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Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim… Ukulele Am Blues.

“Muddy Waters meets Tiny Tim”, as my friend and teacher John LaGreca said. This blues will be in Am. Using a 1/4/5 pattern, that gives us Am for the 1, D, for the 4 and E for the 5.

 

We can play a typical 12 bar blues pattern
like this:

1 | % | % | %
4 | % | 1 | %
5 | 4 | 1 | (5)

The 12th measure with the 5 chord is the “turnaround”.

We can use our pentatonic minor scale to play over the chords! The minor pentatonic scale uses the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes. for Am that would be A, C, D, E and G and that works great for the 1 and 4 chords. We can also use the “blue” note (b5) to make it sound cooler.


For the 5 chord, we’ll use the pentatonic for E. Again, 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7, o that will be E, G, A, B and D. The b5 in this scale is a Bb.

You can use any note as a “passing” note though, as long as you are heading to a chord tone!  You’ll notice thought that although some of the pentatonic notes for 1 and 4 are common to 5, not all of them are. Try playing the Am pentatonic over the E and you’ll hear some notes clashing. Look for notes that are common and pleasing to the ear. Mover purposefully through the changes. 

For uke and classical guitar we do not typically bend notes too much but it is possible, and a good place to experiment with that would be from 4 to 5. Alternately you can pedal between those two notes. The effect is somewhat anticipatory, waiting on the cusp of a change before plunging on, so to speak. 
 
Please remember that the blues as an art form carries a certain gravitas, so try your best to honor that. Uncounted musicians have spent their lives studying this genre! 

Download this material as a 1 page PDF

 

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