Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

Play an entire Blues lead in 1 position of the fretboard (E shape from CAGED) Guitar Lesson EP621

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson you’ll learn an entire Blues lead by learning how to easily blend the Major and Minor Pentatonic scales. You’ll be doing everything in 1 region of the fretboard (within 4 frets).

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access

Slow Walkthrough

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access

Video Tablature Breakdown

Only available to premium members.
Register for premium access
Curious about the benefits of
Premium Membership?
Try it for FREE!
arrow_downYou need to be logged in as a premium member to access the tab, MP3 jam tracks, and other assets. Learn More

Add to "My Favorites"

You need to login or register to bookmark/favorite this content.

Comments

  8. RIFF DIGGER says

    Nice, melodic licks in a key, I don’t usually play blues, but I love the sound of D and in that position. That shape 2 box is a go to for the major D penta and fits right in with shape 1 of the D minor pentatonic. I have been lately, studying staying in on area for a 12 bar with major and minor and your composition is fun to play and it is so tastefully good!

  13. charjo says

    Great licks, Brian, especially over the IV and V. I’m always looking for those. The idea of ending a phrase on the flat 7 leading into the IV chord, almost like a secondary dominant, was a lightbulb moment for me.
    I remember how the Clapton gospel EP 074 lesson was my breakthrough for the concept of mixing major and minor pentatonic. I think many newer members will feel the same about this lesson.

  15. Daniel H says

    This lesson is so good that nobody wants to talk about the new “dog on the room”! … (i.e. the new landing page?…)
    Brian, is the French bull dog a new addition to the family? I Love the picture and the expression on its face… awesome lesson and a great picture.

  17. Imerio A says

    Great lesson…you play blues so well. It would be nice to have some future lessons like this in the other CAGED positions. Your idea to do a monthly recap of licks is very clever and interesting.
    Very cool guitar and sound.

  20. JimD says

    I’m really enjoying this one. I love it when you stay in a single position and go into depth on the switches between major and minor in a blues. You really excel at the explanations – lots of online instructors go far too on that aspect. You can tell they understand it but seem to forget half the people watching and listening are struggling to keep up as they ramble off the scales and positions as they move through them at near-performance speeds. Thanks for always remembering who your audience is here.

  22. James W says

    I’ve been waiting for this one!

    I love the licks over the 4th and 5th and turnaround. Wow! And it makes so much sense against the background of the CAGED system.

    Bravo! Hope to see more of these.

  24. Jack B says

    I really enjoyed everything about this lesson! The actual music, the mixing of Major and Minor, the licks, and the tempo. I think I might actually be able to play along with it after some solid practice. Thank you!

  27. Jeff T says

    I’d like the little discussion there in the beginning about the major pentatonic and the minor pentatonic and how they interact. And then looking into just the top three strings of each of those scales and how they relate to each other interesting. Finally The Landing points of that third and the 7th flat 7th dominant bringing out that tone interesting interesting. Of course the entire song and the licks trying to get each one of those little sections down it’s going to take some practice so I got to go thanks.

  28. daniel M says

    Love the lesson just saw Rick Estrin and the Nightcats here in Sacramento last night after their european tour. I think Rick played 11 harmonicas. But your lesson fits in perfectly with a lot of the Chicago schuffle and schruggs. Staying right in the 1,4,5 and making it move ya. Thanks Brian

  34. Bill M says

    Love this Brian. Especially since I’m older now with some right hand-left hand sync issues, I love how you emphasize phrasing and tone more so than speed in these lessons. Very practical stuff that’s easy to integrate. Also, I like the continued repetition of key learning points from prior lessons like how/where the minor and major pentatonic scales can be easily integrated as well.

  37. David H says

    Brian:
    My favourite kind of lesson. I wonder if you would consider a series similar to this for all 5 chord shapes and attendant M and m pentas, and even a lesson or two like the one a few weeks ago that combined the licks.

  41. MANUEL M says

    Bonjour Brian,
    Je me rends compte que dans l’accord de Ré formé de MI et dans les positions des gammes majeure et mineure pentatonique qui correspondent à cette forme d’accord on peut placer les 3 accords du blues dans cette région du manche donc entre la 10e, 11e,12e et 13e case. Et je me rends compte aussi que les notes des deux gammes que vous employez dans cette leçon pour faire le chorus correspondent aux accords. En un mot j’essaie de comprendre comment écrire un chorus intelligemment comme vous le faites.
    Manuel,

    • Brian says

      you’ll get different results depending on the browser you use. If you use Google Chrome or Firefox and click on the “Download MP3” link, it will download the file automatically. Other browsers will try and play the file after it downloads (which is what you’re experiencing). So try RIGHT clicking on the “Download MP3” link if you’re on a Windows computer and then choose the “Save As..” option. If you’re on a Mac, hold down the “Control” key and click on “Download MP3”.

  45. Steve says

    I really like the similar phrase you use for returning to the root note being reused for the 5th, thats a solid I’m going try and take away from this. I like the simple nature of one position and think you could copy the formula of this to other CAGED pentatonic positions. Having some sort of monthly recap is a brilliant idea, I think you often do this anyway in a kind of unofficial way as the lessons build on a reference each other, but grouping them around a theme is a good idea. Another idea for a theme of lessons are the minor scales, Harmonic minor seems like an easy one to adjust to as its like the regular minor but with a major end on it.

  47. TONY O says

    A simply briiian t lesson. As ever in an encouraging way, you challenge this far less gifted player to play great music.
    Big ask, but a tab of some of the backing bass lines would be a dream

  52. Jerry P says

    One of my favorite lessons after watching for many years! Many thx! Let me betray my age by saying Nick Manoloff, Mel Bay, and Gene Leis never taught me this! But I learned some very necessary things from them at the time when I was younger. I am very glad we met a few years back. I appreciate our weekly rendezvous!.

  54. Rex D says

    Great work as usual Brian. Maybe I missed it in a post somebody else commented on, but what do you have setup for tone controls for this lesson? It really got my attention and I love it.

  59. Don V says

    This was a great lesson! The mechanics of going from Minor/Major really hit home on this lesson(made more sense when it FINALLY DAWNED ON ME TO CHART IT OUT IN MY MIND )after all this time. I can do this now in any key and know what I am doing. I think the discussion on the ‘flat 7’ is a harbinger of chord change will help my rhythem when going from G to D7in one measure in 4/4. (I heard you ,Brian, repeat that you can play these rifts anywhere in the key of the song–great–except maybe when dealing with the five chord which then… This says to me you really need to know the song and its 1,4, 5 chord symmetry so that you recognize when the 5 chord follows which is another skill to acquire. complexity/knowledge that is on another level for me, Overall a great lesson, ties together several past lessons in clarity, along with some great new ideas. Now for much practice!!

  60. Robert G says

    What an awesome lesson! i loved it and i love the tone you are getting. Is that the guitar ore your settings or a combination? Also, how do you like the P125? It’s a beautiful guitar. I am looking for a new electric and this is one that seems to keep surfacing. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

  62. johnontherock says

    Hello Brian, I have been on your site since 2013, and your dedication to helping us guitar players has been truly inspiring. This is another insightful lesson, and I’ve watched your skills

    improved as well as my own over this time, so I am so glad I became a member all those years ago. You are a gentleman and a guitar scholar.

  63. Alex S says

    Hi Brian! Thanks for all the amazing work you’re doing, you’re the best teacher we could wish for.

    I’ve found that with a piece like this, where you have a lot of sort of similar licks with just a few notes all in one area, I’m getting easily confused connecting the licks. I mean, it’s easy to play a few of them in a loop but I have difficulty remembering the sequence for the whole song.

    Do you have any tips for that? Is it just more practice? I’m also finding myself lost in the jam track (like https://www.activemelody.com/lesson/play-an-entire-blues-lead-in-1-position-of-the-fretboard-e-shape-from-caged-guitar-lesson-ep621/#comment-46303 ), maybe getting better at recognizing the chords in the jam track would help?

  66. Robert G G says

    Hi Brian. It’s Robert G.

    I am trying for hours on my garage band to get 90 seconds of guitar and metronome under 512kbs. How do you do that? I just watched a guy play for four minutes. How did he do that? What can I do?

    Thanks and my best…

  68. Delzona says

    I love these types of tracks! However, I do struggle trying to gets notes that are on stacked on the same fret, in this case the 12th fret G &D notes, to sound right. I see Brian uses his middle and ring to play them, but my inclination is to roll my ring finger to play them. Is this a common issue? I find trying to get my second finger in there doesn’t always fret the note and using a single finger if I don’t always the placement correct then I’m not rolling onto the second note. So you more experienced players, should I persist in trying to use two fingers or just continue with using one? I’ve noticed this problem, for me it is a problem, anytime there’s notes stacked on a single fret. Any suggestion would be appreciated. Cheers!

  70. Dale Y says

    I love these slow blues leads in one place on the fretboard and the idea of not having to use every pattern and note all over the fretboard. Trying to know and use every note just for a solo is like standing under Niagara Falls just to take a shower.

Leave a Reply

Recent Lessons

Contact

For all support questions email: support@activemelody.com
For all other inquires email: brian@activemelody.com