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	Blues Lead Guitar 2: Pattern 3 of the Minor Pentatonic The Justinguitar.com Blues Guitar Lessons
	If you want to learn to play Blues Lead Guitar, this is where to start Next Lesson Get help with this lesson Previous Lesson

In this lesson we're going to be learning Pattern 3 of the Minor Pentatonic. It's one of my favourite patterns as there are loads of super cool tricks to explore further down the road but for now we're going to be looking at the straight pentatonic and adding in the Blue Note. Next lesson we'll be looking at the vocabulary from this pattern.

Video Lesson

Scale Diagrams

Note that on string 2 I have shown Finger 4, which is more logical for playing up and down, but less useful for the real world. I use Fingers 1 & 3 all the way!

Again, remember that the Blue Note is not often best played in a scale up and down, but added as a spice when you want that flavour ;)

Homework and Practice

your aim this week is to memorize Pattern 3 and be sure you know where the root notes are and where the blue notes are located. I would recommend two 5 minutes practice sessions a day.

Session 1 - 5 Minutes
Play the scale up and down, pausing on the root notes (or at least registering where they are) and exploring different fingering options. Playing it up and down with one finger will also help create the shape in your mind.

Session 2 - 5 Minutes
The second 5 minutes should be improvising over a backing back track and exploring the scale, you hopefully know that the words are the key to making music out of your scales but just exploring on your own can be very helpful too. It's likely that you will stumble on a few words just messing around. Do remember what notes are good to bend (and how far) and see how they feel!

Additional Resources

Recommended Album
Remember that listening to great Blues is an essential part of the course, so try and check out all my recommended albums, they're the best of the best!

Chuck Berry - My Ding A Ling You gotta have a bit of Chuck! He was a HUGE influence of those that came after him and even a lot of his own generation - though he did get a lot of his licks from T-Bone, he certainly bought his own style into the blues. And this one doesn't have Johnny B Goode on it, but most of his other classic hits! Buy at Amazon.co.uk • Buy at Amazon.com •