Description
In this week’s guitar lesson, you’ll learn a soulful blues lead that uses simple phrasing and comes from the major & minor pentatonic scales.
Here’s a link to the MicroLesson that shows how to play this song by yourself (without a jam track.
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Slow Walkthrough
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Brian says
Sorry for the confusion over the E chord on this one – The E chord is the 4 chord, not the 5 chord!
Dana C says
Until I saw your comment, I’m like, WHAT! That’s the 4 chord! And then you kept saying it! It’s too early in the morning for such things! LOL! Great lesson, though!
John Tillis Jr. says
yea thought that you had swaped the notes around or cords. lol
Vernon says
No worries Brian. You have put out a ton of material in the past few weeks. All good!!
John A says
The real question is “How many people passed your test?”
christiaan B says
One of my favorite lessons Brian! Awesome stuff.
Bo R says
It only means that you have us paying close attention!
Robert H says
We forgive you, Brian.
John Tillis Jr. says
Brian Ive been playing For over 35 years.? That being said, some times you go in the back door so to say. I have no theray and no schooling
of any kind so when you its part of this or that I respond by saying what the hell is that lol. Then I have to go do that lesson and come back
and try it again..AND THAT IS GREAT!! every time I turn on this I have a light bulb moment.. The understanding you bring is off the charts!! THANK YOU
Gioacchino f says
I want to say Thanks, this lesson is Wonderful.
Grazie
terry b says
I love this lesson Brian I think next I will do ep222 soulful r and b style Love your lessons
Douglas C says
No biggie, half the time I’m playing the lick while you’re talking,lol. 😔 sorry.
Erik B says
I like going back to the old stuff!
Thanks.
renoman says
Brian-You said in this lesson the E is the five chord-Actually in the key of B the E is the 4 chord, right? Thanks,nice tune. Renoski
Tom D says
Very Warren Haynes sounding ! Love it ! I just became a premium member, enjoying your site very much !
Havasumark says
Nice to see the 335 out of the closet Brian!!
Gordon T says
Nice Brian, I could just put it on loop and listen to it for awhile! I like this style.
thanks
Douglas C says
Me too Gordon. Brian’s got me listening to a whole different genres of music and I enjoy it immensely. Peace 🕊️.
Sandy B says
Wow, another terrific lesson! Thanks!
Robert K says
New courses? Sounds intriguing…. When are they out?
Brian says
Now
blues46 says
Can you tell me where to find these new courses? I have not seen any new related to new courses.
Thanks
Sharon C says
On top of the home page there is a person icon, click on that, then click on new courses.
steph_70 says
What!? Where?
steph_70 says
Found it.
Vincent V says
Great lesson Brian. I really like these type of lessons.
Mark W says
Isn’t E the IV chord?
Brian says
Yes – dang it
Mark W says
BTW, my favorite type of lessons.
San Luis Rey says
Can’t get enough of these blues lessons that mix major and minor together. I believe C#m is the relative minor of the E or 4 chord.
Dashoe says
Am I crazy or Is The PDF Different from the video?
Dashoe says
2nd Measure
David K says
Why hasn’t this been corrected in the PDF? I think Brian gets substandard tech support. Plus how about a GP7 file instead of those substandard PDFs?
Brian says
What needs to be corrected? I said it SLIGHTLY different when I shot the video, so I adjusted the tab for that video to match exactly what I was showing on screen. The On-Screen Tab Viewer, however, does match the tab for the video on screen. I take offense to the “substandard tech support” line – not sure what you’re referring to here. care to elaborate? Lastly, the GP7 files would be foolish to give out because they can easily be copied, pasted, and re-shared by guitar teachers, others online, etc. That’s literally giving away a piece of intellectual property. I’ve already had 3 cases this year, with people ripping off my songs , putting them up on YouTube and selling them!
Jim M says
Feeling it deep in my soul.
James W says
Awesome, so much good stuff.
Doug C says
Great job Brian! I love it!
Garry says
Thanks Brian. Straight to ‘My Favourites’ List!
pschlosb says
Love it! Everybody wants to add more and more intricacies and sophistication, but you are showing how
simply just playing the scale can sound as good or BETTER than all the new scales and bells and whistles.
I love songs like this, with heart and soul
Siegfried M says
Very nice lesson Brian! And it shows again: It’s all about the melody…..
Greetings from Germany
Sigi
brian-belsey says
This is so nice – very enjoyable to work on!
Anthony C says
Very Nice Brian, I like it a lot.
Tony
Daniel H says
Brian, this is the lesson style that got me hooked on active melody from the “get-go”! I am glad to see you dig into this teaching format again.
Thank you!!
Jeff H says
I love songs in this style, keep them coming. Thanks again Brian.
jaimeiniesta says
Good stuff! I love these soulful melodies.
I found that harmonized 6th explanation a bit complicated but I’ll review it. I also saw you have another lesson on it, 363, so I’ll take a look at that one too.
Vernon says
Great lesson Brian. I’m now two years into this guitar journey. Totally worth it. If you put the time in, you will get better than you thought you could. BTW, you have got me hooked on Keith Richards. One of the all time best!! I know he is one of your favorites too.
A.S. says
Great lesson, much appreciated…..and if I may make a request: A series of (blues) rock (rhythm) lessons would be equally great (Gary Clark Jr., Joe Bonnamassa, Eric Gales, Samantha Fish, …..)…..just something with a bit more crunch….
Marco T says
Thank you Brian, I love this lesson!
Leo v says
Is Not the Five the four😅
Anthony G says
I know it is probably a lot more work at least creatively, but these are my favorite types of lesson. I really like the key of B just sounds so different. I know my way around the guitar as I have been playing for many years, but beside new ideas what I really get from your lesson is learning how you phrase and make common notes sound so melodic and musical.
Well done.
Aaron P. says
LOVE your soulful lessons Brian!!! Don’t let too much time pass between lessons like these! So many takeaways. Love how you can create such a beautiful melody and keep it relatively simple and in the same key.
Martin P says
Love it, thanks Brian
Bo R says
One thing that helps make this great, Brian, is your teaching style.
Thanks very much.
Aaron P. says
QUESTION…..I’m still learning my way around the guitar neck…can anyone please explain to me why the 4th fret is the root here for Pattern 1 of the Key of B?? I guess I’m looking at things wrong, but I thought the root fret for pattern one would be on the 7th fret for the Key of B. Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!
Ken M says
You’re right👌 but little pinky on the seventh puts index finger on the fourth, get it? 😉
Enrico says
Pattern 1 of Bm pentatonic is on 7th fret. But for Bmajor pentatonic, you have pattern 2 on the 7th fret. Hope this helps ☺️
Aaron P. says
Thank you
Dan G says
Really fun one. Took about a dozen play-throughs but got it sounding good. Thanks for another great lesson!
cloughie says
Love this one mate. Hey why the A chord? Just coz it’s the IV of the E chord?
Alan S says
I like the laid back slow stuff. Good Job
William H says
Super sweet. Was out this morning and when i got home……took a second and then i remembered. It’s Saturday! a new AM Lesson.
You did not disappoint this week Brian. something myself and i think many of us look forward to.
joe p says
Great lesson thank you!
Barry B says
Good laid back music Brian espicially after a big dose of Storm Eunice on Friday here in Devon UK, thank you!
Barry B
Joe N says
Well done Brian. Very soulful and well thought out.
Catherine Arsenault says
Great lesson I’m going to enjoy this one 😊🎶🇨🇦
Dave says
This one went straight my favs! Fun to play / learn. Aside form a rally pleasant tune. This one has a lot of subtleties to discover and every time I play it, it keeps getting better.. Thanks Brain, really like this one!
charleydelta says
Brian, so glad that you read our comments – BUT how do you find the time?!!! 🤪
Any chance of another R&B lesson (e.g., the Stax records variety, like you did several years ago)?
RANDY M says
Thanks for bringing up your mistake. It had me working to figure it out. I kept counting up the E string and then the A string.
Is it correct to use the first finger full barre placement with the E string and the A string? Without the green dots it makes the lessons more difficult for me.
I had fun with your recent Clapton and this one goes into my keeper book as well.
Mark H says
This is a very catchy number, it’s been going around my head since I started studying it more closely.
I’m finding plenty of learning material and some broadly-applicable licks and tricks in this one.
John Tillis Jr. says
you always say you should know the minor and major cords or something like that {SCALES} because we have done them I have played by ear for 35 plus years and just started this with you.
for the most part its great. you are answering a lot of questions every day for me.. THE WHY of things so to say
When you say its the minor penatonic ??? I wish you would give me the lesson number? thanks Brian.
Mark H says
John T, check out EP436, it covers everything you want to know about the minor- and major pentatonic scales.
warren c says
I knew you meant 4 chord. Every lesson is great. Thanks
Fred P says
I’ve been falling behind on your lessons because I’ve been focusing on Eric Clapton’s “The Lady In The Balcony” acoustic stuff. But this one is super, and I’m going to spend some time absorbing it. Then get back to Clapton! 🙂
Alfred P says
what. a wonderful melody! thank you so much!
mritalian says
As Always some really great information, since becoming a Active Melody subscriber this is really helped in my understanding on playing the guitar. Great lessons Brian.
James D says
I am having SO much fun with this. Thank you!
Dan B says
This lesson contains so many great concepts, thank you! I also find the tabs window extremely helpful!
Louis G says
Thank’s Brian, i love this lesson! Everything is perfect but i would really appreciate a slow version without the guitar. I have slow hands. A slow version wihout the guitar would be great every time you offer backtracks.
Bruce L says
Love this piece Brian, I’ve been playing it over and over. Now I have to start searching for some of your earlier ones!
Keep up the brilliant work!
David F says
This one was great!! Thanks Brian.
Two Below says
Until this lesson I could never see a reason to play anything in the key of B.
David S says
Brian, You just keep knocking them out of the ballpark.Love this style, How you put soul in to it, The touch you put into it, Really like the key of B and all your hard work you keep putting into
these lessons. You are putting out a lot of good guitar players with your teaching style.Keep up the good work. You are a great person. Dave
Robert M says
Diesx
Robert M says
Did anybody figure out that neat 4 note pickup he does at the very beginning? I think it’s done on piano. I think it’s played on the low E string ending on the 5th fret A, am I right?
Derek H says
Not quite. in scale degrees It’s 4, 5, 6 walk up to the root of the B. E, F# G# B. Theres a strong influence here from an artist Brian has based lessons on who before. Those artists, in turn, had strong influences on them. I love this lesson for exactly this reason. It’s in the style of which was in the style of which was in the style of. and so on.
Just forget you knew my name…
Cary says
Dripping with soulful phrasing, love this lesson, great opportunity to really focus on the emotion. And goes fabulous with my red Gretsch streamliner (poor man’s ES 335 LOL) and 4 watt Vox tube amp!
Richard W says
Hay Brain I really like this one. I heard your nod to EC on as you were going out. might fine .
Richard W says
Hay Brain I really like this one. I heard your nod to EC on as you were going out. might fine. By the way I like the pdf not every person has the lates greats .
David E says
Brian – This is my all time favourite lesson. I love soulful slow blues leads and this is just great. Thank you so much for sharing how to play this type of playing. I am not a fast player so this is right up my street. Your explanations are always brilliant. If you can I would really appreciate more in this style.
Paul R says
All your lesson have been very vulnerable to me…… I am glad to see this type of lesson again…. Thank you for all your hard work.
Stefano B says
Fantastic lesson Brian, one of you best ones imho.
Thanks!
Stefano
Rich F says
Brilliant lesson… wonderfully catchy melody… love the chord structure!
Rich F says
This is really interesting! I am getting into the modes (Dorian etc) from some of Brian’s other lessons. I am watching this one now, and comparing it with the linked micro-lesson. Although Brian is staying in B major and minor pentatonic for the lead, I am thinking about the modes.
When Brian goes to the second chord, chord 2 in the B major family, c sharp minor, he stays with B major pentatonic… as he says at 6.48 seconds in the lesson above, it sounds minor, although it is B Major pentatonic! To my confused ear, I am not sure if it sounds major or minor: is this because I have listened to the backing track before-hand, and know that at this point it goes to the c sharp minor chord?
To add to the mystery (for me), when I watch the call and response micro lesson, Brian plays B major pentatonic as a response to the c sharp minor chord in the second measure.. and says in a way at this stage, by playing B major pentatonic, he is playing notes from the c sharp Dorian (which is a minor mode)!
So, I am thinking, there coukd be two ways to play this: stay in the B major and minor pentatonics (as Brian does), and/or play in c sharp dorian (pattern 1 of c sharp minor pentatonic, starting at fret 9, with those extra two dorian notes added to the pattern), and hang out in that pattern… now, as the chords go by, the tune will move between B major, c sharp Dorian, E lydian, back to B major…???
(The on.y weird one is the borrowed chord A…)
Anyway, perhaps over-thinking it… I am going to grab my guitar today to see if this works!
Thanks again Brian for a wonderful lesson, and a beautiful chord progression!
George K says
This style of lesson is the reason I joined. Thanks B
Brian Canadian in the UK says
Nice lesson just got to being a Premium Member you couldn’t keep me away , its great lesson to jam on, and have fun cheers,
Robert G says
Anybody know what the difference is between a riff, lick, and a phrase?
John K says
This one and ML067 are what brought me back! Really enjoyed the lesson. Thank You.
Steven P says
Hi Brian – just “re-discovered” this lesson after doing quite a lot of pentatonic and diatonic learning and really helped make some things “click” for me plus there are some really tasteful lines in here I am going to shamelessly steal and put in my memory banks for sure (but not for commercial gain I promise, no one would pay to hear me play!) I could hear “I’d rather go blind “in a lot of the phrases certainly as in the Chicken Shack version as sung by their then singer the late Christine Perfect – one of my all time favourite tracks!
So a big thank you for this lesson in particular but also for all of active melody across the whole spectrum you teach. Your style and the way you convey knowledge and encourage us to use stuff “not just memorize the dots” is really good…,challenging but I’m definitely getting better even though its a long road ahead! – Cheers , Steve
Glen G says
Brian, this is such a great lesson. The amount of quality material in AM is, to put it lightly, overwhelming. This lesson really helped me connect the dots in understanding how major and minor pentatonics can play in the same sandbox. Cheers!!
Laura M says
Thanks Brian, after all these lessons, I finally have an ear to improvise. 453 lessons and counting. Thank you so much.
Brian says
Awesome 🙂