Chops: Beginner
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Create simple and meaningful blues phrases in the style of B.B. King.
• Understand how to emphasize chord tones over a blues progression.
• Learn how to use repetition to build tension in your solos.
Click here to download a MP3 and printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
Riley B. King (aka B.B. King) is known the world over as one of the greatest blues musicians in the history of the genre. His tone, attack, vibrato, phrasing, stage presence, and human spirit offer plenty to emulate and learn from, but there’s an ace of a scale hiding up Mr. King’s sleeve, and this lesson will reveal this barely discussed, yet very useful concept. This scale is especially valuable if you’re a blues, rock, jazz, funk, or country guitarist looking to discover a new world of licks.
The first thing you should know about the “B.B. box” shown in Ex. 1 is that it fits uniquely over dominant 7 chords and progressions, but use it with caution over chords in minor blues tunes. This scale produces an interesting flavor you’ll hear not only in King’s music but also in the licks and riffs of Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, and Eric Clapton, among others. In modal terms and typical blues-rock situations, a dominant 7 chord progression begs for a Mixolydian-based scale treatment. As you will see, things are a bit different when using King’s scale.
Now that you’ve learned the scale’s basic fingering, you should notice how good it sounds by simply playing it ascending and descending over an A7 chord (Ex. 2). Be sure to add some smooth vibrato on that final note.
Click here for Ex. 2
As you can see and hear, this scale is very user-friendly. Once you’ve become acquainted with this scale, you’ll eventually find your fingers reaching for licks, patterns, and phrases that you’ve never played before—and you may wonder what you ever did without it. Use the first note on the 2nd string as a guide to help you move this scale into other keys. Wherever you place this root note (shown in red in Ex. 1) dictates the key you’ll be playing in.
As you play through this example and get a feel for the fingering and sound, be aware that we’re technically flirting with an A Dorian tonality over an A7 chord. For those of you playing along at home, that’s technically a big no-no in traditional music theory terms, but in the rebellious world of blues and rock music, a skilled soloist can make those “wrong” notes sound legendary. It is interesting that this scale really sings against dominant 7 chords and progressions, but it sounds a little sour against a standard minor blues.
After all, this is technically a minor-sounding scale (with an obvious b3) and it features a distinctively Dorian sound. So why does this scale not really work over a minor blues?
One reason this scale works better over dominant chords is the appearance of the natural 6 (in this case, F#). It works fine over an Am7 chord but when the IVm chord (Dm) rolls around, the rub between the F# and F is a bit jarring. In a dominant-sounding situation the IV chord contains an F#—much better.
Whenever you’re playing over dominant-flavored blues changes, you’ll find that this scale is very handy to have in your bag of tricks, and it’s a great “cut-and-paste” option. The scale is especially useful when improvising an extended guitar solo and you suddenly run out of ideas.
To expand this scale even further, you can add the B.B. King-approved chromatic note b5 on the 1st string. This creates a jazzy flavor and really adds a touch of class when used tastefully and targeted wisely (Ex. 3).
Click here for Ex. 3
Now that you have a grip on playing this scale, try learning some licks to really get an idea of where this scale can take you. To get the ball rolling, play around with these three licks in Ex. 4, Ex. 5, and Ex. 6.
Click here for Ex. 4
Click here for Ex. 5
Click here for Ex. 6
The next step of really expanding the application of this scale would be to navigate through a blues progression and target the specific notes relative to each chord as they appear. Start by locating and understanding the function of each note over the IV and V chords.
As you’ll find, each of the three root notes from the chord progression (A–D–E) are present within this scale, which makes it easy to use over the entire 12-bar blues progression. Play through Ex. 7, Ex. 8, and Ex. 9 to get a feel for how to zero in on specific chord tones.
Click here for Ex. 7
Click here for Ex. 8
Click here for Ex. 9
Finally, here's a backing track in the key of A to help work out some of these ideas.
As you continue to play with this scale, incorporate more pentatonic ideas. Pretty soon you’ll be connecting licks all over the neck. Heck, if B.B. has been using these ideas since 1937, it should take you a good long while to wear them out. If it’s good enough for Mr. King, it’s good enough for all of us.
Hotone Wong Press
Cory Wong Signature Volume/Wah/Expression Pedal
Renowned international funk guitar maestro and 63rd Grammy nominee Cory Wong is celebrated for his unique playing style and unmistakable crisp tone. Known for his expressive technique, he’s been acclaimed across the globe by all audiences for his unique blend of energy and soul. In 2022, Cory discovered the multi-functional Soul Press II pedal from Hotone and instantly fell in love. Since then, it has become his go-to pedal for live performances.
Now, two years later, the Hotone team has meticulously crafted the Wong Press, a pedal tailored specifically for Cory Wong. Building on the multi-functional design philosophy of the Soul Press series, this new pedal includes Cory’s custom requests: a signature blue and white color scheme, a customized volume pedal curve, an adjustable wah Q value range, and travel lights that indicate both pedal position and working mode.
Cory’s near-perfect pursuit of tone and pedal feel presented a significant challenge for our development team. After countless adjustments to the Q value range, Hotone engineers achieved the precise WAH tone Cory desired while minimizing the risk of accidental Q value changes affecting the sound. Additionally, based on Cory’s feedback, the volume control was fine-tuned for a smoother, more musical transition, enhancing the overall feel of volume swells. The team also upgraded the iconic travel lights of the Soul Press II to dual-color travel lights—blue for Wah mode and green for Volume mode—making live performances more intuitive and visually striking!
In line with the Hotone Design Inspiration philosophy, the Wong Press represents the perfect blend of design and inspiration. Now, musicians can channel their inner Cory Wong and enjoy the freedom and joy of playing with the Wong Press!
Reverend Vernon Reid Totem Series Electric Guitar - Shaman
Silos features six presets, tap tempo, one full second of delay time, and three voices—two of which are styled after bucket-brigade and tape-delay sounds. In the $150 price category, it’s not unusual for a digital delay to leave some number of those functions out. And spending the same money on a true-analog alternative usually means warm, enveloping sounds but limited functionality and delay time. Silos, improbably perhaps, offers a very elegant solution to this can’t-have-it-all dilemma in a U.S.-made effect.
A More Complete Cobbling Together
Silos’ utility is bolstered by a very unintimidating control set, which is streamlined and approachable. Three of those controls are dedicated to the same mix, time, and repeats controls you see on any delay. But saving a preset to one of the six spots on the rotary preset dial is as easy as holding the green/red illuminated button just below the mix and preset knobs. And you certainly won’t get lost in the weeds if you move to the 3-position toggle, which switches between a clear “digital” voice, darker “analog” voice, and a “tape” voice which is darker still.
“The three voices offer discernibly different response to gain devices.”
One might suspect that a tone control for the repeats offers similar functionality as the voice toggle switch. But while it’s true that the most obvious audible differences between digital, BBD, and tape delays are apparent in the relative fidelity and darkness of their echoes, the Silos’ three voices behave differently in ways that are more complex than lighter or duskier tonality. For instance, the digital voice will never exhibit runaway oscillation, even at maximum mix and repeat settings. Instead, repeats fade out after about six seconds (at the fastest time settings) or create sleepy layers of slow-decaying repeats that enhance detail in complex, sprawling, loop-like melodic phrases. The analog voice and tape voice, on the other hand, will happily feed back to psychotic extremes. Both also offer satisfying sensitivity to real-time, on-the-fly adjustments. For example, I was tickled with how I could generate Apocalypse Now helicopter-chop effects and fade them in and out of prominence as if they were approaching or receding in proximity—an effect made easier still if you assign an expression pedal to the mix control. This kind of interactivity is what makes analog machines like the Echoplex, Space Echo, and Memory Man transcend mere delay status, and the sensitivity and just-right resistance make the process of manipulating repeats endlessly engaging.
Doesn't Flinch at Filth
EarthQuaker makes a point of highlighting the Silos’ affinity for dirty and distorted sounds. I did not notice that it behaved light-years better than other delays in this regard. But the three voices most definitely offer discernibly different responses to gain devices. The super-clear first repeat in the digital mode lends clarity and melodic focus, even to hectic, unpredictable, fractured fuzzes. The analog voice, which EQD says is inspired by the tone makeup of a 1980s-vintage, Japan-made KMD bucket brigade echo, handles fuzz forgivingly inasmuch as its repeats fade warmly and evenly, but the strong midrange also keeps many overtones present as the echoes fade. The tape voice, which uses aMaestro Echoplex as its sonic inspiration, is distinctly dirtier and creates more nebulous undercurrents in the repeats. If you want to retain clarity in more melodic settings, it will create a warm glow around repeats at conservative levels. Push it, and it will summon thick, sometimes droning haze that makes a great backdrop for slower, simpler, and hooky psychedelic riffs.
In clean applications, this decay and tone profile lend the tape setting a spooky, foggy aura that suggests the cold vastness of outer space. The analog voice often displays an authentic BBD clickiness in clean repeats that’s sweet for underscoring rhythmic patterns, while the digital voice’s pronounced regularity adds a clockwork quality that supports more up-tempo, driving, electronic rhythms.
The Verdict
Silos’ combination of features seems like a very obvious and appealing one. But bringing it all together at just less than 150 bucks represents a smart, adept threading of the cost/feature needle.
EarthQuaker Devices Silos Multi-generational Time Reflection Delay Pedal
