The Basics of Music
for Blues and Rock Improvising

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I am going to explain some concepts in music pertaining to Blues and Rock improvising. Don't worry, this won't get too long-winded. Just read through this section, look at the diagrams and look for patterns everywhere.

Anyway, here we go.

Twelve Notes

All of the Blues and Rock 'n Roll is made up of only twelve notes. That's it!

There is only twelve notes in ALL of "Western" Music. This includes Blues, Rock 'n Roll, Country & Western, Polka, Salsa, Reggae, Mariachi, Classical, New Age, Punk, Grunge, Flamenco, Jazz, Swing, Rap, Soul, etc.

Every note on your guitar is one of the twelve notes! These same twelve notes repeat over and over again to form the different octaves. Each octave is comprised of twelve notes and the next twelve is a different octave, and so on.

Beginning with the note C, an octave would be as follows:

C   C#   D   D#   E   F   F#   G   G#   A   A#   B   C

And without the pesky sharps (#):

C   D   E   F   G   A   B   C

This corresponds to:

Do   Re   Mi   Fa   So   La   Ti   Do

(sing it like Julie Andrews)

The last note is Do (or C), like the first, and the pattern repeats all the way through again and again.

Down to seven notes

Here's what the previous example would look like in standard music notation:

Fortunately, with improvising, we don't have to deal with all seven different notes in the beginning. There is a scale called the minor Pentatonic which is comprised of only 5 notes! It is one of the most commonly heard scales in Western music. The minor Pentatonic scale is sometimes referred to (incorrectly) as the "Blues Scale". It is the one we'll be dealing with mostly in this course. Mostly...

Down to five notes

Scales	Do	Re	Mi	Fa	So	La	Ti	Do
A Major	A	B	C#	D	E	F#	G#	A
Am Pent	A		C	D	E		G	A

Working with this 5-note scale not only relieves us of the burden of learning the other notes, but in this particular key we don't even have to worry about sharps or flats! Fortunately for us, this same five note scale forms a nice, neat pattern on the guitar, and that makes it very easy to learn and use.

At this point, let's take a look at the minor Pentatonic scale as it looks on the guitar. Below, you see a fretboard diagram showing two full octaves of the scale in the key of A minor (called the A minor Pentatonic scale or Am Pentatonic).

Notice the pattern that this scale forms on the guitar.

Take note of the fingering designations just above the diagram (numbers in blue). 90% of the time you will be using these fingers when playing this scale (regardless of the key). 1, 2, 3, and 4 refer to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fingers (or index, middle, ring, and pinky). Also, there is an A (the root of the scale) at the index finger position on both E strings (the two outermost strings). This affords us an easy way to pinpoint the scale.

Play this scale from root to root (A to A), going up and down the strings, and listen to how familiar it sounds to you. This scale is one of the most popular in all of modern music. You should learn it front and back, up and down, and even with your eyes closed.

A simple way to use the scale

One simple way to use this scale is to match its root with the root of the chord being played. This works very well with minor chords. For example: if a friend of yours is playing an Am chord, you can use the scale as shown above and it will match up nicely. If someone plays a Bm chord and you move the entire scale up two frets, to the seventh fret, where the root notes are now B, the scale will once again match up with that Bm chord.

How will you know where to put the scale to match different chords? Check out the following table:

Scale Position Vs. Key/Chord Used

Am	Bm	Cm	Dm	Em	Fm	Gm	Am
5th	7th	8th	10th	12th	13th	15th	17th

Notice with the Am chord that the scale can be played at either the 5th fret or the 17th fret. This is because you are at 12 frets difference and that is a perfect octave. Everything you do at the 5th fret is equivalent at the 17th fret, just an octave higher. This also means that you can play with a Bm chord at the 7th fret and also at the 19th fret.

This scheme works well with individual minor chords, but it also works with chord progressions. A chord progression is a series of chords that are repeated in order to form a section of a song. For instance, play the following chords, strumming each one four times equally, and run through the whole cycle several times:

Am	G	F

This is a chord progression. It happens to be in the key of A minor. (It also happens to be the progression used in the outro of "Stairway to Heaven" and numerous other classic rock tunes). Notice how the G Major chord leads you right back to the beginning A minor chord.

Record this on a cassette to play back, or have a friend play it to you and try playing the A minor Pentatonic scale over all four chords. Notice how the Am Pent scale matches up with each of the chords in the progression.

Emphasize the root

Keep emphasizing the root note of the scale. Make up your own short phrases that begin and end with a root note. This makes it easier to familiarize yourself with the scale. It's great for ear training practise and for learning how to improvise.

I cannot make this last point strongly enough! Do not skip over this idea! Emphasizing the root note of the scale is the entire key to understanding how the scale works. There are only five notes in the pentatonic scale and since one of them is the root note, you only have to learn how the other four relate to the root note. Once you have a hold of that idea, you'll own this scale and will be able to improvise by yourself.

If you don't learn to use the scale this way, you will find yourself aimlessly playing the scale up and down without any real direction or feeling. It won't make any sense and it'll sound crappy. Take my word for it. I know, I've been there. I spent years there. No reason for you to relive the same mistake.