Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

  • Log In
  • Weekly Lessons
  • Take The Tour
  • Forum
  • Hear From Our Members
  • Membership Sign Up

Your Blues solo may be missing this! Hint (it’s chords) – Guitar Lesson – EP637

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to fatten up your Blues solo by playing notes directly out of chord shapes. This will also help you think through your lead in a more logical way and easily find harmonies.

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

  1. Michael Krailo says

    June 5, 2026 at 8:02 pm

    Wow, this one is smokin’ at 160bpm. Well worth wait on this wonderful Friday evening. The concept of colors of chords is important. I learned this in another one of your lessons and it was enlightening at the time. This lesson has a ton of useful licks that are super tasty. Partial chords rule.

    Log in to Reply
    • Thomas H says

      June 9, 2026 at 10:26 pm

      be nice to know your guitar effects settings too. thank. way fun.

      Log in to Reply
  2. Kevin D says

    June 5, 2026 at 8:16 pm

    love it !!!

    Log in to Reply
  3. daniel M says

    June 5, 2026 at 8:53 pm

    I may say more later as i go through the exercise but I really like the d7th c shape transitioning to a d 7th a shape. I find many songs moving back and forth from different caged chord progressions as always within the same structure.

    Log in to Reply
  4. math07 says

    June 5, 2026 at 8:58 pm

    Yes great blues lead, different from the other ones. Love it !

    Log in to Reply
  5. Mike R says

    June 5, 2026 at 9:38 pm

    Lots of good ideas here. This piece helps me keep my fore finger planted more, while playing notes underneath and moving up the fretboard at the same time.

    Log in to Reply
  6. Michael J says

    June 6, 2026 at 2:14 am

    G’day Brian,
    Excellent work as usual! This gives the player so much more of an understanding of the board,
    The locks are broken, and at last there is so much freedom to not only play, but enjoy what you are doing.
    M.J., Oz.

    Log in to Reply
  7. Imerio A says

    June 6, 2026 at 7:58 am

    Long live the blues. Great lesson Brian…full of fantastic ideas and eye opening moments.
    Love the sound of your guitar.
    I hope some day you will do a lesson that includes maybe just a hint on those unusual scales much used by players like Robben Ford. In the past you have done a lesson on rhythm playing like Robben and every once in a while I repeat it cause I like it so much.
    Thank always

    Log in to Reply
    • Michael Krailo says

      June 6, 2026 at 8:19 am

      There is nothing mystical about what Robben is doing. He just creates tension between chords. The scale I think you are referring to is the diminish scale or half-step whole-step scale. You can use that for more of a jazzy form of tension going from the I chord to the IV chord. Brian has several lessons on that scale already. Just type in “diminished scale” in the search box on the weekly lessons page. Also look up diminish chords as well because that gives you a jazzy sound to blues.

      Log in to Reply
  8. Tom says

    June 6, 2026 at 8:28 am

    That analogy about painting a barn is amazing. Very well put and helped make sense.

    Log in to Reply
  9. peter w says

    June 6, 2026 at 8:36 am

    Nice. Actually a good follow up to the Chicago blues lesson a couple of weeks ago..
    First thing I did on this one is to get the song structure down then spend some time on the chords / rhythm pattern . I’ll tackle the rest next. Looking forward to it.!

    Log in to Reply
  10. Steve M says

    June 6, 2026 at 11:50 am

    Brian, what I like about this is in relating you lead to chords I think it is much easier to remember the ideas over time and establish a foundation for creating new ideas.

    Log in to Reply
  11. Guy H says

    June 6, 2026 at 12:55 pm

    Sure has a nice bite to it! For now the slow walkthrough will be good, hope to accelerate some. For now slow is smooth, smooth is fast 😃

    Log in to Reply
  12. Steve says

    June 7, 2026 at 5:24 am

    Great lesson, I took away plenty, especially the vertical A runs on strings 2 and 3 in those 2 shapes, actually playing wrong notes on 2 strings here does not matter if one slides to next position, like previous lesson. I notice myself how important choosing the right guitar and tone is for playing rhythm and getting in that pocket, started using neural amp modeler in my DAW with tone3000.

    Log in to Reply
  13. Jerry P says

    June 7, 2026 at 11:10 am

    Great lesson! Licks work very well with most any old rock & roll song. I got a lot out of this lesson. Thanks Brian!

    Log in to Reply
  14. Raymond P says

    June 7, 2026 at 12:19 pm

    This was another great lesson. More like this, I hope. Thanks Brian

    Log in to Reply
  15. James S says

    June 7, 2026 at 12:52 pm

    I love this lesson, Brian. I’m still working out the timing on the first couple of bars, as a I usually struggle with timing and need to count through things when I first learn them. On this one, it works better for me to use downstrokes on the beats and upstrokes on the off beats, which is different from the way you’ve done it. I like what you’re doing because the upstrokes really emphasize the A and E notes on the first two strings. Once I get my way down and have the rhythm internalized, I’ll do it your way so I can do both ways. This looks like a great introduction to really learning the opening of Johnny B. Goode. Thanks. Much appreciated.

    Log in to Reply
  16. Gary W says

    June 7, 2026 at 3:47 pm

    Another great one! So much gold in here. I loved seeing so many examples of 2 notes standing in for the chord.

    Log in to Reply
  17. David H says

    June 7, 2026 at 5:24 pm

    Brian:
    This is SO MUCH FUN to play.
    Takes me back to my early early days playing guitar, back when rock ‘n’ roll was just fun. Fun to listen to. Fun to dance to. And most of all, fun to play. Back when being in a band and playing high school dances was like a celebration, man. Friday nights forever! For me that’s 60 years ago now, but this makes it feel like yesterday. So, hand me my strat and turn that ol’ Dual Showman up to 10.
    Thanks for the joy.

    Log in to Reply
  18. Eric2015 says

    June 9, 2026 at 5:02 am

    Love this Brian. It just keeps getting better & beter. The ideas you present are so awsome over such simple chord structures.
    Breaking down simple notes from within a chord to make it so melodic, is just brilliant and magical.
    It blows me away with every lesson you present. Forever greatful.

    Log in to Reply
  19. Frederick G says

    June 9, 2026 at 3:28 pm

    This one is going to take some work but I really dig it. Great stuff.

    Log in to Reply
  20. Will L says

    June 9, 2026 at 4:19 pm

    Great!
    This is the rock’n’roll lesson I have been searching for.

    Log in to Reply
  21. Guy H says

    June 9, 2026 at 4:35 pm

    At the risk of too many comments, this piece really shows how rock and roll developed from the blues, just turn up the metronome! Very fun to play, not sure why but playing this piece smoothly validates my guitar playing to my family, it is very well composed. There is beauty in simplicity, I see why rock & roll took off after Chuck Berry ( and others). Brian – thanks for this!

    Log in to Reply
  22. Will G says

    June 9, 2026 at 4:48 pm

    Blew my socks off.

    Log in to Reply
  23. Fran M says

    June 9, 2026 at 6:15 pm

    Crap…another good one! The only problem for me is that I’m a slow learner at this stage guitar journey so I keep tagging lessons that sound and feel like what I need/want but that list is getting large:) I have to stop jumping from one to the next as I’m never really “completing” the last good one you put out.

    Guess it’s a good problem to have but man…I need to focus!

    Fran

    Log in to Reply
  24. EDDIE M says

    June 10, 2026 at 12:45 pm

    New member, glad to be here, I’m excited! This is the kind of online lesson I’m looking for! Thanks/Ed

    Log in to Reply
  25. Thaddeus W says

    June 11, 2026 at 7:53 pm

    Great lesson, helped me see a lot!! Thank you.

    Log in to Reply
  26. Ronald M says

    June 12, 2026 at 7:16 pm

    Absolutely enjoyable!

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Don’t have an ActiveMelody account? Sign Up.

Links

  • Blog
  • Resources
  • About
  • Contact
  • FAQ
  • Refunds & Cancellations
  • Sitemap

Recent Lessons

Your Blues solo may be missing this! Hint (it’s chords) – Guitar Lesson – EP637

Learn how to construct a classic Chicago Blues style guitar solo – Guitar Lesson EP636

How do I jam with someone on guitar? Learn both rhythm and lead parts in this lesson – EP635

Contact

For all support questions email: support@activemelody.com
For all other inquires email: brian@activemelody.com
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

© 2026 · Active Melody. All Rights Reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Free Weekly Guitar Lessons

Enter your email address below to have the weekly guitar lesson delivered to your email address. I take privacy very seriously and will not share your email address.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Active MelodyLogo Header Menu
  • Weekly Lessons
  • Take The Tour
  • Forum
  • Hear From Our Members
  • Membership Sign Up
  • Log In

Insert/edit link

Enter the destination URL

Or link to existing content

    No search term specified. Showing recent items. Search or use up and down arrow keys to select an item.