Active Melody

Learn to play blues guitar.

How to find the Groove. Call & Response Blues in C minor – Guitar Lesson – EP641

Description

In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a minor key groove by creating a “call & response” going back and forth between the hook and lead lines that come from the Minor Pentatonic Scale

Part 1 - Free Guitar Lesson

Part 2 - For Premium Members

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Slow Walkthrough

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Video Tablature Breakdown

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Comments

  5. JEROME L says

    Brian
    You read my mind.
    This “call and response” piece is exactly what I needed right now.
    It is a continuation (and even a culmination) of the last two lessons.
    I like this style because it makes it possible to enjoy playing alone and allows me to improve both with the rhythmic approach and phrasing; and I need both.
    Of course, it’s not the only thing I enjoy in your lessons, and like many people, I love your “stand alone compositions” that you regularly offer, as well as the percussive fingerstyle pieces;
    but they are difficult to play in full (and it takes months to learn them).
    I’ve been following your lessons diligently for many years and still get frustrated having to often set aside parts of a piece I can’t play.
    With “call and response” it’s easier to keep working and having fun even with just part of the song.
    Anyway, I thank you so much for the work you do and your efforts in teaching.
    Have a good week.
    Best regards.

    • Rob N says

      Hi Fred,

      You’re right, that note is not in the minor pentatonic (or the C natural minor scale) and it features throughout this piece.

      So, what’s going on? Well, Brian does say in part 2 (12:03) that he doesn’t want to get ‘bogged down’ in explaining why that note works. This seems like a slightly strange decision given that note is part of the main repeating hook and features so often. Is the theory that complex? If so, I’m intrigued.

      In this case, Brian is encouraging us not to overthink it. It sound good, so it works….

      For me, one reason it works is that it’s part of a common vamp between the I chord and the IV chord, which in this case is a Cm to a F(7). That note is part of the F major triad (it’s the major third). Sometimes that note is being bent up in the double stop (e.g. bar 6) – hitting the flat 7 and flat 5 of the Cm.

      Anybody else got any theories?

      • JEROME L says

        Hey Rob, I put the response of your reply (because we can’t pile up any more answers).
        I’m Ok. I understand what you say.
        And you seem to be modest and sincere (“My understanding is pretty limited btw – still so much to learn. Just because I write a lot doesn’t mean I know a lot”) : but I enjoy hearing your point of view.
        Thank you very much for your reply.
        Looking forward to chatting again.
        All the best and enjoy your practice.

    • Michael Krailo says

      I assume you are talking about the way the main riff includes that set of major 3rds that is bent up a half step. If that’s what your talking about. This is merely a common rock riff off of the minor pentatonic box 1. In it’s simplest form, you can experiment with this sound by going up and down the neck in major 3rds only. The pattern for major 3rds in this key would be rooted at the 5th fret barring the 3rd and 2nd strings on the fifth fret. Now if you move up the minor pentatonic scale, using only major 3rds, you get a very distinctive and useable sound that can be used in your minor riffs. As for the E & G# notes, they correspond to the FOUR in the minor pentatonic scale. When you bend or play the #4/b5 notes a half step higher, your just bending into the venerable BLUE note! Hope that makes sense.

      I highly recommend playing around with those major 3rds up and down the neck and listen what they sound like yourself. You will come to realize that the pattern is so simple and yet so effective.

      On the G & B strings major 3rds are always on the same frets!

      • Michael Krailo says

        No edit button! I said “As for the E & G# notes”, I meant to say the “F & A notes”.
        That corresponds to the FOUR in the pentatonic scale formula : 1-b3-4-5-b7
        In this case, the blues scale: 1-b3-4-b5-5-b7

        • JEROME L says

          Hi Michael and Rob.
          Allow me to ask you something
          Is it possible that this is a movement often suggested by Brian regarding minor triads, going from a minor chord to the chord (also minor) two frets higher?
          I mean, can we look at it as part of the II chord instead of the IV?
          What do you think, since you have a good understanding of all this?
          Thanks in advance.

          • Rob N says

            Hi Jerome,

            I think I see what you’re saying. We’re not talking full triads here though, of course – so it can only hint at chords, at most.

            Unless Brian replies we won’t know exactly what angle he was approaching this.

            I like Michael’s reminder that this is a common rock (and blues) move found in so many lead lines and licks. Plus that major third built off the minor pentatonic ‘trick’ is a cool little takeaway (my first thought was..’oh yeah, like Smoke On The Water!’ Kind of.)

            Here, it’s just a very simple dyad or double-stop repeating motif. The main takeaway is that even if the minor pentatonic of the song’s key is the basic framework you can always branch out and add these little fills and licks.

            My understanding is pretty limited btw – still so much to learn. Just because I write a lot doesn’t mean I know a lot 😊

          • Rob N says

            Just to add – that’s definitely where Brian’s thinking was with the jazzy Kenny Burrell(?) lick (bars 14-15) – going from Cm-Dm-D#m. So you don’t have to be playing the whole triad to think in triad terms…

  9. Albela L says

    The lesson was very interesting! It would help if you went into more detail about the rhythm of the notes because sometimes what you play doesn’t match the score, and it’s a bit frustrating not to fully understand the phrase rhythmically. Especially when you make the explanatory video, it would be helpful to also explain the rhythm of the phrase. Thanks Brian

  11. Mark H says

    Many thanks for putting this together Brian. I wrote myself a sticky note reminder to be sure I’d revisit & work with this lesson over the weekend, instead of “doom scrolling”.

    These are fabulous moves (& combinations thereof) to polish up and have under one’s fingers.

  12. Michael Krailo says

    Most of this has already sunk in for me, so it’s re-assuring that I’m growing stronger as a player. The one thing I forgot about was to use that hybrid picking to get that high C-note for that Steve Ray lick. I use that lick all the time, but haven’t been using the tonality of that higher note, which as you say “makes the lick”. So that’s the one thing I’m taking away from this weeks lesson to make an effort to engrain that small but powerful detail in the overall sound.

  16. Rex D says

    This is a great lesson and the ability to move to different keys is a super bonus while I’m noodling and working the scales across the fretboard
    Well done Brian.
    BTW: You haven’t had a jazz lesson in quite awhile. Anything on the backburner?

  18. Andy says

    Great Stuff Brian, thanks a lot. I wanted to ask for a friend if you could do a completed Song with intro, vers chorus refrain bridge solo break bridge refrain vers refrain and again? This would help to get structure in the playing of songs and not only soloing the whole time.
    This lesson comes quit near, thank you.

  26. Bob N says

    I know the new lesson is coming out soon, but I wanted to say how much fun this lesson 641 has been. I’d been working on a song in Gm (Tommy Castro), so this Cm lesson helped me with that. Fun backing tracks to mess around in as well. It’s been a fun week. Thanks Brian.

  27. Werner L says

    Hi. this is NOT particularly related to this lesson. I have been a “member” for several years now and so appreciate Brian’s teaching methods. He often uses the phrase: “drinking from a fire-hose.” After 640+ EP’s and hundreds of ML’s, that’s exactly my problem. I’d venture that many others have felt that sensation. So I clearly have not approached his lessons correctly. Perhaps I’m overwhelmed because I used them as a “course” to learn how to play guitar., which they are NOT. Following each weekly lesson feels just like bouncing around the internet and YouTube covering a different topic almost every week. I have learned so many disparate things over these years.

    I’ve just turned 78 so I feel like Don Quixote chasing windmills thinking I can get better at guitar at my age. (I got my first guitar at 17 and after a few years, life got in the way (Viet Nam vet then married, 3 kids, etc.) Picked it up again when I retired and had the time.

    Soooo, can you Brain, or anyone tell me a more effective approach or methodology to use his precious gifts to us???

    • Brian says

      The truth is learning to improvise on guitar is made up of fragments. It isn’t a course, or a 1) do this, 2) do that… it’s not linear. At least that has been my conclusion to it after all of these years. I teach it the way that I learned it, and the way that those around me that I play with learned it, and that is in pieces. I make these lessons so you can pick out an idea, a concept, and run with just that. you don’t have to memorize the whole thing, you don’t have to even learn the whole thing, but if there’s a part in anything that you hear that’s interesting and you’d like to be able to do it, i give the background information on that within the lesson. I honestly don’t know a better way to do it. As soon as I sit to create a step by step courses, I’ll have already lost people because some already know this or that, or some think it’s too slow, or too fast and it becomes impossible to conquer. So I would say to just jump into the lessons that are interesting to you – not all will be, and that’s ok. Just go for the ones you like, and yo’ull notice i repeat myself a lot! which can be reassuring as you’re going through the journey. you’re not learning from 50 guys like some of these sites, just 1 person… so i’m limited in what I know and can do – which i think can be a benefit to someone trying to get the hang of it. hopefully that’s helful.

      • John C says

        Thank you for this lesson, Brian and this wise and helpful comment.

        Each of your lessons are so rich and powerful that I find myself learning one or two elements then pausing to soak it and then going away because it’s inspired me to do a dozen other things!

        I bought my first Guitar in Covid and started following you then. I’m amazed how after all this time you still managed to inspire and amaze me with your virtuosity and creativity.

        Thank you

        John

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