How to Play Blues Guitar

The blues have greatly influenced rock & roll. Many famous rock guitarists have learned to play the blues, and it has helped them to really master the instrument. Even if you aren’t looking to play the blues genre of music, learning to play certain blues chords and scales can prove helpful to any style of music which you are looking to master.

Every great guitarist knows blues guitar by heart. Why shouldn’t you know it, too? After you’ve gone through this lesson, you will know what it takes to play good blues guitar.

Blues Chords

Certain chords, such as the seventh major chords, play an integral role in blues music. Whether you’re looking to master blues rhythm or blues lead guitar, the blues chords are an excellent thing for you to learn. We’ll go over the 7 major seventh chords right now.

A7
E: |-0--|
B: |-2--|
G: |-0--|
D: |-2--|
A: |-0--|
E: |----|

B7
E: |-2--|
B: |-0--|
G: |-2--|
D: |-1--|
A: |-2--|
E: |----|

C7
E: |-0--|
B: |-1--|
G: |-3--|
D: |-2--|
A: |-3--|
E: |----|

D7
E: |-2--|
B: |-1--|
G: |-2--|
D: |-0--|
A: |----|
E: |----|

E7
E: |-0--|
B: |-0--|
G: |-1--|
D: |-0--|
A: |-2--|
E: |-0--|

F7
E: |-1--|
B: |-4--|
G: |-2--|
D: |-3--|
A: |----|
E: |----|

G7
E: |-1--|
B: |-0--|
G: |-0--|
D: |-0--|
A: |-2--|
E: |-3--|

The seventh major chords above are well-used in blues music. They also have the ability to be used in other types of music, too. Most of the above chords are pretty easy to play, so even beginners can learn and master them. As you go through learning each of the above chords, try to create exercises for yourself to switch from one seventh major chord to another. Here’s a quick example exercise that you can base further blues major seventh chords off of.

Blues Seventh Major Chord Exercise

E: |-1-1-0-0-2-2-0-0------------------------|
B: |-0-0-1-1-1-1-0-0------------------------|
G: |-0-0-3-3-2-2-1-1------------------------|
D: |-0-0-2-2-0-0-0-0------------------------|
A: |-2-2-3-3-----2-2------------------------|
E: |-3-3---------0-0------------------------|

As you can tell in the above exercise, you’ll be going from G7 to C7 to D7 to E7, in that order. You’ll strum each chord twice (down/up) and then switch to the next chord. It’ll probably take some time for you to get this exercise down pat, but once you do, you can work on creating an exercise which incorporates all 7 seventh major chords.

Blues Scales

Blues scales are the very foundation of blues solos. Great blues guitarists like B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan all heavily used or use blues scales. The first blues scale that a guitarist will typically learn is the A Blues Scale.

A Blues Scale

E: |---------------------5-8----------|
B: |------------------5-8-------------|
G: |------------5-7-8-----------------|
D: |---------5-7----------------------|
A: |----5-6-7-------------------------|
E: |-5-8------------------------------|

For the above scale, you’ll be using your index, ring and pinky fingers for the notes on all six strings. As you can probably tell, the scale is quite similar to the A Minor Pentatonic. That’s because the A Minor Pentatonic is largely derived from the blues scale.

E Blues Scale

E: |--------------------------10-12-----|
B: |--------------8-9-10-11-12----------|
G: |-----------7-9----------------------|
D: |--5-6-7-8-9-------------------------|
A: |-7----------------------------------|
E: |------------------------------------|

The E Blues Scale is a different kind of blues scale in that you’ll not play notes on the low E string. Instead, you’ll start on the 7th fret of the A string and then play notes higher up the fretboard on the strings that follow. This scale will seem a bit strange to you at first, but it’ll become routine after you play it enough times. Be sure to play it in the order indicated, and then reverse the scale by playing the notes in reverse order, starting from the high E string.

C Blues Scale

E: |-------------------2-3-6-----------|
B: |--------------4-5-6----------------|
G: |-----------3-5---------------------|
D: |----2-3-4-5------------------------|
A: |-3-6-------------------------------|
E: |-----------------------------------|

Like the E Blues Scale, the C Blues scale starts on the A string. You’ll want to probably use all four fingers, depending on the string which you are playing (so for the A string, you’ll use the index and pinky fingers, but for the B string, you might want to use the index and ring fingers). The C Blues Scale is very useful for soloing, so it’s a great scale to master.

Now That I Know Blues Scales and Chords, What Can I Do Now?

Now that you know these terrific scales and chords, you can incorporate them into your playing and maybe even songwriting. The sky is really the limit for what you can do with the information learned in this lesson.