Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn how to play a slow and heavy, Chicago style blues (on electric or acoustic guitar) by blending the notes of the Major and Minor Pentatonic Scales.
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Slow Walkthrough
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Fantastic lesson Brian! Ever week I feel like a kid waiting to open their Christmas presents. I can’t wait for the new weekly lessons to come out!
So powerful! Great sound, and so accessible! More like this. Thanks Brian..
that was fun!
I’d say: One of your best lessons … like that sound and drive… more of this stuff would be appreciated. Thanks
Playing B minor pentatonic over B7 was a lightbulb moment for me 🙂
Can’t believe that sound is coming out of that guitar…looks can be deceiving. I would have walked right past it at Guitar Center.
Great Rockin’ Dirty Blues tune. Sounds original and familiar at the same time.
This is the lesson I have been waiting for.
That’s Brian.
Can’t wait to start learning this.
Brendan
Excellent!
Very useful application of major/minor pentatonic shapes. Fun music!
I can’t wait to play this one! Sounds great! Thanks Brian
Great lesson 😀
My kind of music more please johnstrat
Love this style of back to basics blues/rock! Thanks for putting this one out for us. Looking forward to learning another new lesson!
Great lesson! If only my fingers could move that fast!
I have followed your site for almost a decade now and this is definitely in the top 2 of my most favorite lessons you have ever done! Your style of teaching resonates so much in so many ways. I can honestly say this one takes the cake!! Thank you for continuing to deliver week after week after week.
Agree Bill – its definately up there !!! 🙂
Yeah me too .Such a lot to get your teeth into and experiment with timing.
Love it Brian, this is so up my alley! Also really loved last weeks.
Xd
I loved the V chord (B) ideas. I have struggled finding B ideas when playing in the key of E in the open position. This is great!
Great sound and beat to learn. The major and minor blending makes it sound dirty. Lots of fantastic connections and ideas. Again, nice V chord suggestions.
Brian: Love that mixolydian scale, but I’m confused about it. Wouldn’t E mixolydian be the B major scale, starting on the E, or the 5th scale degree? Doing that doesn’t get us to the pattern you showed in the video. Or another way to look at it. Wouldn’t E mixolydian be the E major scale with the flat 7? What you showed sounded great and it’s easy to get under the fingers, but it isn’t the E major scale with the flat 7.
Yes, I’m sure I’m overthinking this, or making some wrong assumptions, but can you help?
Hi James,
The E mixolydian mode is the fifth mode of A major. The symmetrical pattern Brian shows around the A shaped E chord is E mixolydian and has a two flat 7th intervals. The symmetrical shape is actually part of the B dorian shape starting on the B note, 7th fret on the 6th string, which has the same notes as the A major scale (ie. A major has the same notes as B dorian, as C# phrygian, D lydian, E mixolydian, F#aeolian, G# locrian).
John
Charjo: Thank you, thank you. I see it now. So playing with A major scale with E as the tonal center gets you E mixolydian and playing the same scale with B as the tonal central gets you B Dorian, I think.
That’s it, James.
👍👍👍
Wow. Top lesson. Cheers Brian.
I really liked this one Brian, learned to play some notes that had puzzled me for years.
Joined a couple years ago this is easily in my top five lessons please keep this style of blues coming thanks for all you do always a pleasure
F Book just threw up a feed featuring Bob Margolin talking about the recording of Hard Again by Muddy and Johnny Winter. Great read. Then this little gem comes along which is right in the pocket of what Muddy was doing – well imho at least – thanks so much 🙂
Just love it,
This is another instant classic Brian! Great lesson. 😎🎸😎
Great lesson, great song, fantastic sound, even when it finished, I could still hear it in my head. Another Gem Brian.
Hi Jeff, I know what you mean about still hearing it. I think it will be with me all day 😊
Yep another great lesson, makes me pick up my guitar.
I love this stuff Brian – please keep em coming – Thanks again
i like the connections between the chords and the scales, special the mixolidium
Opening few bars reminds me of the opening on ‘Hey Joe’ love it
Truly a gem this one Brian, thank you! Thank you to continue demystifying the underlying patterns and building up my play weeks after weeks! I wish I came across your lessons 10 years earlier!
Five star lesson.*****
I’m excited about digging into this lesson. Great cure for snow storm & getting ready to do taxes blues! I like how you explained your effects settings at the start. I haven’t used pedals since the late 60’s with a fuzz tone driving my Fender Bandmaster….but now mostly play to entertain myself and am interested. Do you have recommendations for pedals – looks like a plethora out there
“Brian’s Bread and Butter Bedrock Blues” Thanks Brian for a great lesson. Seems that this style of play is what piqued my interest in your teaching 5 years ago and I still really love learning how to play it. I have also enjoyed your lessons in music theory that have given me the ability to understand and play other subtypes or genres like jazz or swing but basic blues really gets me going.
Hi Brian, excellent stuff this week, and great campfire acoustic jam that will really ring.
Thanks for the awesome lesson! Amazing that you open up so many ideas off of cord shapes. Making my Saturday morning super fun.
Really enjoy Chicago Blue 12 bars. It’s easy to play along with and everybody taps a foot to it!
I appreciate you pointing out what pattern Minor or Major. ‘That’s what I watch for when I first view the lesson.
I was trying to remember the easy way of getting into the Mixolydian scale. That was a-ha moment 🙂 A shape
Thanks as always
Love this lesson Brian.
Your excitement in the open EMP1 and EmP2 on strings 1,2,and 3 area is contagious. I want to own it!
Great lesson! Love that sweet & sour milky growl you coax out of that Odell. Many great takeaways. Always trying to blend pattern 1 minor and pattern 2 major. Focusing down at the nut with your examples gets me; I mean really gets me, in my blues wanna-be roots!
Thanks
Great! Please keep this kind of blues, or in the style of, coming. This sure is what I look for.
Another great lesson Brian! Love Chicago Blues! So cool to blend the mixolydian scale with the major and minor penatonic scales! Thanks again Brian! You’re the best!
I love all the Blues lessons, but I really enjoyed this newest one. Thank you very much for all you do for us!
This has gone into my favorites list and is up there with the best I’ve heard on AM Brian! I hear so much SRV ( and others) in this I,IV,V blues in E and that’s the reason I’m playing guitar again at 72.
Love this gritty and twangy sound. A little like George Thurougood. Gets peoples attention.
G’day Brian,
Gotta love the meat and potatoes! Excellent work as always!
M.J., Oz.
Great Lesson, Brian!! It’s gritty and fun to work on and play. Makes me smile!
Great lesson. Wanted to ask you before Brian, something you did at the beginning … ( because I’m relatively new to electric guitar and not to well up on amp settings) Could you when its lesson with electric guitar or even acoustic guitar , when that relevent, mention a bit about the amp settings? Many thanks for the great lessons
John Graham.
Great lesson. Wanted to ask you before Brian, something you did at the beginning … ( because I’m relatively new to electric guitar and not to well up on amp settings) Could you when its a lesson with electric guitar or even acoustic guitar , when thats relevent, mention a bit about the amp settings? Many thanks for the great lessons
John Graham.
Great lesson! I found similitarities with EP496, which is also one of my favourites. The minor pentatonic on the five chord is a very useful trick
Just plain FUN ! On the very winter’s day
Thanks
Classy! I have a bunch of these Chicago blues in E lessons in my book, I smell a mash up coming! 😀
Another great lesson, as always! Thanks Brian. This one moved me to my youth.
Fantastic lesson, Brian! Thank you so much.
I don’t know enough to understand a lot of the comments on theory and why or how it all works (wish I did). I just know it sounds great, ain’t too hard to play and everybody likes it. That’s a winner every time for me. Thanks again for another great lesson.
Wow, even though it looks simple when you watch Brian play it. When I tried to do it, I realised it’s unlike anything I had played before apart some parts of it that sounds kind of Zztopy. To make a guitar sound like this is a kind of arcane, as far as I’m concerned. So I’m so excited to get some experience with it. Thanks
HotDamnamighty! Great lesson Brian! Thanx!
Thanks Brian! I recommend Active Melody to every aspiring guitarist I meet. Do you have any T-shirts so I can further spread the word?
If I was charged with promoting Active Melody, this is the lesson I would showcase.
Great tune – but counting out some of those “trip-a-lets” while yo play then slowly would have helped!!
Another good lesson. Great triplet practice. Mixing E major and minor pentatonic scales in open positions, very tasty. Playing the minor pentatonic scale over the 5 chord is new to me. I usually think of that as trying to play the 7 note mixolydian scale if I’ playing the changes; however I think both scales use the same notes. So why not. Also I don’t know why I never thought of playing the miixolydian scale for the 1 chord; I had thought of that as just playing the major scale, but the flat 7 note played over that major I chord is more bluesy. The fretboard is definitely opening up for me through your lessons. Always grateful.
Hi Brian Great Lesson! This lesson really focuses in on triplets which I needed to work on.
Question: Where do you come up with these great licks. I notice in the background you have a significant record collection. You must be listening to a lot of Albert Lee?
One More: Do you do all of this work alone. I imagine getting out a lesson a week with original material must be quite a load.
i do write it all myself and play all of the tracks
Braian, you deserve to be up there with the Greats. I love your compositions. I mean, it’s songs and melodies like this that need to be on hot rotation on my radio, not these other ones that I hear there. Thanks again.
This week’s major-minor roadmap is very interesting. The major-minor mix in the open, 1,2 and 3 fret positions produces some dramatic tones. Great stuff!
Brian
Wonderful lesson and inspiring tune. Can’t wait to dig in. Thank You
Absolutely love this style of Blues, Brian! You play it so well. I’ve seen you do the myxolidian scale in your other videos but this time really stuck for me with your placement of it between the C Shape (E7 chord) and the A shape. It just really stood out for me. Maybe it was also the lick you used that was really nice. Thanks again for your great explanations. It’s all making me a better guitar player!
How fun was that? Really enjoyed this one.
Thanks
Ken
A very nice piece of chicago blues – this one made me to be a member again. Keep doing the great job – if the lessons are also entertaining, than it is a way to be more motivated to learn. Thanks again for your good work.
Right on. Love this one. Very tasty playing and love the note/riff choices. thanks
Just woking out on the first part of this lesson…. great information… thank you
love this one Brian
Great lesson Brian. Pulls together many threads I play around with. Thanks!
Some great little ideas in here that I will certainly add to my playing, thank you.
LOVE IT!
Just amazing. I totally love that style and that sound. Thanks so much Brian. First class.
Brian, that’s the lesson I’ve been waiting for. Absolutely killer. So much to digest but can’t wait to get home and tear into this one. Love it
I haven’t understood the different patters of the pentatonic…. is there any summmery in your stuff? I tried so much to find out in the web, but…. ???
by the side. thanx for your work
Uwe from Munich Germany
Thanks Brian! Wow this one is bad to the Boneee.
Great stuff. I value how you tie underlying music theory (pent scales) to your lessons. Also, can’t believe how you come up with great tunes so frequently!
Thanks Brian, I just appended EP303 onto this and it fits perfectly (whether played unplugged or amp’d).
Great Lesson Brian you always produce such great material!
Bonjour Brian,
Au-delà de suivre les accords en utilisant les arpèges, les triades ou toutes notes cibles, je suis ravi d’avoir enfin compris ce mélange subtil de gammes pentatoniques majeures et mineures sur une progression 1,4 et 5. MERCI pour cette vidéo très formatrice.
Superlative stuff Brian! Thank You! Dec
Brian, Another home run.You hit this one out of the park. Keep up the good works. Thanks so much for all you do. Dave
Really liked this video. Learning so much from you
Brian,
Thanks! This was spot on for the spot I’m on right now. I really hope to blend it into my other skills. Your sight is terrific. I have learned a ton. I really appreciate your style and think this is a tremendous value. Keep it up!
T.
Can’t play it to that jam track. Will like you say steal some of note ideas and play in E7 James Brown funk.
Thanks
Hi
Fantastic session, I am in my sixties and have been playing guitar since i was seven and haven’t come across a teacher that has explained things as clearly as you have. Much appreciated
Regards
Aleshia
Brian you refer to patterns often,is it a must to memorize all the patterns. David E S, Soo, Ont.
Thank you so much for this lesson, Brian! I really like the movement you suggest between major and minor pentatonic scale patterns and your use of pretty much the whole of the fret board! I will definitely use what you taught here in my soloing. Thank you again!
Great lesson Brian. If there is any interest, would you be able to post a similar video from closed position such as A?
Checkout the latest lesson ML107 – i show how to do in closed position
Great lesson…. the light bulb moment for me is that the scales wrap around the chord…. you see it when the track goes to the 5 chord and the idea of playing double stop 3rd’s which are part of the scale but not the chord triad but sonically it works….. I think this needs to be called out more as you’re only a half step away musically from where you need to be and makes the link between a triad chord and scale
great! stuff. you make it look so easy.
Thankyou Brian ..This lively little song has helped push my limits and made me realise the importance of timing thanks to your patience when describing everything.
Hello Brian ,can’t seem to download ep 605
Excellent lesson! I am a beginner and this lesson is highly motivating. Thank you Brian – I enjoy all your lessons.
Nice!
Simple and tasty.
More please!
Hey Brian, another great lesson, thanks! A light bulb moment for me was the 5 chord, and switching to the Bm pentatonic for that moment with the nice bend, and then the chromatic walk down to the A in time for the 4 chord! That was nice!
Thank you so much. I’ve been with you about 3 times, but fraud on my card interrupted me being you. I joined again tonight, and I’m in 7th heaven. I,m probably going to be with you more than my family, but that’s my goals. enscoeecc@gmail.com Charles or Chuck Enscoe… I really want to follow you and practice correctly….
Fantastic lesson (as always), Brian. The dirty sound of that overdrive is just sooooo addictive (devil’s music!). I know you’re repeating stuff you’ve done before but I never tire of seeing and hearing it all again because it always sounds so fresh. And I forget. I need constant reminding. Just blues at its dirty best – and I want to play it. Thanks again.
I have to agree with the above comments. This is a great lesson. I really enjoyed learning it. I love how you relate the caged system chords, scales and positions that go with each lick. YOU ARE AN EXCELLANT TEACHER. THANKS FOR SHARING.
Who’s playing the piano on the backing track? I enjoy listening to the backing track just to hear the piano. Thats sweet….very flavorful.
that’s me
Really good lesson for where I’m at. Love the detailed discussion of blending minor/major. The light bulb occasionally goes off (however dimly) when I relate this to what I’ve seen/heard over the years but didn’t really understand why certain notes worked so well. Also forcing me to get better with pentatonic patterns I think I know but don’t really when the pressure is on. On to part 2.
Hello Brian,
Sounds great !
Want to learn this nice blues style.
Thank you.
A great lesson. I feel that’s it all starting to “dove tail” together for me as my playing is now becoming much more fluid and my understanding growing. Thank you.