Teaching the Blues Part 4: Elements of Improvisation

In "Teaching the Blues Part 3",  I described how I introduce the pentatonic scale and improvisation on Day One of improvisation lessons.  In subsequent lessons I introduce the notes on the other strings, introduce new rhythms, introduce variations to the blues accompaniment patterns covered in Parts 1 and 2 of my Teaching the Blues posts, and have them individually improvise solos for the class using the phrases we've learned so far. In the days and weeks following, I introduce new material in three general areas: melodic phrasing and fretboard positions, rhythms, and accompaniment patterns. These are built upon gradually and across all of the areas simultaneously.

For example, on Day 2 I might simply teach them that the first string fingering is the same as the second string and have them practice soloing on the second string and alternating phrases on each string. Day three might involve teaching them a new rhythm using eighth notes. In another lesson I might teach them chord or blues shuffle variations to use in accompaniment.

I break up my instruction on Melodic/Rhythmic Phrasing into two parts. I teach the class whatever new notes/rhythms I want them to learn through the call-and-response method described above. Every few days, I'll introduce a new rhythm or notes from a new string into this exercise.

Then, I go around the class and have the student individually improvise a solo. Each student gets twelve bars to solo, and I encourage him/her to incorporate the new element .

At first, they may say that they don't know what to play, and you have to encourage them by reminding them that they can simply play the phrases written on the board in a different order until they're more comfortable with the process. It's a little like paint-by-numbers, but they're learning a "vocabulary" with which to "speak the blues language."

At the same time we're working on learning the entire scale. "Second string, same as the first.", "Fingers 1 and 3 on the next three strings", and "Sixth string, same as the first". After the first couple of lessons, I usually teach them the whole scale this way.

The class plays the scale as notated in the tablature at the top of this post, but in half notes with me playing a blues accompaniment. Now the scale's a song! In succeeding lessons I have them play it in quarter notes, eight notes, and triplets.

So, each day we're doing a few things:

1. As a group, the class echos my call-and-response phrases employing whatever notes/rhythms we're working on.

2. Half of the class plays these phrases from the board, simply written as numbers as a tune whille the other half of the class accompanies with chords or a shuffle-pattern accompaniment. We switch and let each side side have a turn with the other element.

3. Repeat the process from # 2 using the entire scale as the tune while the other group accompanies.

4. Go around the room letting each student solo for 12 bars.

All of this material is just to get you started. Find some instruction books, videos, and web lessons on The Blues. There’s a ton of material out there. And listen to the blues! My next post will be on putting it all together.

Teaching the Blues Part 3: Improvisation

Let me begin by saying that there are a myriad of guitar lessons and articles on the pentatonic scale and guitar improvisation on the web.  I'm sure many of them are more effective for teaching the adult student than my blog post. 

So if you're a new guitar teacher wanting to learn the blues for yourself first, check out some of these other resources as well.  The real purpose of this post is simply to present the methods I use to present this material to students of widely varying ability levels in the guitar classroom.

I begin by presenting the notes of the pentatonic scale (here in A minor) by playing something like the following for them:

Here is the Pentatonic scale presented as a guitar chord grid. (I got it from justinguitar.com.  His site is an awesome resource for players at any level.  Tons of blues lessons too.  Check it out!)  Place your first finger on the fifth fret for this position:

Then, I might play and sing some blues, inserting scale licks between the sung phrases, so that they get an idea of where we're going, but my purpose is not to intimidate or give them the impression that this will be incredibly difficult.

Next, I introduce scale notes on the first string only. I instruct them to place their first finger on the fifth fret, and we pulse that note until everyone is there. Then, fourth finger, 8th fret. Leave the first finger down for this one (at least to start).

After going over this for a couple of minutes, we do a call-and-response exercise using a simple quarter, quarter, half note rhythm. I say finger numbers, but fret numbers would work as well. I play and say, "One, one, one" etc. They repeat in rhythm. Then, "Four, four four".  We spend a couple of minutes here playing combinations of the two notes on the first string.

Now, it's time for a break. Using this three note structure, I ask them to tell me combinations of 1 - 1 - 4 that we could play, and we'll list them on the board. I say, "The first one's '1 - 1 - 1'." Here's where the analytical, creatively-challenged kids will breathe a sigh of relief, and some of their panic will subside.

By the end of this exercise you should have something like the following written on the board:

1 1 1         1 1 4         1 4 4         1 4 1
4 1 1         4 1 4         4 4 4         4 4 1

Then, we play this as a "song" with the quarter, quarter, half note rhythm I talked about earlier and including a measure of rest in between each phrase. I like to count it, "One, one, one - . Rest, rest, rest - ."

The measure of rest is key. Without it, inexperienced musicians have trouble playing anything which sounds like real phrasing. At this point, if you've taught them a 12-bar blues shuffle pattern, you can divide the class in half and have one section accompany the other. This can be pretty easily done even with very young students.

The real musician in you may cringe at the thought of breaking down blues phrasing in such a methodical way and essentially removing most of the creative aspects of improvisation, but you're not just teaching improvisation on Day One. You're teaching the scale and some basic elements of phrasing.  This is their beginning blues "vocabulary".

You're also quickly getting the class playing non-notated music as a two-part ensemble. When the kids hear both parts together, they'll be really pleased with the result. Of course the most important consideration is that you can’t improvise a single note solo as a large group. This exercise gets them all playing together.

Continued in part 4...