Today we’ll be looking at a beginner-friendly minor blues lesson, where I’ll show how adding only 2 special notes can create a dark, bluesy vibe. We’ll be using the chords of Am, Dm, and E7 — all played in a typical 12-bar blues progression. This will set the stage, but the real magic will be the bass notes played between each chord (flat third and flat seventh) — which immediately dial up the bluesy vibe we’re looking for. The sequence I’ll teach is something you can play by yourself, involving bass notes + strums + very basic fills.
In addition to my main tutorial, I’ve also included a separate video showing a slow playthrough with tabs on screen. A jam track is also included (audio file, you can listen on this webpage) if you’d like to practice & play along on your own. You also can download the jam track for offline practice. I hope you enjoy!
Includes tabs of the entire 12-bar sequence, plus a few additional tips to keep in mind when practicing & playing this exercise.
Here’s a 12 bar blues in A minor, matching the exact progression I use in this lesson. You can play along, following the tabs in my PDF guide — or doing any other sort of solo / improv in the key of A minor. This track counts in for two full measures before the guitar, bass, and fully kick in. Enjoy!
The idea for this lesson came from a few places. Most recently, David over on my Patreon page sent over a request for the song Bridle on a Bull by Chris Knight. I’d never heard the song, but immediately recognized the flat-3rd and flat-7th being used in the acoustic bass line. This song also put me in the mindset of the 12-bar blues structure, which it uses throughout. Note, you’ll need to put a capo on the 1st fret in order to play along with Chris Knight’s recording (using the chords A, D, and E7):
There’s also some Colter Wall influence here. Years ago, I posted lesson #179 where I taught a riff similar to what’s heard in Colter Wall’s Kate McCannon. This riff is also in the Key of A minor — and makes heavy use of the flat-7th (both as a passing bass note, and also as the root of the G major chord).
Finally, you may want to watch lesson #361 where I show how you can add “grit” to your walk-ups and walk-downs with those flat-3rd and flat-7th notes. This video was made shortly after I connected these dots — which really helped me start to recognize the tones wherever they occurred.
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