Training Sheets
Each sheet is a self-contained practice unit: a 12-bar form, the chord voicings + triad inversions you'll comp with, the tricks that bring it to life, and scale maps with target notes so you can solo from the same hand position you're comping in.
Major Blues in A — Bros Landreth "Made Up Mind"
Triad-based blues comping in A. The idea: pick a "pocket" — a hand position where your comping voicing and your soloing scale shape sit on top of each other. Click any bar in the progression to see th…
Slow Burn in E Minor — Mayer "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room"
A minor blues where every chord is a 9. The Mayer trick: stay in 7th-position E minor pentatonic for the whole form — it works over Em9, Am9, AND Bm9 (B minor pent shares the same notes). Move the cho…
Texas Shuffle in E — SRV "Pride and Joy"
Texas blues lives on the walking-bass shuffle. Your thumb plays root → 5 → 6 → b7 on the low strings while your fingers stab the top of the chord on the upbeats. Soloing: E minor pentatonic, but bring…
Minor Blues in A — Otis Rush "All Your Love (I Miss Loving)"
Minor blues keeps the i and iv minor (Am, Dm) but turns the V back into a dominant 7 (E7) — that contrast is the whole sound. The Otis Rush move is to lean on the natural 6 (A Dorian) for the i chord,…
BB King "Every Day I Have the Blues" in G
BB King's whole approach was small box, big phrasing. The "BB Box" at fret 12 (top 3 strings) is the universal home — root G on B-string fret 8 (or fret 12 on A), b3 → 3 bend on the B-string above it,…
Soul Vamp in C — Little Milton "The Blues Is Alright"
Soul-blues is comping FIRST, soloing SECOND. Milton would tell you: the horn section already plays the lead. Your job is to live in the cracks — short stabs on the upbeats, then a vocal-style 3-note a…
Lightnin' Hopkins "Mojo Hand" — E Country Blues
Country blues is solo blues. No band, no drummer — just one guitarist implying everything. The right hand splits into thumb (bass) and fingers (rhythm/melody). The left hand frees up to bend, slide, a…
Robert Johnson "Crossroads" Shuffle in A (Translated Electric)
Robert Johnson's Delta vocabulary became electric blues. The four moves that translated: (1) the triplet shuffle, (2) the b5 blue note, (3) the Crossroads turnaround, (4) the boogie bass pattern. This…
BB King "It's My Own Fault" — Slow Blues in D
Slow blues is where you find out if a guitarist has ANYTHING to say. At 55 BPM, every note is exposed — the bend is naked, the vibrato is naked, the silence between phrases is the loudest thing in the…
Etta James "Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home" — Slow Soul-Blues in F
Etta James lived in horn-band keys — F, Bb, Eb. These keys mean barre-chord vocabulary on guitar, which is the whole point: soul-blues guitar is barre-chord guitar. The F7 barre at fret 1 is your home…
Johnny Winter "Be Careful With a Fool" — Slow Blues in A
Johnny Winter took BB King's "Be Careful With a Fool" and made it Texas. Slow blues form, A blues scale (= A minor pent + the b5), but Johnny PUSHED the chord tones — bending C to C# over A7 for the m…