Everyone’s Blues Solos Are BAD Until They Learn This!

Main Ideas

The lesson presents blues soloing as more than running through a pentatonic box. Its central idea is to begin with the chords, target their notes, and build a solo through phrasing, rhythm, harmony, dynamics, and changes in tone.

The examples are in C blues, using the chords C, F, and G. The instructor organizes the material into five levels.

Level 1: Start with the Chords

• Learn the three chords—C, F, and G—in several positions up and down the neck.
• Treat chord shapes as a map of the notes that fit the harmony.
• Instead of starting with a pentatonic box, play notes from the chords.
• The instructor compares pentatonic notes to tracing the outline of a chord, while chord tones let you play more directly within it.

Level 2: Use Triads and Target the Third

• Reduce large chord shapes to three-note voicings, or triads.
• Focus on the chord’s third, which helps give the line a bluesy, expressive sound.
• “Flirt” with the third by approaching it from a half-step below or above before landing on it.
• Blend major and minor sounds: move upward with a major sound, descend with a minor sound, and resolve to a major note or chord tone. The lesson emphasizes that blues does not have to stay exclusively in a major or minor sound.

Level 3: Add Rhythmic Nuance

• Aim to make a few notes expressive rather than simply playing many notes.
• With the fretting hand, add quick hammer-ons and pull-offs as brief grace notes. The instructor says these small embellishments can make phrases sound more polished.
• With the picking hand, use a quick rake across the strings. The lesson demonstrates combining a short fretted phrase with a rake to add a familiar blues-guitar texture.
• Apply these rhythmic details in different positions rather than relying on one lick.

Level 4: Add a Passing Chord

• Expand the basic C–F–G harmony with an F-sharp diminished chord.
• Use it after the F chord and just before returning to C.
• Play the diminished chord’s notes as a triad or arpeggio to bring out its sound.
• Use this added harmony sparingly. The instructor recommends keeping the blues relatively simple and treating the diminished chord as extra color.

Level 5: Shape the Sound and Performance

• Vary picking volume: Alternate louder and softer notes instead of playing every note at the same intensity. The instructor compares this to breathing or conversation.
• Change pickup positions: Switch guitar pickups during a longer solo to introduce a different tone and keep the sound from becoming stale.
• Use fingers as well as the pick: Try a chicken-picking or hybrid-picking approach. One example is to pick a lower note and pluck a higher note with a finger, creating a different attack from using the pick alone.

The overall lesson is to combine chord awareness, targeted notes, rhythmic detail, selective harmonic color, dynamics, and tone changes rather than depending on a pentatonic shape alone. The instructor recommends practicing these ideas along with the video’s backing track.

Speakers and Sources

• Alec Lehrman — instructor and demonstrator. The subtitles render his surname as “Lairman” once.
• Musical examples referenced by the instructor: John Mayer, Ray Charles, and the Fleetwood Mac–B.B. King collaboration. They are mentioned as examples; they do not speak in the subtitles.