Beginner Guitar Lesson 21 - Riffing the Root & Flat 7th

Welcome back to another lesson in our Blues series. This time we're going to learn another concept that can make your blues rhythm playing sound more interesting. Of course, this can be tied in with any of the other ideas we've already tackled in previous lessons.

When playing 7th chords, we can make them groove by riffing between the flat 7th and nbsp, and the octave of the root. For example, when playing an E7, you can add the octave of E (on the second fret of the D string) so that you're playing a straight E chord. Try it, and then oscillate between the E7 and nbsp; and then the E and nbsp; form the straight E chord just by taking your 3rd finger off and then replacing it. It sounds cool! However, it does take some coordination in the fretting hand and can feel pretty strange to start with.

So our first exercise is to do that at 80bpm in regular 4/4 time and nbsp. Alternate between E7and nbsp;and E every beat. The diagram below illustrates this.

E7 E    E7  E

1----2----3----4----

D   U    D   U

You can do this for A7 and D7 too. Simply alternate between A7 and A, but play the A7 with your 1st and 3rd finger on your fretting hand (as if playing a straight A chord without the middle finger), so that your second finger is free to play the octave of A on the 2nd fret of the G string. To change between the chords, all you need to do is move your 2nd finger! Simple isn't it? Again, practice this as you did for the E7 pattern.

A7 A    A7; A

1----2----3----4----

D   U;   D;  U

 

The D7 to D is a tricky one because you need to use a different and finicky fingering to play the D chord; otherwise it becomes messy sounding and plain cumbersome.

All you have to do is play your D7 and extend your 4th finger to fret the D on the 3rd fret of the B string. So to move between the chords you'll only need to move your 4th finger.

Practice it just the same way as before.

D7 D    D7; D

1----2----3----4----

D   U;   D;  U;    

 

Now I want you to apply a bit of rhythm and velocity to this pattern and play an A7 blues progression.

The rhythm we're going to utilize is a standard blues shuffle in 4/4. It kind of chugs along nicely, and I'm sure you've heard this rhythm many times before.

E7   E7;  E;     E;  E7   E7;  E;   E

1-----------2----------3----------4--------

D     U;  etc....

 

The strumming pattern just alternates between "down" and "up" throughout. So let's use this rhythm throughout an A7 Blues.

4 Bars of A7

2 Bars of D7

2 Bars of A7

1 Bar of E7

1 Bar of D7

1 Bar of A7

1 Bar of E7

Remember you can use that short descending lick from Lesson 03 between the E7 and D7. Again practice this at 80 bpm and gradually increase speed in increments of 5bpm till you reach 120bpm. By now you should only need to go around the progression twice for each tempo setting.

Great work! You're ready to sit in on a Blues jam. You can hold a rhythm down nicely, and you can play the changes smoothly and add some interesting rhythmic textures too!