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It is important to understand what scale is appropriate or available when soloing over a blues progression. The most common blues is a I, IV, V progression or a twelve bar blues. These progressions tend to contain the same types of chords, usually all of them being seventh chords, major or minor chords. The most common of these arrangements contains only seventh chords.

Now if we examine a typical blues composed of seventh chords we will find that there isn’t one particular scale that contains all of the notes within these chords perfectly. The best match might be to play the mixolydian mode over each corresponding chord. This would mean mixolydian mode in the key of the I chord, played only over the I chord, mixolydian mode in the key of the IV chord, played only over the IV chord, mixolydian mode in the key of the V chord, played only over the V chord. This is one way to do it, your solo will certainly sound good over the chord changes and bright with the major 3rd.

A blues progression can also be constructed around entirely major chords in the I, IV, V pattern. In this instance, use the I major scale to solo with. It will fit perfectly with the chords, and it will difficult to hit a wrong sounding note.

If a blues progression is composed of entirely minor chords, it is best to use the natural minor scale or the minor pentatonic scale to solo with. These scales will work perfectly, as the notes contained within are the same notes used to construct the minor chords.

What I would like to do now is introduce the most common blues guitar scale and explain when it is best suited. This scale is called the blues scale, and it is simply the minor pentatonic scale with a flat five added to the scale. Previously, I mentioned that the most common type of blues progression is composed of entirely seventh chords(R,3, 5,flat7). The blues scale is the most popular scale used to solo over this type of progression. You may have realised that this scale contains a minor third, however the chords use the major third. How could this sound good? Wouldn’t they conflict? Well, put simply this is what gives the blues such a distinctive “bluesy” sound – the flat 5 also gives this “bluesy” sound.

I hope you’re not too confused by now! So, to find a scale to solo over a typical blues progression, typically a I, IV, V chord progression, firstly look at the I chord. If it is a seventh chord, you could match each chord with the mixolydian mode in three different keys. You could also just use the minor pentatonic scale or the blues scale in the key of the I chord. For example if the I chord is a B seventh, you would use the B blues or minor pentatonic scale. If it is a B major or B minor as the I chord you would use the B major and the B minor scales respectively. You could also just use the B blues scale over these two progressions as well, or a combination. When playing the blues you have many options available to you, so have some fun and experiment with these various blues guitar scales.

Clause N Dillon, a musician for over twenty years, has recently written an easy to follow and practical guide to guitar scales and soloing, and is available FREE for a limited time by clicking the blue text : Learn Guitar Scales or Blues Guitar Scales