5 forms (standard/quick-change 12-bar, 8-bar, minor blues, turnaround
cycle) x 2 plays each: barre shuffle, Texas 9th stabs, Chicago tritone
shells, minor m7 + 7#9 climax. 4 named comping patterns, improv rules,
2 sourced licks. Validator and build green.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
'Blues rhythm guitar is a drum kit with pitch: the shuffle is the job, the chord is the decoration. Pick a lane — low boogie locked with the bass, or high 9th-chord stabs answering the vocal — and never both at once.',
comping:[
{
label:'Jimmy Reed boogie shuffle',
rhythm:'swung 8ths: R+5 / R+6 alternating',
description:'Two-note dyads on the bottom strings, alternating the 5th and 6th above the root in swung eighths; move the same cell to the IV and V strings. Low register, dense — doubles the bass. The "second guitar" role Reed pioneered.',
},
{
label:'9th-chord stabs (Texas / SRV)',
rhythm:'staccato hits, slide in from a half-step below',
description:'Short muted stabs of the 9th grip, approached from one fret under (B♭9→B9). Mid-high register, sparse — leaves the low end to the bass. The Freddie King "Hide Away" sound.',
},
{
label:'Slow blues 12/8',
rhythm:'rolled chords on a triplet grid',
description:'At ~60 BPM everything subdivides into triplets: arpeggiated 9ths, the 6↔9 rock on the top strings, fills answering the vocal. Density drops; space is the instrument.',
},
{
label:'Stormy Monday walk-up',
rhythm:'one chord per walking step, bars 7–8',
description:'Diatonic chord climb I7→ii7→iii7 then chromatic back down — a bassline played as chords. Canonical on the Allman Brothers\' At Fillmore East.',
},
],
plays:{
'blues-12bar':[
{
label:'Barre-chord shuffle',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:E_BARRE7,note:'I7 — root on the 6th string'},
{shape:A_BARRE7,note:'V7 — two frets above the IV grip'},
{shape:A_BARRE7,note:'IV7'},
{shape:E_BARRE7,note:''},
{shape:A_BARRE7,note:'V7 — push into the next chorus'},
],
tips:'I, IV and V all live within two frets: 6th-string root, then 5th-string root at the same fret (IV) and two up (V). Strum short — the shuffle lives in the damping hand.',
},
{
label:'9th-chord stabs (Texas)',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:NINTH,extensions:['9'],note:'slide in from one fret below'},
tips:'Three strings, two of them the chord-defining tritone. Drop the I7\'s inner pair one fret and you\'re already playing the IV7\'s guide tones — the quick change costs one finger.',
{shape:MIN7_BARRE_5,note:''},{shape:SHELL_M7_5,note:'fade to the turnaround'},
],
tips:'Minor blues is usually slow — 12/8 triplet grid, rolled chords, and at least one full bar per chorus where you play nothing at all.',
},
],
'blues-turnaround':[
{
label:'Shell cycle',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:SHELL7_6,note:'I7'},
{shape:SHELL7_5,note:'VI7'},
{shape:SHELL_M7_5,note:'ii7'},
{shape:SHELL7_6,note:'V7'},
],
tips:'Often two beats per chord, not a bar — practise it at both speeds. The roots fall in fifths from the VI on, so the grips alternate strings on their own.',
},
{
label:'Uptown 9ths (T-Bone)',
level:'intermediate',
chords:[
{shape:NINTH,extensions:['9'],note:'I9'},
{shape:NINTH,extensions:['9'],note:'VI9'},
{shape:MIN7_BARRE_5,note:'ii7'},
{shape:THIRTEEN,extensions:['9','13'],note:'V13 — hold, then slide down a fret into the next chorus'},
],
tips:'This is the Stormy Monday sound: every dominant becomes a 9th or 13th, approached chromatically. Roll them lazily on the triplet grid.',
},
],
},
improv:{
scales:[
{over:'I7',scale:'mixolydian',why:'Major pentatonic and Mixolydian shine over the I — the sweet B.B. King side of the coin.'},
{over:'IV7',scale:'mixolydian',why:'Switch to minor pentatonic (or think the IV\'s own Mixolydian) when the IV arrives — the key\'s major 3rd clashes with its ♭7.'},
{over:'V7',scale:'mixolydian',why:'Each chord gets its own Mixolydian; adjacent ones differ by one note, so really it\'s "follow the chord tones."'},
{over:'i7 (minor blues)',scale:'minor',why:'Minor pentatonic + the natural 6 over the iv; harmonic minor colour over the V7.'},
],
targetNotes:
'The 3rd of the current chord at every change is the whole game; hit the ♭7 of the I in bar 4 to announce the IV. The blues curl — a quarter-step bend of the ♭3 toward the major 3 — is the signature ornament.',
licks:[
{
over:'blues-12bar',
description:'Classic descending turnaround in E (Robert Johnson "Kind Hearted Woman" lineage): ♭7–6–♭6–5 under a high-E pedal, swung triplets, resolving to B7.',
tab:'e|--0---0---0---0--------2--\nB|--3---2---1---0--------0--\nG|-----------------------2--\nD|-----------------------1--\nA|-----------------------2--\nE|--------------------------\n D C# C B → B7',
source:'GuitarPlayer "Blues Turnarounds Pt 1"; Fundamental Changes "Blues Turnarounds for Guitar"',
},
{
over:'blues-12bar',
description:'B.B. King box lick in C: major-pentatonic box around frets 8–10 with the signature 2→3 whole-step bend (D bent to E, the 3rd of C7).',
tab:'e|--8--10b12--10--8---------------\nB|------------------10--8---------\nG|------------------------9-------\n C D→E D C A G E',
source:'GuitarPlayer "12 Killer Blues Licks"; Guitar World (B.B. box, R-2-4-5-6)',
character:'Dominant 7ths on every chord, swung eighths or 12/8 triplets, and the ♭3-against-3 tension that makes it talk — form is sacred, everything else is conversation.',
tip:'The jazz handshake inside the blues — often squeezed into two bars (two beats per chord). Loop it as a vamp and you\'ve learned bars 11–12 of every uptown blues.',
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