Term 2 - Lesson 6

Next week we have another video assessment so today's lesson was about preparing for it. We will have to show what we've learned about blues over the last half term so today we recapped over everything we've done so far.

We began with scales in G minor. I confidently know the first position of G minor off by heart but I am unsure of the other positions on the neck so we spent the first 10 mins of the lesson figuring it out. I used a previous method we had learn to work it out - playing the fist five notes of the scale and then moving up two frets. I am familiar with other patterns that scales take so by using that (and also some trial and error) I was able to figure out another two positions of G minor! I will now be able to discuss this in my video assessment next week.



Position 1 was the one I already knew and I learned 2 and 3 in the lesson. I can run up and all 3 positions confidently now. Positions 4 and 5 are what I will work on over the next week so that I can demonstrate and maybe solo in them during my assessment.

Secondly we recapped over the 7th chords, again in G. I am still a bit slow at working out the caged system but I do understand it more now. I need to pay attention to the root notes when finding chords. But I went through all the G7 chords and now I feel I could play them next Monday, the one thing I will practise is getting them quicker.


G7 in G shape                                         G7 in E shape                                    G7 in D shape













G7 in C shape                                                                                                     G7 in A shape

Then we went over the riff again and practised soloing. To make our solos more bluesy we thought about call and response and leaving space. I like this way of soloing because it takes the pressure off. To extend them we discussed playing triplet notes because blues riffs usually follow a triplet rhythm which is slightly swung. I found it difficult to get in the mindset of triplets but once I played it it felt quite natural.

We attempted to play various length notes to 50 bpm which was hard because it was so slow but doing this let us pay attention to how we're picking. When practising scales I usually use alternate picking which works well with blues.

For the assessment I am going to practise blues in several different keys and make notes on what chords and shapes and scales to use for each one as we don't know which key we will be in for the video. I want my video to be about how to structure a blues song and what to include so it will follow 3 steps - riff, chords, solo. I will include tips of how to make the scale authentic e.g, hammer ons and pull offs, triplets, slides, classic/popular licks.





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