be – Chicago, west coast, Texas, delta blues from Mississippi or Louisiana, or maybe uptown funky blues? Or maybe a little of everything?

The blues has a rich history of styles each with their own characteristic elements. You can study different regions, eras and players to learn to reproduce their styles or blend them together into your own unique “you blues” style. With so many styles there’s always something new to discover, which is part of the fun of learning to play blues guitar.

9. Blues Songs

Of course, the ultimate aim of all these blues skills is to play songs. There are numerous standards – the best known blues songs – that you should learn because they will give you a common language to share with other blues musicians. Then of course you will want to learn to play some of your own personal favourite songs and perhaps one day make up some of your own.

Blues songs are rather fluid and often appear in different forms, no two blues players play the same song in exactly the same way. So when you learn blues songs try to get yourself several different recordings and be aware of the different styles the song is played in. Then take the elements you like the most from each and play the song in your own way.

Phew, that makes for quite a lot of things to learn, let’s review what we’ve discussed.

1. Blues chords, the foundation of the blues rhythm sound
2. Blues chord progressions, put the chords together
3. Blues scales, used to create blues licks, riffs and solos
4. Blues guitar techniques, bends, hammers, slides for authentic blues phrasing
5. Blues riffs and licks, the vocabulary of blues soloing
6. Turnarounds, when it’s time to start all over and do it again
7. Intros and endings, get off to a good start and finish with style
8. Blues rhythm styles, for sound rhythm playing
9. Blues songs, put it all together and play the blues!!

Now you know what you need to go and learn if your dream is to play blues guitar. Of course, with so much to learn you can have fun exploring and discovering for a long time to come. But don’t worry if that all seems a bit daunting, you don’t need to master all of these topics in detail to get started.

Here’s a challenge for you if you want to learn. Get yourself a guitar and learn these easy beginner blues chords to get yourself started. Before you know it you’ll be hooked and working your way through this list all the way to number 9.

The 12 bar blues chord progression is the foundation of blues rhythm guitar. This progression is used in countless blues songs so if you want to play blues guitar you’d better learn it. This lesson shows you the basic 12 bar blues progression and three common variations you can play in any key.

Blues chord progressions most often use dominant chords which are a standard major chord with an added flatted 7th note, this note is found two frets below the chord’s root. Twelve bar blues chord progressions use three dominant chords, these are the I, IV and V chords of the song’s key. Here are some examples.

• In the key of E the I, IV, V chords are E, A, B.
• In the key of A the I, IV, V chords are A, D, E.
• In the key of G the I, IV, V chords are G, C, D.

Dominant chords can often be played on the guitar by removing one finger that plays the root note of the chord to play the dominant 7th note two frets below it. You can see this in the E7 and A7 chord shapes below.

Get the idea? Good, now let’s take a look at the 12 bar blues progression using those chords. Below is the chord grid.

You can see that the progression starts with four bars of the I chord, in this example E7. This is followed by two bars of the IV chord, A7, then another two bars on the I, E7. The last four bars are referred to as the turnaround and use one bar on the V chord, one bar on the IV and finally two bars on the I chord.

The progression then starts back at the I chord in the first of the twelve bars again. It’s easy to see where the progression gets its name, it has 12 bars which are repeated for the length of a song.

The 12 bar blues progression is the foundation of countless blues songs. You will easily learn to recognize it if you listen to plenty of blues songs and pay attention to the sound of the chords as they go by.

There are two very common variations to the basic 12 bar form that we’re going to take a short look at here. You should learn these two variations to play more popular blues songs or if you want to participate in blues jams with other musicians.

The first variation involves a change in bar two of the 12 bar blues, you play the IV chord in place of the I chord to give the progression shown below.

The second variation replaces the I chord in the twelfth bar with a V chord. Play this variation and I’m sure you’ll instantly recognize it. It is a characteristic blues sound you have heard in countless blues performances, it relaunches the song into the next round of 12 bars.

Now you’ve learned the two variations separately, you should also practice playing the 12 bar blues progression with both variations: play the IV chord in bar two and the five chord in bar twelve. That gives you four 12 bar blues chord progressions to practice, let’s recap them here:

1. The basic 12 bar blues progression
2. IV chord in bar 2 variation
3. V chord in bar 12 variation
4. IV and V chord variation

Learn and memorize these four 12 bar blues progressions on your guitar and you will be well on your way to playing blues rhythm guitar. Learn and practice the progressions in as many keys as you can and you’ll be amazed how many blues songs you can play. Time to pick up your guitar and start practicing…

This article for beginner guitar players shows how to play the 12 bar blues progression with easy open position blues chords.

Blues guitar is great fun to play and is the basis of musical styles like rock, soul, R&b, funk and jazz. Learning to play the blues gives you valuable skills that will help you learn many other styles.

Yet the heart of the blues can be learned with only the few simple chords and the basic blues song structure shown in this lesson. Ready? OK, let’s take those first steps towards playing thousands of blues songs…

Blues Chords

Blues guitar uses distinctive sounding chords called dominant 7th chords. These are denoted by the number 7 following the chord name, e.g. E7 denotes a dominant 7th E chord.

The dominant 7th chord is simply a normal major or minor chord with a 7th note two frets below the root note added. For example, you add a D note to an E major chord to form an E7, a G note to an A chord gives you A7, and so on.

You can add the 7th note to many chord positions by finding the root note and changing the fingering to play the note two frets below it. The chord diagrams below show you easy open blues chords in the key of A major.

E7            A7                D7
e 0|---|---|  0|---|---|---|    |---|-3-|
B 0|---|---|   |---|-2-|---|    |-1-|---|
G  |-1-|---|  0|---|---|---|    |---|-2-|
D 0|---|---|   |---|-1-|---|   0|---|---|
A  |---|-2-|  0|---|---|---|   x|---|---|
E 0|---|---|  x|---|---|---|   x|---|---|

You can try to find the dominant 7th note for other open chords you know. Simply find a string where the root note occurs and change fingering to play the note two frets lower on that string. Remember that the root note occurs two or even three times in open chord forms.

Alternatively, you can find a string where the 5th note of the chord occurs and play the note three frets up from it.

Now you know how to play simple blues chords in open positions let’s look at how they are used in songs.

12 Bar Blues Progression

Most blues songs use a 12 bar chord progression that is quite easy to learn. Once you master this progression you’ll be able to play about 90% of blues songs with it.

The blues progression uses chords based on the first, fourth and fifth scale degrees. These are commonly known as the I, IV and V chords. Here is the 12 bar blues progression in the key of A major, the I, IV, V chords are A7, D7 and E7 respectively.

|  A7  |  X  |  X  |  X  |  D7  |  X  |
|  A7  |  X  | E7  | D7  |  A7  | E7  |

As you learn and memorize this progression you should aim to memorize the chord changes in terms of I, IV and V chords. If you do this then it will be easy to play the blues in a variety of keys.

You can play the blues in four popular keys – A, E, D and G – with only five chords. The table below shows the I, IV and V chords for these four major keys commonly played on the guitar.

Key of E: E7 (I), A7 (IV), B7 (V)
Key of A: A7 (I), D7 (IV), E7 (V)
Key of D: D7 (I), G7 (IV), A7 (V)
Key of G: G7 (I), C7 (IV), D7 (V)

Practice the chord forms one key at a time and memorize the 12 bar blues progression. With these two simple pieces of knowledge you can have fun playing along to many blues songs or join in at your local blues jam.