How to Improve Your Blues Solos By Using Arpeggios [VIDEO]

Let's take a look at a few arpeggio-based licks you can use when soloing.

One way to add a coherent sound to your soloing is by using arpeggios. This helps in two ways: the repeating chord tones are always “correct” notes and playing the root, third, and fifth notes of a chord forces you to include interval skips in your playing instead of reeling off scale passages. Let’s look at a few arpeggio-based licks.

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The first two (Ex. 10a and 10b) are based around the G shape at the third fret. The next step is to add a few nonchord tones to your arpeggios as a way to move between positions. In Ex. 12 I use an A note to connect some arpeggio-based licks in the two positions.

Excerpted from Acoustic Blues Guitar Basics: Swingin’ Blues Soloing

Orville Johnson
Orville Johnson

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