Minor Blues in A

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Backing track for the solo can be downloaded.
File name: Backing Track A Minor Blues.mp3

Hi!

Here is a 12 bar blues in the key of A minor.

As usual, you can find the right hand notation in the guitar pro files and pdf file.

p = thumb
i = index
m = middle
a = ring
c = pinky/little finger

Chords & Scales

I have two different lessons available about the minor blues progression.
I recommend you watch the lessons in order to understand which scales you can use.

• The Minor Blues - Chords & Concepts
• Minor Blues Soloing - Scales & More

The minor blues progression for this solo is very simple. It consists only of minor chords in the key of A:

Am7 = Im7
Dm7 = IVm7
Em7 = Vm7

There are several different ways you can analyze these chords, but the simplest is probably this:

Am7 is the tonic and the three most common scales you can use for this chord are the A minor blues scale, the A minor scale and the A dorian scale.

Dm7 is the four chord and Em7 is the five chord. You can derive these two chords from the same scale: the A minor scale.
So over Dm7 and Em7 you can play the A minor scale, which becomes D Dorian over Dm7 and E Phrygian over Em7

There are of course other ways you can analyze these chords and you can derive the chords from other scales as well.

Be sure to also check out my Scale Library

ADDITIONAL LESSONS

In order to understand everything - in the analysis below - I recommend that you watch and read the following lessons:

BASIC Music Theory - How To FIGURE Out Intervals of Chords on Guitar

• Altered Scale

In jazz, the altered scale (altered dominant scale) is a seven-note scale that is a dominant scale where all non-essential tones have been altered. This means that it comprises the three irreducibly essential tones that define a dominant seventh chord, which are root, major third, and minor seventh and that all other tones have been altered. These are:

the fifth is altered to a ♭5 and a ♯5
the ninth is altered to a ♭9 and a ♯9
the eleventh is altered to a ♯11 (equivalent to a ♭5)
the thirteenth is altered to a ♭13 (equivalent to a ♯5)

Source (wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_scale

• Chord Tones

Here's a few lessons regarding chord tones.

Blues Lesson - SPICE UP Of The PENTATONIC scale with CHORD TONES

How To Mix Chord Tones & Scales

Simple" Trick How To Outline The Chord Progression

• Chromatic scale

I have a lesson about chromaticism. Click the link down below

Chromaticism (Introduction)

The chromatic scale or twelve-tone scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone, also known as a half-step, above or below its adjacent pitches. As a result, in 12-tone equal temperament (the most common tuning in Western music), the chromatic scale covers all 12 of the available pitches. Thus, there is only one chromatic scale.

• Enclosures/Chromaticism

In this étude I use something called enclosures.  
Check out the posts down below where I talk and write about enclosures and chromatics.

60 second instagram lessons

Lesson Xj - Enclosures

Lesson Xk - "The Barry Harris Method"

Written lesson about enclosures (half step below/half step above)

Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this analysis.

If there's anything you don't understand or just something you'd like me to clarify, feel free to comment below or send me a private message here on the Patreon page.

I'm happy to help!

Analysis

Below is an overview of the solo and what is "going on", theoretically.

You can download the analysis as a pdf file.