This week we’ll check out a fingerstyle blues turnaround for the key of A, or, as many of us probably think of it, “the other good blues key.” This time, we’re using a bass line that moves every two beats over the V and IV chords, a sound that conjures up the feel of a […]
Archive for the ‘Weekly Columns’ Category
10/02
2015
Walking Bass Line Fingerstyle Blues Turnaround
I love the sound of walking bass lines on the blues, and in the key of E there are plenty of possibilities for coordinating blues licks and chord voicings over a continuously moving bass. If you begin working out chord substitutions that themselves incorporate movement in the bass, you’re halfway there. For example, here’s a […]
09/25
2015
II7-V7-I Fingerstyle Blues Turnaround
You can change things up on a twelve-bar blues by replacing the standard V-IV-I turnaround with a II-V-I turnaround. Ordinarily, you’d play bars 9-12 of a blues in E like this: A II-V-I turnaround – this version, at least – could replace the A7 in bar 10 of the form with two beats of […]