Between the Licks

Using the blues scale and a couple classic licks, let's put together a variety of blues licks.

Instructional video (will open new page).

If you remember my Custom Blues Licks - Part One lesson (from over a month ago), I showed a variety of simple licks on the standard blues progression. I thought I would go ahead and continue the lesson now that I finally have a free afternoon. Here are three hefty blues licks that sit near the turnaround of a blues progression, the last four bars.

The turnaround is a lick or phrase that sets up the next progression. Played in the last two measures of a blues progression, they often have a chromatic sound to them that departs from the standard blues scale. You can hear them in many different songs.

First blues lick:

This first lick is pretty simple blues lick. It starts with an outline of the E7 chord and a bunch of triplets from the basic shape of a D7 chord.

It begins to close out with a chromatic descent from the b7 of the A7 chord, this is a classic drop that you hear imitated in the bassline of many hundreds of blues and jazz songs alike. It finishes with a small lift to the E7 chord before the blues progression begins again. These last two bars are considered the turnaround.

Second blues lick:

This second lick is another very simple blues lick with a classic turnaround (some may say THE classic turnaround). It starts with a bend on the b7 of the E7 chord before messing around with the root, b7 and 5th of the D7 chord.

It finishes with the arguably most famous blues turnaround ever. The pattern is distinctly triplet with another telltale chromatic fall. Again, it finishes with a quick lift to the E7 chord.

Third blues lick:

This third lick is kind of tricky, especially over the D7 chord. The notes over the E7 chord are similar to the first blues lick, but the D7 chord has an interesting pattern. Listen to the video to hear it.

This final lick revisits the classic turnaround from the second blues lick, instead of triplets, it shuffles just the note on the E string. Again, it closes with a lift to an E7 shape. This shape is very handy, makes sure to use it often in your playing.

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