Allman Brothers "Stormy Monday"

[jbd3]

Originally Posted by gennation

There been a lot of great advice already. I have some things I think will help too.

With most Blues, the sound these guys/the greats get (for lead anyways) is the use of the Major Pentatonic scale mixed with the Blues Scale from the same Root/Tonic note. So if you are playing in G you'd use a mix of the G Major Pentatonic and G Blues scales together for the G7 chord, the C Maj Pent and C Blues for C7, etc...

You can get a ton of explanation and examples of how great blues players mix the Maj Pent/Blues scales here: http://lessons.mikedodge.com/lessons...AvdPentTOC.htm (READ the introduction as I'm sure some of it will hit home for you)

Stormy Monday also contains a more "sophisticated" turnaround to where you go from playing straight I-IV-V Blues to more of jazzy/linear section for the turnaround.

To cop the turnaround what I always did was I'd learn as many chord form variations of is as I could, then I'd use those variations to create lines that are more directional in that they either move in the same direction as the chords, are in contrast to the chord movement, or are in parallel with the chord movements I learned. Believe me, a little work on this can go a long way.

I have a write up on some of the ideas you can use you dig into these chord movements in the tune and the turnaround: http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/stor...ought-t67.html It will break out a bunch of chord forms from triads to extended forms as well as combining multiple forms, right up to applying the forms from single position to linear directions. By doing this you'll not only strengthen your knowledge of the fretboard but you'l also find many "money notes" that show you exactly what's changing throughout the changes.

This is awesome. Thanks!

Part of the reason I wanted to learn this tune is that I haven't played a lot of stuff outside of a 12 bar, quick change I-IV-V, and I'd like to start tackling some of those great songs that don't fit that template... "Key To The Highway," "Ask Me No Questions," etc. Plus I like when blues players can sneak a little jazz in, and I'm trying to expand my vocabulary a little bit.

I think a proper musician would learn theory, and then apply it to songs. I'm not very smart, so it seems the only way I can improve is to learn songs, then extrapolate theory from that. I know that's backwards, but it just seems to be what works for me.

I also thought this tune might be a good way to start to learn what I think is called chord-tone soloing. Which I know isn't necessarily rocket science but is a little intimidating when theory isn't your forte.

This song is also a good way to learn different chord voicings, as you said. For me, and maybe a lot of other guys on here, I'm not so good at sitting down with a chord book and running through it. But when I know a song pretty well, and I can hear the way the voicings sound in my head, it's much easier to learn and remember the chord... Like that very first chord Duane plays in the beginning, in the intro--whenever I learn one of those chords, it's a little a-ha moment, and it becomes part of my vocabulary.

Anyway, thanks a lot for taking the time to put this down on paper. Er, computer. There's a lot to digest here.