Chords for How to Play Blues - Blues Riffs, Blues Guitar Turnarounds, and Blues Shuffle

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Cm] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Bb] _
Hey guys, it's Claude Johnson with another guitar lesson for you.
I want to pick up where we left off last time, talking about blues guitar.
And today I want to show you those little single note licks in between the blues shuffle riffs.
Okay, so we have this shuffle [A] rhythm. _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Am] _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ [Bbm] _ Alright, so the [G] first lick, _ _ _ _ I'm [Cm] starting here on the 5th fret of the G string, hammering
on to the [Bbm] _ [G] 6th, and then the high E string 5th fret.
_ _ And this is really like the minor 3rd interval to the major [A] 3rd interval, _ [Bb] which is the typical blues sound.
That's a little bit of theory, don't worry about it.
Just play this lick. _
_ And then the second lick I'm [A] playing is _ [Bb] that 7th fret of the G string to 5th fret, [G] _
[A] and
then 7th fret of the D string.
[Eb] Now the important thing to focus on when you're playing these [G] little licks is [Cm] you never want
to interrupt the rhythm of what you're doing.
So you have this [A] pattern, _ _ _ and you count it out like 1, 2, _ 3.
_ [Em] Okay, we're going [Bbm] to play on the second half of the _ 4th bar there.
So _ instead [A] of, _ _ _ [Am] we play, _ _ _ [Bbm] okay, once again, [A] instead of this, _ _ _ [Am] we have, _ _ [Cm] _ _
_ so playing, putting
that all together, [A]
1, 2, _ 3, [Am] 4, _ [A] and then back into it. Right? _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ [Bb] Now there's no hard and fast rule that says you have to start on the second half of [Cm] the
bar, _ _ just as long as you're not interrupting [Bb] the rhythm and you're going to the right chords
when you should be.
So, for example, I could start on the start of the 4th bar instead of the second half
of the 4th bar, _ for [A] example, like this. _ _
1, 2, 3.
_ [E] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] Okay?
_ So I hope [Eb] that made sense to you.
Okay, I also want to talk about the turnaround.
So you have _ [E] 5 chords, _ _ [D] 4, _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Cm] okay, typical blues turnaround.
_ What I'm doing here, instead [E] of 5, _ _ [D] 4, _ _
[Am] 1, [A] _ _ _ [E] 5, so when I start [A] that 1, _ [Bbm] _ _ _
again, it's all about the [Gm] timing.
I'm going to hit that _ 1 and then go into this little chromatic thing.
[Bbm] And this is like a very, [Bb] you know, typical, [C] traditional kind of turnaround. _ _ _ _
[Bb] So, I'm going to hit that just for one [A] beat there.
1, [E] _
_ _ [Am] _ _ [Gb] _ [E] once again, _ 5, _ [D] 4, _ [E] _
1.
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
[Gm] And what I'm doing here [Cm] is [G] I've got my 1st finger [Bb] on the 5th fret of the high E string
and then my pinky on the [Gm] 8th fret of the B string. _ _ _ _ _ _
And then I'm going to walk this note down one fret at a time. _
_ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
Ring finger there on the 7th fret, _ _ _ middle finger on the 6th fret, and [A] then _ barring both
[Cm] B and high E string with my 1st finger.
[G] Once again, _ [Gbm] just walking right down.
[Bb] _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ And then [F] this little move, [Bb] _
[Bbm] this is a nice little voicing.
It's a 7th chord with no [Cm] 5th.
So I've got my middle finger on the [F] 8th fret [Bbm]
of the A string, 1st finger on the 7th fret
of the [Db] D string, _ _ [Gb] and then I've got my [Cm] ring finger on the [Bb] 8th fret of the G string. _
_ _ [Cm] And that's actually _ one half step [Gm] up.
I'm [Bb] going to do this little [E] thing. _
_ [Gm] So we're going into this [E] E7, _ [Gm] but we started from [Bb] one half step above.
[E] _ _ _ [Gm] So the whole thing sounds like [A] this.
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ _ _ _ Now, you [Gm] could also do this instead [E] _ _ [A] of_ _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ So, [Bbm] I'm not changing anything on the left hand, but then on the [Bb] right hand
I'm picking B [Gm] string, _ [G] E string, _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ _ so B, E, B string.
_ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ And [C] I'm basically picking with my pick on the B string, and then using my middle finger
to just kind of pluck the [Gm] high E string. _
[Gb] _ _ [Db] Kind of hard to see with [A] the camera angle. _
[Cm] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] I go way deeper into all this [Bbm] stuff in my blues course called
How to Play Smoke and Blues.
[Gm] So, go check that out.
Here's another thing you can [Bb] do.
Instead of starting [Cm] it here, _ _ [F] _
_ [E] you can start it here.
[A] _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ _ [Eb] It's great to really end the whole song with.
_ [Bb] And again, I'm using the high A note as my pedal note,
[Am] _ which basically means I'm just staying on that note [Eb] and hitting other [A] notes in between.
_ [G] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [Gm] You can also do it down here on the D string,
_ _ [Gbm] _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [Gm] which is actually just the octave of this.
[Gbm] _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ [Gbm] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ You can actually do these two together.
[A] _ _ [Ebm] _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ [Am] _ _ _ _ [Bbm] So, there you have it.
That's all for now.
Have a [A] great day, and I'll catch you next time.
_ [F] _ _ [D] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _