Blues Headlines

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player - with full audio examples and backing tracks

- By Richard Barrett

WHILE SCALES ARE GREAT for getting your fingers and brain in shape to play single-note solos and melodies, there are situations in which a knowledge of the chords you're working with is a big advantage. One good example of this is the trio format, where you might only have bass and drums for support. There is a limit to how much a bass guitar can convey harmonic details (such as a major or minor chord) without forfeiting its main function of keeping a consistent low-end, so it's down to the guitar in this context to provide more harmonic and melodic content.

A single-note solo played over just bass and drums runs the risk of sounding a bit empty and lacking in musicality after a while. The solution is to include some chord tones, fragments or arpeggios to help outline the harmony for your listeners. This isn't as daunting as it sounds. The key is being able to find the triads around the fretboard, then embellishing them. It's surprising how little it takes to transform a chord accompaniment into a 'featured' part.

If you break down the beginning of Little Wing by Jimi Hendrix, you'll see that's basically what he's doing. Larry Carlton takes triads and superimposes them over different chords to create a complex, layered harmony. You can also break the triads into arpeggios and spell them out a note at a time.

This does sound like a lot to absorb, but these four examples are designed to give you some ideas to try covering each of these areas. You don't need to become a music theory genius to use triads in this way – just find a few go-to ideas and build from there using trial and error. Hope you enjoy and see you next time!

Example 1