Video Guitar Lesson 7-31-09 Harmonic Minor Blues!

[Mark Wein]

This is one of the biggest lessons I've done in recent memory. There are 3 videos, sheet music and a downloadable backing track for you to solo over in the lesson. In a nutshell we are learning how to use the Harmonic Minor scale that we've been using in the last two lessons to solo over a minor blues progression in the style of B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone"....

http://markweinguitarlessons.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=123&Itemid=35

As always you can find me at www.MWGLforums.com ...we just had a Recordingfest this week and my contribution is a collaboration on cover of "Round and Round" by Ratt with another forum member...you can find that one right here: http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5993

I got to be 15 again and pretend that I'm Warren DiMartini http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[hacker]

Interesting, but I'm not hearing harmonic minor much at all here. I'm seeing the notes, but I'm not hearing the characteristics of the scale, ie the maj 7 resolving to the root. This is mostly straight pent minor with some triads/arpeggios thrown in.

I never found the harmonic minor well suited to blues. Melodic minor, or natural minor, yes, but not harmonic minor. BB plays straight minor pents in the intro to this song, and it just doesn't get any better IMHO.

Also, the chords to this song are Bm, Em, Bm, Gmaj7, F#7, Bm

[Mark Wein]

Interesting, but I'm not hearing harmonic minor much at all here. I'm seeing the notes, but I'm not hearing the characteristics of the scale, ie the maj 7 resolving to the root. This is mostly straight pent minor with some triads/arpeggios thrown in.

I never found the harmonic minor well suited to blues. Melodic minor, or natural minor, yes, but not harmonic minor. BB plays straight minor pents in the intro to this song, and it just doesn't get any better IMHO.

Also, the chords to this song are Bm, Em, Bm, Gmaj7, F#7, Bm


I'm not really teaching "The Thrill is Gone" as much as trying to get new soloists some tools to help get them through the chord progression, and give them another way of looking at the scale.

In my opinion spraying the whole thing with a Harmonic Minor sound would be fairly obnoxious. I'm also not after making this particular song sound like a piece of Baroque music.....

I did strip the harmony down to the triads to make things a bit easier for guys who are less experienced with aiming for target notes...one thing that I try to do is to get beginning soloists to do is to be aware of the harmony that they are playing over by being able to target chord tones. Hopefully that will seep into their playing and make their lines more connected to the music that they are playing (without making it sound like they are trying to play "jazz" :-))