This is a chord progression pulled together by a musician / friend who is a Jazz-Funk player – and called Max; hence the title :)
As he is a Jazzer – this is about as Blues as he gets; which is about as Jazz as many players get!
It’s a great progression for introducing you to Jazz-Blues, and for practicing following the changes when you get into improvising over it.
You can play the track whilst reading this by selecting it on the player at the base of this page.
You probably need to master the rhythm, and to really understand what’s going on with the chords, if you are to improvise over this piece competently and get the most from this lesson. I’m not sure you’ll want to play it exactly as I do – but do master the chord shapes, and learn the progression.
Rhythm
Here are chord diagrams for those being played:
Here is the chord chart:
| A6 / / / | D9 Db9 D9 / | A7sus2 / / / | / A13 D#9 / |
| D9 / / / | D9 Db9 D9 / | Amaj7 / Bm7 / | C#m7 / F#7 / |
| Bm7 / / / | - E7#9 E9 E7b9 | A / / / | - E7#9 / E9 / |
The A is played as a standard barre chord, but with a riff that I come to later in this lesson. So there you have the basics.
Now lets study a bit more of the detail of how I actually play it in my backing track.
As far as my picking-hand goes, I am plucking the bass notes of each chord with my thumb and then using my index, middle and ring fingers to pluck the strings that I want to hear. This gives a lot of control over which strings are sounded. I do sometimes strum this piece, but it takes a lot of care to dampen the correct strings, and I think that it’s probably overall easier to play it by plucking.
During the 5th and 6th bars, I move the middle finger of my fretting hand to alternate the bass from the 5th fret, to the 4th, 5th and 6th frets. Here is tab for what I actually play on the recording over those two bars:
------------------------------------------------------
--5--5----5----5----5----5--------------5--------
--5--5----5----5----5----5--------------5--------
--4--4-------------------------------------4--------
--5-----4----5----6----5----4--5--------5--------
------------------------------------------------------
Basically, I finger the D9 with my middle finger on the 5th string (as usual for this shape) and then use my index finger to finger the 4th fret and slide my middle finger back and forth between the 5th & 6th frets to achieve the ‘walking-bass line’ effect.
During the 9th bar I bring my little-finger into play, fretting the 9th fret on the top string for a little fill, but the next portion to really warrant some attention is the 10th bar – which looks worst than it is in my opinion; but can still take some practice to master.
It is well worth it, for it results in a lovely run down the second string – from the 8th to the 7th to the 6th frets. Blues turnarounds often have that running theme using these notes before ending on the 5th – but I haven’t seen many folks use this little chord progression.
Essentially it’s all around the standard ninth chord – which is fairly common in upbeat Blues. From that E9, you simply pop your little finger on the 2nd string (8th fret) to form what many of us refer to as the ‘Jimi-chord’. Then it’s back to the standard E9 before dropping the 2nd string once more. This forms what I have called an E7add9. If you study it in comparison to the E9, you’ll see that the only difference is the 2nd string – where we’re one fret down.
Now you have a great little Jazz-Blues turnaround under your belt :)
The final section that requires some attention is the A riff during the 11th bar.
This is all based around standard A and D bar chords, at the 5th fret, with a little ‘twiddley’ bit thrown in. It is a great little Blues riff in it’s own right – you could play a nice 12-bar Blues using nothing but this riff
Although not playing all of the notes at the fifth fret, I find it easiest to play this riff with the index finger of my fretting hand barring all six strings at the fifth fret.
Here it is in tab:
----------------------------------------------
------7---5----------------------------------
------7---5h6p5h6p5h6p5--------------
------7---5---------------------------5-----
---------------------------------5h7--------
-5-5-----------------------------------------
So there you have it! I’ve enjoyed playing this for over a decade – I hope you have similar enjoyment from it
Soloing, Jamming & Improvising
My recommendation is for you to begin by composing a solo for this piece – actually write out what you’re going to play – and then play it; adapting it as you go along to create something that fits, that you like a lot, and commit it to memory.
This will require you to become intimate with the chord progression, and will prepare you well for spontaneous jamming and improvisation over it.
I suggest you focus around the Mixolydian mode for your soloing / improvising. Here is the Mixolydian mode box, root on 6th string:
So the first job is to play this, from the 5th fret for our key of A, and familiarise yourself with where the notes are within this six-fret section of neck.
The major pentatonic also fits nicely; sharing its notes with the Mixolydian scale:
Play this from the 5th fret, for the key of A.
I suggest you put the backing track on and simply move up and down these scales, whilst listening to how the notes sound over the chord progression.
Do this now.
Now lets start you off in creating a solo over this piece. First step is to take a good look at the first chord – what notes have we got?
Our first chord is an A6:
---x---
---5---
---6---
---4---
---x---
---5---
So, lets create the first lick of your solo. Use notes from the Mixolydian scale, whilst focusing on including notes from the chord.
Here is an example lick that I have played over this first bar:
------------------
------------------
-5h6------------
------6-5-4-----
------------------
------------------
Notice that it includes the 3rd (6th fret, 3rd string) and the 6th (4th fret, 4th string) from the A6 chord.
My tips for your lick are to include the 3rd or the 6th – or both the 3rd and the 6th – within your first lick. Write your lick now, using 3 or 4 notes from the Mixolydian or Major Pentatonic scales.
The second bar consists of a D9. As with the A6, take a good look at the chord first, playing it and really ‘taking-in’ where your fingers are:
---5---
---5---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
My tips for your lick are to include the flattened third from A (e.g. 5th fret on 3rd string) and / or a D note.
Here are a couple of licks that I’ve played over a D9 chord:
--------------------
--------------------
-------------s7----
--7-6-5-4---------
---------------------
---------------------
--------------
--------------
--5----------
-------4-----
----5--------
--------------
The next chord has the second note from the major scale (4th fret, 3rd string) and the flattened 7th (5th fret, 4th string):
---x---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
---5---
I tend to include these notes in my playing. Here are a couple of example licks that I’ve played over this chord:
--------------------
--------------------
-------6-----4-----
--s7-----7--------
--------------------
--------------------
-----------------------
--5--------------------
------6------4--------
----------7------5----
------------------------
------------------------
We next have a great little transition from the I to the IV chords, from an A13 (I) to a D9 (IV) via a D#9.
A13
---x---
---5---
---3---
---6---
---x---
---5---
D#9
---6---
---6---
---6---
---5---
---6---
---x---
D9
---5---
---5---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
Here are a couple of licks that I have played over this section:
-------------------------
--7p5------------------
--------6-7-------------
-------------5s4-------
------------------5-----
-----------------------------
----7---6--6-5------------
--6---6----------8-7------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
I encourage you to learn these licks and see how they relate to the chords being played at the time. Notice how I squeeze-in the 6th fret on the second string during that last lick. It’s completely ‘out of scale’; but works if the note is only played over the D#9 – which contains this note.
Create another lick or two over the D9. Note that the D9 introduces a note that is not in our Mixolydian scale – you may want to take advantage of this in your lick.
..then you’re onto the Amaj7.
---x---
---5---
---6---
---6---
---x---
---5---
The Amaj7 is only played briefly, so I tend to simply head for the 7th note (6th fret, fourth string) at the end of my lick(s) over the D9.
For instance, I may play this over the back-end of the D9 bars, with the last note being sounded on the first beat of the Amaj7:
--------------------------5s4----
------------------5-5s7---------
----------5----6-----------------
----4h7----7--------------------
--5-------------------------------
Once again, we have several chords in fairly quick succession, so I tend to play one or two licks that move through the chords.
So following my last example lick, I am starting from the 4th fret of the top string. I may therefore play this next lick as the band move to the Bm7:
-7p5-------
-------7----
-------------
-------------
-------------
-------------
Then moving from the Bm7 to the C#m7:
-----7h9----
-s9----------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
And then I could simply move into an arpeggio for the F#7.
Note: ‘arpeggio’ simply means the notes of a chord played one after the other; whilst a chord is the notes played all at the same time.
----------------------------
--9p7---------------------
--------9------------------
----------8----------------
-------------9-------------
----------------------------
In truth, I tend not to follow the changes quite as rigidly as this – not that it’s wrong; just not my style at the moment – but I am doing so in these example licks because I’m wanting to make a point; for you to become really intimate with this chord progression and for you to experience what it is like to focus on playing notes from a chord when you solo.
How is your solo coming on? Well, I hope :)
I must say that I’d welcome hearing what some of you are coming up with – so if you have the facilities, do record yourself soloing over my backing trax and send me an mp3.
Anyway, back to our progression…
We’re now back to another Bm7; so I’ll leave you to come up with your lick for that unaided. Then we have our lovely run down the second string around our E9 chord:
As you can see, the defining notes through these three chords are on the second string. How might you incorporate, or complement, this into your solo?
Here is an example of what I might play:
-5----5---5-----------
----8---7----6--------
------------------------
------------------------
------------------------
------------------------
Another of my favourite versions of this is:
-------------------------
--10-10-10----------
------------------------
------------------------
--10--9--8-----------
------------------------
I’ve written it as playing the notes simultaneously, as that is how I’d tend to use it over this progression, but I’ll often use it as a Blues turnaround – in which case I’d play it more like this next tab (overleaf).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------10-------------10------------10---------10---10---10-----9--9--9--9\-----
------------------------------------------------------9-----9-----9-----9--9--9--9\-----
--------------------------------------------------------------------------9--9--9--9\-----
-s10---------10--9-----------9--8---------8--7-----7-----7--------7--7--7--7\-----
--------------------------------------------------------------------------0--0--0--0------
I tend to play a classic Blues lick over the A riff; something like:
----------5--------------
--------5---8b10------
--7b9-------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
..and then maybe finish with something like:
----------------------
--8-9-8-9----------
-------------9-------
----------------------
----------------------
----------------------
..over the last bar – squeezing in the note at the 9th fret of the second string, which is (again) ‘out of the scale’ – just because I can over an E7b9.
As he is a Jazzer – this is about as Blues as he gets; which is about as Jazz as many players get!
It’s a great progression for introducing you to Jazz-Blues, and for practicing following the changes when you get into improvising over it.
You can play the track whilst reading this by selecting it on the player at the base of this page.
You probably need to master the rhythm, and to really understand what’s going on with the chords, if you are to improvise over this piece competently and get the most from this lesson. I’m not sure you’ll want to play it exactly as I do – but do master the chord shapes, and learn the progression.
Rhythm
Here are chord diagrams for those being played:
Here is the chord chart:
| A6 / / / | D9 Db9 D9 / | A7sus2 / / / | / A13 D#9 / |
| D9 / / / | D9 Db9 D9 / | Amaj7 / Bm7 / | C#m7 / F#7 / |
| Bm7 / / / | - E7#9 E9 E7b9 | A / / / | - E7#9 / E9 / |
The A is played as a standard barre chord, but with a riff that I come to later in this lesson. So there you have the basics.
Now lets study a bit more of the detail of how I actually play it in my backing track.
As far as my picking-hand goes, I am plucking the bass notes of each chord with my thumb and then using my index, middle and ring fingers to pluck the strings that I want to hear. This gives a lot of control over which strings are sounded. I do sometimes strum this piece, but it takes a lot of care to dampen the correct strings, and I think that it’s probably overall easier to play it by plucking.
During the 5th and 6th bars, I move the middle finger of my fretting hand to alternate the bass from the 5th fret, to the 4th, 5th and 6th frets. Here is tab for what I actually play on the recording over those two bars:
------------------------------------------------------
--5--5----5----5----5----5--------------5--------
--5--5----5----5----5----5--------------5--------
--4--4-------------------------------------4--------
--5-----4----5----6----5----4--5--------5--------
------------------------------------------------------
Basically, I finger the D9 with my middle finger on the 5th string (as usual for this shape) and then use my index finger to finger the 4th fret and slide my middle finger back and forth between the 5th & 6th frets to achieve the ‘walking-bass line’ effect.
During the 9th bar I bring my little-finger into play, fretting the 9th fret on the top string for a little fill, but the next portion to really warrant some attention is the 10th bar – which looks worst than it is in my opinion; but can still take some practice to master.
It is well worth it, for it results in a lovely run down the second string – from the 8th to the 7th to the 6th frets. Blues turnarounds often have that running theme using these notes before ending on the 5th – but I haven’t seen many folks use this little chord progression.
Essentially it’s all around the standard ninth chord – which is fairly common in upbeat Blues. From that E9, you simply pop your little finger on the 2nd string (8th fret) to form what many of us refer to as the ‘Jimi-chord’. Then it’s back to the standard E9 before dropping the 2nd string once more. This forms what I have called an E7add9. If you study it in comparison to the E9, you’ll see that the only difference is the 2nd string – where we’re one fret down.
Now you have a great little Jazz-Blues turnaround under your belt :)
The final section that requires some attention is the A riff during the 11th bar.
This is all based around standard A and D bar chords, at the 5th fret, with a little ‘twiddley’ bit thrown in. It is a great little Blues riff in it’s own right – you could play a nice 12-bar Blues using nothing but this riff
Although not playing all of the notes at the fifth fret, I find it easiest to play this riff with the index finger of my fretting hand barring all six strings at the fifth fret.
Here it is in tab:
----------------------------------------------
------7---5----------------------------------
------7---5h6p5h6p5h6p5--------------
------7---5---------------------------5-----
---------------------------------5h7--------
-5-5-----------------------------------------
So there you have it! I’ve enjoyed playing this for over a decade – I hope you have similar enjoyment from it
Soloing, Jamming & Improvising
My recommendation is for you to begin by composing a solo for this piece – actually write out what you’re going to play – and then play it; adapting it as you go along to create something that fits, that you like a lot, and commit it to memory.
This will require you to become intimate with the chord progression, and will prepare you well for spontaneous jamming and improvisation over it.
I suggest you focus around the Mixolydian mode for your soloing / improvising. Here is the Mixolydian mode box, root on 6th string:
So the first job is to play this, from the 5th fret for our key of A, and familiarise yourself with where the notes are within this six-fret section of neck.
The major pentatonic also fits nicely; sharing its notes with the Mixolydian scale:
Play this from the 5th fret, for the key of A.
I suggest you put the backing track on and simply move up and down these scales, whilst listening to how the notes sound over the chord progression.
Do this now.
Now lets start you off in creating a solo over this piece. First step is to take a good look at the first chord – what notes have we got?
Our first chord is an A6:
---x---
---5---
---6---
---4---
---x---
---5---
So, lets create the first lick of your solo. Use notes from the Mixolydian scale, whilst focusing on including notes from the chord.
Here is an example lick that I have played over this first bar:
------------------
------------------
-5h6------------
------6-5-4-----
------------------
------------------
Notice that it includes the 3rd (6th fret, 3rd string) and the 6th (4th fret, 4th string) from the A6 chord.
My tips for your lick are to include the 3rd or the 6th – or both the 3rd and the 6th – within your first lick. Write your lick now, using 3 or 4 notes from the Mixolydian or Major Pentatonic scales.
The second bar consists of a D9. As with the A6, take a good look at the chord first, playing it and really ‘taking-in’ where your fingers are:
---5---
---5---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
My tips for your lick are to include the flattened third from A (e.g. 5th fret on 3rd string) and / or a D note.
Here are a couple of licks that I’ve played over a D9 chord:
--------------------
--------------------
-------------s7----
--7-6-5-4---------
---------------------
---------------------
--------------
--------------
--5----------
-------4-----
----5--------
--------------
The next chord has the second note from the major scale (4th fret, 3rd string) and the flattened 7th (5th fret, 4th string):
---x---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
---5---
I tend to include these notes in my playing. Here are a couple of example licks that I’ve played over this chord:
--------------------
--------------------
-------6-----4-----
--s7-----7--------
--------------------
--------------------
-----------------------
--5--------------------
------6------4--------
----------7------5----
------------------------
------------------------
We next have a great little transition from the I to the IV chords, from an A13 (I) to a D9 (IV) via a D#9.
A13
---x---
---5---
---3---
---6---
---x---
---5---
D#9
---6---
---6---
---6---
---5---
---6---
---x---
D9
---5---
---5---
---5---
---4---
---5---
---x---
Here are a couple of licks that I have played over this section:
-------------------------
--7p5------------------
--------6-7-------------
-------------5s4-------
------------------5-----
-----------------------------
----7---6--6-5------------
--6---6----------8-7------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
I encourage you to learn these licks and see how they relate to the chords being played at the time. Notice how I squeeze-in the 6th fret on the second string during that last lick. It’s completely ‘out of scale’; but works if the note is only played over the D#9 – which contains this note.
Create another lick or two over the D9. Note that the D9 introduces a note that is not in our Mixolydian scale – you may want to take advantage of this in your lick.
..then you’re onto the Amaj7.
---x---
---5---
---6---
---6---
---x---
---5---
The Amaj7 is only played briefly, so I tend to simply head for the 7th note (6th fret, fourth string) at the end of my lick(s) over the D9.
For instance, I may play this over the back-end of the D9 bars, with the last note being sounded on the first beat of the Amaj7:
--------------------------5s4----
------------------5-5s7---------
----------5----6-----------------
----4h7----7--------------------
--5-------------------------------
Once again, we have several chords in fairly quick succession, so I tend to play one or two licks that move through the chords.
So following my last example lick, I am starting from the 4th fret of the top string. I may therefore play this next lick as the band move to the Bm7:-7p5-------
-------7----
-------------
-------------
-------------
-------------
Then moving from the Bm7 to the C#m7:
-----7h9----
-s9----------
--------------
--------------
--------------
--------------
And then I could simply move into an arpeggio for the F#7.
Note: ‘arpeggio’ simply means the notes of a chord played one after the other; whilst a chord is the notes played all at the same time.
----------------------------
--9p7---------------------
--------9------------------
----------8----------------
-------------9-------------
----------------------------
In truth, I tend not to follow the changes quite as rigidly as this – not that it’s wrong; just not my style at the moment – but I am doing so in these example licks because I’m wanting to make a point; for you to become really intimate with this chord progression and for you to experience what it is like to focus on playing notes from a chord when you solo.
How is your solo coming on? Well, I hope :)
I must say that I’d welcome hearing what some of you are coming up with – so if you have the facilities, do record yourself soloing over my backing trax and send me an mp3.
Anyway, back to our progression…
We’re now back to another Bm7; so I’ll leave you to come up with your lick for that unaided. Then we have our lovely run down the second string around our E9 chord:
As you can see, the defining notes through these three chords are on the second string. How might you incorporate, or complement, this into your solo?
- Try playing the exact same notes.
- Try playing the same notes, but an octave higher or lower.
- Try playing the notes whilst alternating with another note.
- Try harmonising with these notes.
Here is an example of what I might play:
-5----5---5-----------
----8---7----6--------
------------------------
------------------------
------------------------
------------------------
Another of my favourite versions of this is:
-------------------------
--10-10-10----------
------------------------
------------------------
--10--9--8-----------
------------------------
I’ve written it as playing the notes simultaneously, as that is how I’d tend to use it over this progression, but I’ll often use it as a Blues turnaround – in which case I’d play it more like this next tab (overleaf).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------10-------------10------------10---------10---10---10-----9--9--9--9\-----
------------------------------------------------------9-----9-----9-----9--9--9--9\-----
--------------------------------------------------------------------------9--9--9--9\-----
-s10---------10--9-----------9--8---------8--7-----7-----7--------7--7--7--7\-----
--------------------------------------------------------------------------0--0--0--0------
I tend to play a classic Blues lick over the A riff; something like:
----------5--------------
--------5---8b10------
--7b9-------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
--------------------------
..and then maybe finish with something like:
----------------------
--8-9-8-9----------
-------------9-------
----------------------
----------------------
----------------------
..over the last bar – squeezing in the note at the 9th fret of the second string, which is (again) ‘out of the scale’ – just because I can over an E7b9.
Good luck with your playing – and enjoy!
Kind regards
Robin
Kind regards
Robin