hello everyone!
im new here and to tell you this site is cool!!!!
does anyone could give me blues licks?
anyone who knows the riffs in the jam session B major blues? it is awesome!!
thanks!!!

uh....uh newbie guy here...just started playing 6 months ago....loooooove the  blues!
use this place to practice

CAN U TELL WAT IS TEH BEST PRACTICE FOR THE GUITAR SCALE?

<<<snip....
does anyone could give me blues licks?
...unsnip>>>

Hello Jazzper,

Try this pentatonic scale in E minor in first position:

-------------------------------------0---3---0-----------------------------------
------------------------------0--3----------------3--0------------------------
-----------------------0--2-------------------------------2--0----------------
----------------0--2----------------------------------------------2--0--------
---------0--2-------------------------------------------------------------2--0
--0--3---------------------------------------------------------------------------3---0-----

and then try this ornamented version:

-------------------------------------------------0--3--0-------------------
---------------------------------------0--3--4------------3--0---------------
-----------------------------0--2--3-----------------------------3--2--0------
-------------------0--1--2-------------------------------------------------2--1--0
---------0--1--2---------------------------------------------------------------------2--1--0
--0--3-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3---0

Now try mixing up the notes of these scales and re-combining them to make your own licks, like this:

----------0--3--3--0---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---0--3----------------3--0--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------3--2--0--2--0----------------------0---------------------------------
------------------------------------------------2--1--0-----0--2------2--0--------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------2--------------------2--1--0---------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3------0----

-- jack

First, what a great site.  Could someone tell me (or tell me where to find) how does one determine the key of a song?  I was once told that it's simply the first chord.  Many thanks.

...not all songs begin on the root, many start on the 6th, etc.

...the common way to determine a songs "key" is to listen for the V7-to-I change, or ending 'turn-around.' This is commonly recognized as a dominant-7th chord going back to a major chord, ie: G7 back to C, B7 back to E, etc.

...also, here's a common blues progression, played Freddie Green style using 3-note chords:



...and, here's an "ending/turn-around" for it:

Hello Old Tele Man, so then if a song uses the chords, C G D, C being the first chord strummed in the verse, D being the last then starting over again with C in the next verse, will this make the key of the song C? I've been trying to figure it out from your post that speaks of the Dom 7th and it looks like that's the case, but I just want to be clear since sometimes I hear someone I've jammed with saying the name of the song and that we'll play it in the key of F for example.

Hope I'm clear in my question. I'm new and I know it must be tedious for those of vast experience but I'm going to learn. Your reference to V7 to I change leaves me in the dust and I don't even want to presume to know what that means. Trying not to anyway ! I find your posts valuable, so thanks in advance for continued assistance.

Regards,

GuitarZen

...the "reason" for that recommendation comes from the Harmonized Scale (key-of-C example):

IM7........CM7
iim7.......Dm7
iiim7......Em7
IVM7......FM7
V7.........G7
vim7......Am7
viim7-5..Bm7-5

...notice how ONLY the V (5th-degree) chord  is dominant-7, all the other chords are Major-7ths or minor-7ths!

Tele man,  I'm afraid I'm left at sea too.  I know when something sounds good, but I can't listen to a song and immediately pick out what chord is being played.  I have fun in blues scales, but my method for determining the key is to play up and down the fret board till I find where it sounds good.  I'd like to learn a more "scientific" method.   Your advice is way over my head not to mention my abilities.

...true, but you have to admit it's a better explanation than what a piano player once told me:

"...listen to the number of SHARP and FLAT notes, that'll tell you exactly which key you're in." (ha,ha)

Ok, that gives me a little more insight Old Tele man. Thank you for the fast reply !

GuitarZen

if you have sheet music then the #of sharps/flats will indeed tell you the key of the music.  most instruction books should have charts showing the sharps/flats and identifying the key from those.

new, here, love the blues and jealous of where jack_gvr lives.

dexky wrote:

Tele man,  I'm afraid I'm left at sea too.  I know when something sounds good, but I can't listen to a song and immediately pick out what chord is being played.  I have fun in blues scales, but my method for determining the key is to play up and down the fret board till I find where it sounds good.  I'd like to learn a more "scientific" method.   Your advice is way over my head not to mention my abilities.

Here's the voice of sometimes bitter experience: it's really hard to know what chords are being played until you yourself have played a lot more chords than the ones you are trying to recognize by ear. You have to have played the chords yourself to recognize them, and there are a lot more possible chords out there than most people on a forum like this have even dreamed of.

I have arrived at a point in my musical evolution where I can generally recognize by ear most anything that's being played on acoustic guitar. But I still get stuck when I'm listening to other instruments sometimes, and even with guitar I sometimes mistake the key by a half step unless I get the guitar out and try to play along.

The scientific method is to know Major and Minor scales in all 12 keys, and the seventh chords which are derived from each of those scales, and the possible alterations of those chords. It's an entire language of harmony with a grammar that is regular and systematic. It's about a 6-month job for somebody who plays well already, and a 3-year job for a beginner.

The good news is there are plenty of good books available.
Ted Greene's "Chord Chemistry" has a ton of diagrams.
If your music reading is good then get
Jazz Theory and Practice, by Richard Lawn and Jeffrey Helmer.
(Amazon link here: http://guitar-vacation-retreats.com/boutique.html#books )

Hope this helps. Hope I'm not too discouraging! You probably have the basic smarts to do it - go for it.

-- jack