Learn how to turn your riffs and solos from blasé to burning with a few well-placed double-stop licks.
Chops: Beginner
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Discover how to imply chord changes with only two notes.
• Expand your chord vocabulary.
• Create compelling intros and turnarounds for a 12-bar blues.
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In this lesson, we’ll be looking at using double-stops in the context of a blues. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, it basically means playing two notes at once. Think of nearly any Chuck Berry solo or even a bluegrass violin or mandolin part where you can hear two strings simultaneously bowed or plucked and you’re there. Because you are essentially harmonizing with yourself, double-stops can be used to create harmonic interest. By adding thickness or aggression to a slightly overdriven guitar tone, they can also be useful for lifting and driving a solo. We’ll be working with a Stevie Ray Vaughan-style blues in the key of G and looking at ideas for intros, navigating the IV chord (C), and outlining the turnaround.
Ex. 1 is an intro that would be great in a trio. It kicks off on the V chord (D7) and blends the punchy sound of G minor pentatonic (G–Bb–C–D–F) with some quarter-step bends. It feeds nicely into a basic turnaround in the last two measures that will give your bandmates a definitive signal on when to come in.
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Let’s build on the previous phrase for Ex. 2. The harmonic rhythm is the same, but we move to a lower octave for some added weight. Instead of playing straight double-stops, we’re using a triplet figure that shifts from one note to the other. (If you want to cop a bit of an Otis Rush vibe, add some shaky vibrato.) This time our turnaround intro pattern hits some chromatically descending sixths before walking up to the V chord (D7) again.
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Featuring double-stops throughout, Ex. 3 is a “Night Train”-inspired idea over the I and IV chords. We start over the G7 with a familiar first-finger barre on the 2nd and 1st strings at the 3rd fret. This barring theme continues any time you see the same fret number across two adjacent strings with one exception: the last upbeat over the G7 where you hammer-on the 3 (B). In measures one and two, I recommend pushing up slightly on the b3 over G7, or adding a little vibrato. The goal is to avoid having the b3 sit squarely on the G7, as that can sound a little gnarly. To use this pattern over the IV (C7) in measures five and six, all we need to do is remove the hammer-on at the end of each measure.
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Let’s thicken up our sound even more in Ex. 4 by breaking away from strict double-stops and playing a series of four-note chord shapes for G7 with the top voice climbing up a G7 arpeggio (G–B–D–F) to create some momentum towards the arrival of the C9. Try adding some dynamic interest by accenting the first beat of each triplet. Alternatively, you could slowly build intensity over the four measures. These ascending voicings are great if you’re playing with a clean or a slightly overdriven tone because the added notes will build volume and texture.
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Ex. 5 takes a slightly different approach to the idea of playing two notes at once. Here, we fret the root with our pinky and play some bluesy licks underneath. This is similar to something you might hear George Benson play or even a blues piano lick à la Jerry Lee Lewis. To take us to the IV chord, we fret the 5 (D) and b7 (F) of G7 and move them up chromatically to resolve to the 3 (E) and 5 (G) of C9.
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Ex. 6 combines organ-inspired pedaling of the root with rising double-stops and some chromaticism over the IV chord. In measure three, give the b3 and 6 a good shake over G7. To avoid getting twisted up when playing the descending double-stops in the last measure, try using your ring finger to barre the 2nd and 3rd strings.
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Let’s focus on the IV chord (C9) for Ex. 7. To walk down to the I chord, we’re using some Chuck Berry-approved descending thirds. (If we were following chord-scale theory, the second shape would have an F instead of an F#, but the F# offers a pleasing pull on the ear down to the I. This is the blues after all—the ear is king! We finish up the phrase by outlining the G7 chord with a few more double-stops.
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In our final example (Ex. 8), we outline the turnaround with sliding sixths before progressing to some single-note blues vocabulary over the G7. The lick ends with a faux Robert Johnson-style descending line, and I’ve thrown in a partial D augmented chord (D–F#–A#) to generate some harmonic tension before the 12-bar form starts again.
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Thanks to John Lee Hooker, Billy Gibbons, and other heavyweights, the swinging style of barrelhouse pianists has become a cornerstone of rock and blues guitar. Here’s a look at the most essential boogie-woogie patterns and how to use them.
Chops: Beginner
Theory: Intermediate
Lesson Overview:
• Learn rhythm riffs in the style of classic barrelhouse pianists.
• Create open-string patterns that outline the chord changes.
• Move through various keys by transposing phrases to different string sets.
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Although we associate “boogie” with a famous West Coast amplifier, the term originates from a style of music that became very popular during the swing era of the ’30s and ’40s. The sound and style of boogie-woogie can be traced back to the barrelhouse piano music from the late 19th century that was performed in saloons, taverns, and ballrooms across the U.S. There are numerous pioneers that helped to forge this style of playing, including pianists such as Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson, and Meade Lux Lewis, not to mention a number of Texas swing guitarists, such as Eldon Shamblin, Junior Barnard, and Muriel “Zeke” Campbell.
These influential musicians passed the torch to countless rock and country legends in the ’50s and ’60s, with Fats Domino, Merle Haggard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buck Owens, and Little Richard further exposing this sound to the masses. As you move through the years and listen to additional music, you’ll discover plenty of players adopting these sounds, including such heavyweights as John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Page, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, and Eddie Van Halen.
The road to guitar boogie starts with the single-note riff shown in Ex.1. As you’ll see and hear, this is a very familiar riff to play on guitar over an E7 chord. Be sure to fret with your first and third finger as you play through this example, and feel free to experiment with all downstrokes and alternate picking.
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Ex. 2 shifts this idea to the key of A by moving to the next set of strings and using the same fingering and overall contour of notes. As you become more comfortable shifting to another set of strings, it will be easier to cycle this idea through a 12-bar blues.
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Once you have a feel for playing this riff over E7 and A7 individually, it’s time to combine the two (Ex. 3).
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In Ex. 4, we expand this classic boogie riff by adding the b7 to create an even bluesier sound.
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It’s not uncommon for a blues progression to include a “quick change,” where you move to the IV chord in the second measure. In Ex. 5, we use this variation to demonstrate a boogie riff over the first four measures of a 12-bar blues.
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The next example (Ex. 6) features a slight variation that explores combining the 3 and b3. (Over an E7, that’s G# and G, respectively.) As you’ll hear, this combination of notes creates a familiar sound featured in countless blues and rock songs.
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Ex. 7 is similar to the “scratch-n-sniff” rhythm playing heard coming from Texas blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. You can distinctly hear this style of percussive and muted riffing in his classic track “Pride and Joy.”
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Now let’s see how you can move these boogie riffs and ideas from open position to other keys and areas on the fretboard. Ex. 8 will give you a chance to explore moving between a common A7–D7 chord progression.
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The next example is similar to the main riff from the Allman Brothers classic “One Way Out.” As you’ll find while playing through Ex. 9, this riff is an advanced variation of Ex. 8, but the combination of legato, sliding, and vibrato techniques gives it an interesting and developed sound.
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Ex. 10 illustrates a complete V–IV–I progression in the key of A7 and offers a basic glimpse of how you can weave these ideas into new phrases and riffs. This example also includes a nice chromatic turnaround at the end that will lead your fingers back to the beginning.
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As this lesson comes to a close, be sure to move these ideas into other keys and look for ways to create your own boogie riffs. You can generate countless variations from these ideas, so be patient and take your time. Before you know it, your fingers and riffs will be boogieing all over the fretboard.
Take a closer look at some of the signature techniques of the late blues master.
Chops: Beginner
Theory: Beginner
Lesson Overview:
• Learn how to use the “B.B. King” box to improvise over chord changes.
• Create rhythmic motifs that work in blues progressions.
• Understand how to target chord tones.
Click here to download a printable PDF of this lesson's notation.
In light of the recent passing of the great B.B. King, we thought it only right to pay tribute to such a monumental figure in the blues scene—a King by name, but even more by legacy.
We’ve got two things to look at here: the track we’re playing over and the solo itself. It’s no secret that B.B. (whose given name was Riley B. King) wasn’t one for rhythm guitar. One of the funniest B.B. moments I’ve seen was some footage of him rehearsing with U2. While showing them the chords to “When Love Comes to Town,” B.B. stopped them and simply said, “I’m no good with chords, so what we do is get somebody else to play chords. I’m horrible with chords.”
This lesson draws influence from “Riding with the King,” the classic John Hiatt tune that B.B. and Eric Clapton recorded on their duo album of the same name. It’s a wonderful study of a non-traditional blues progression that strays away from the typical I–IV–V. Ex. 1 shows how to play the rhythm track we’ll use as the basis for our solo.
After a simple open-string riff in A, the whole thing moves up to B7 (which is the I chord) before moving down to E (the IV). Things really take a twist when it goes to G (the bVI), then the E again, back to G, and finally to A7 (the bVII). From a theoretical perspective, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but the reality is that it sounds good ... and the golden rule is that if it sounds good, it is good!
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Obviously, learning about B.B. is going to be all about learning how he made his fills and solos sound so sweet, yet full of soul. B.B. oozed genuine blues from his very core. Possibly the best proponent of the “less is more” approach, B.B. would milk as much music as humanly possible from just a few patterns on the guitar. And he did it with impeccable timing, inventive use of space, sublime bends, and that instantly recognizable vibrato.
Much of our solo will be played in what many have called the “B.B. Box.” If you aren’t familiar with it, check out “Deep Blues: The ‘B.B. King’ Box.” I describe it to my students as the shape that hits the root note on the 2nd string. This is a fantastic shape that expertly blends the best bits of the major and minor pentatonic scales. With careful bending, it lets you pretty easily cover each chord in a blues progression.
Our solo (Ex. 2) starts with some chord tones that outline the changes. People might think that B.B. was a man of little theoretical knowledge, but I remember watching a video of B.B. referring to the I and V chords while playing over a blues in G. He definitely knows what he likes to hear and why it works.
When the solo kicks in on the B7 chord, we’re milking the B.B. box with some nice vibrato and a bend up to the 3 of the chord. We then move up the neck for a nice bending lick—almost like a call-and-response phrase. This idea continues with another lick that moves between the B.B. box and the next form of the B minor pentatonic (B-D-E-F#-A) scale. Next is the classic B.B. idea of hitting the root an octave higher and sliding down.
We take a minimalist approach over the G and E chords and squeeze everything we can with some simple bends and well-timed phrasing. The beauty here is that it’s not a carbon-copy repetition each time, but rather the rhythm is offset a little bit. It’s not similar enough to feel boring, but not so different that you feel that you’re being overloaded with ideas. The “fastest” phrase in the whole solo is next and it’s nothing more than four descending notes. B.B. wasn’t about speed. Every phrase said something; every phrase was honest and not about showing you how much he knew or how good he was.
To move back to the B7 chord, we have a simple “B.B.-ism” that uses the minor 3 and major 3 before hitting a sweet little triad arpeggio idea to outline the chord, and, of course, that classic high note to wrap things up. All very simple, but difficult to master.
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Finally, we have a backing track that lasts for two choruses to allow you to try some of your own ideas over the progression. This one is really a lot of fun. Just don’t over-think it—try the B minor pentatonic and the B.B. box and see what you can come up with. Close your eyes and let the music flow. Now go ride with the King.
The world will miss him.