Now you're gonna get real fancy. You have put the time into learning your licks in P1 and P2 of the Minor Pentatonic (you have, haven't you?) and now we're going to check out how to move smoothly between the patterns.

There are a number of approaches to doing this but to start you off we are going to look at five licks that you can use to do this, that way you can get stuck right in without having to think too much - just getting these licks will help you for sure... The more words you know, the more you can say!

Lick TABs

P1-P2 - Lick 1
This is THE classic move people learn to link P1 and P2, some people even think of it as a different scale - that's what I thought when I discovered it as a kid.

Gets you all the way up to P3 actually which we cover in Module 2 of the Blues Lead journey!

P1-P2 - Lick 2
Just 2 notes? Yep - but this is a big deal and VERY commonly used blues concept.

Both notes are the same, but because they're on different strings they sound a little different and also the slide into the second note adds character.

Many people find vibrato easier on String 2 as well!

P1-P2 - Lick 3
Jumping quickly between patterns takes some practice but is well worth it.

The 'trick' is to look at the fret where your finger will jump to BEFORE you make the jump - don't watch your fingers!

P1-P2 - Lick 4
All time classic lick here!! Used by everyone, it sounds great and feels slinky when you get it down. It's a classic Stevie Ray Vaughan move!

Use Finger 3 for the slides and Finger 2 for the note on String 2.

It a 'repeater' so make sure to work on playing it over and over without stopping... and find a way out ;)

P1-P2 - Lick 5
This lick is more conceptual than a great word. I want you to see this small block of notes can travel onto other string groups (3-4 and 5-6) and keep the same shape - it's a very useful trick to expand many of the words you already learned - or bots of them! Go explore it!

As usual the big deal here is to practice using the licks as much as you can - but you should also start to think 'conceptually' now too - try to extract the concept or what I often call the 'essence' of each lick and find other ways to apply it!

We're nearly at the end of this module now - but to make sure you consolidate this stuff well - you need to learn how to play in every key! :)

Additional Resources

Recommended Album
Each lesson I want to recommend a great Blues album to you, make sure you are aware of the great blues music that you'll be learning on your journey.

Jimi Hendrix - Are You Experienced (1967)

I always wonder if Jimi should be Blues or Rock, he's kinda both, and even though there are no 12 Bar forms on this album, it certainly blues based and was a huge influence on many blues guitar players (well, all guitar players I guess), and it's a must have!

Buy at Amazon.co.uk • Buy at Amazon.com • Hear it on Spotify

Backing Track

Here's a sample backing track from my Jam Blues 4 collection, a Heavy Shuffle Blues in A. You jam over it and if you enjoy it, please consider buying the rest of the album, they're all great fun for jamming!

Playing the scale over the backing track and messing around exploring will help get the sound of the scale into your musical mind!.