We had a thorough look at the jazz blues in the last class of Sussex Jazz Guitar School.  We focused on the various “turn arounds to two” which are also found in a great number of jazz standards.

In the next class on 19th October, we shall be looking at weaving hip jazz lines through the chord changes of the jazz blues.  It’s not essential that you attended the last class.  We will be mapping out a multitude of arpeggios and scale positions on the guitar neck to help us seamlessly navigate through the chord changes.

It will be helpful for you to refresh on previous classes regarding the various arpeggios contained within a dominant chord.  We investigated this in depth on classes a while back now.

We will look at a blues in G.  Here’s the bog standard chord changes.

G7          C7          G7           G7

C7          C7           G7           E7

Am7       D7          G7         D7

Of course there are many chordal embellishments within this form which we shall mention in class.

So!  Have a revise of this!  Get the arpeggios under your fingers for the 3 dominant chord below.  If not, just focus on G7 which we have covered before.

G7  contains the arpeggios  G7 from the root, Bm7b5 from the 3rd, Dm7 from the 5th, Fmaj7 from the 7th

C7 contains C7 from the root, Em7b5 from the 3rd, Gm7 from the 5th, Bbmaj7 from the 7th

D7  contains D7 from the root, F#m7b5 from 3rd, Am7 from 5th, Cmaj7 from 7th

Don’t worry if this seems complicated – all will be broken down simply in class!

The next dates are Sunday 19th Oct, Sat 15th Nov, Sun 14th Dec.
If anyone wants a lesson before hand, I have slots available.

Here’s Jimmy Raney playing a Jazz Blues.  This is the sort of thing we are aiming for – a fluid improvisation following the changes!
Check out the JazzGuitarTips site to see 10 great versions of Jazz Blues!