Blues Turnarounds & Tags
BLUES
From The Guitarist’s Survival Guide
Building a Vocabulary for Solos, Fills and More
BY DALE TURNER
Licks are musical phrases that can be used in a soloing context, to “fill in” behind the singer’s vocal phrases, or to dress up the end of a tune.
The guitar is frequently the instrument that fills in—particularly in blues, country, jazz, and rock styles. Try learning as many licks as you can in
every conceivable style until they become second nature and you can whip ’em out at will. An added bonus of having a versatile vocabulary of
licks is that if you and your band members are good improvisers, you can stretch out the length of your songs, meaning you can “survive” with
fewer songs in your set.
Turnarounds
A turnaround is a kind of lick that’s used to fill in at the end of the 12-bar blues form, prompting the band to “turn around” and go back to the
beginning of the form.
In the following blues turnaround, a chromatically descending arrangement of sixths is articulated using a combination of pick and fingers (
measure 1), while an E9 chord—the V chord in an A blues—puts the cap on it in the final measure. Notice that the E9 chord is preceded from one
half step above (the distance of one fret) with an F9 chord. This half-step movement into the V chord—approaching it from above or below—is
a common characteristic of most blues turnarounds.
Other versions of blues turnarounds can be created using approaches like double stops and arpeggiation, as well as phrasing devices like bending and hammer-ons/pull-offs. Here are a few turnarounds using different combinations of the aforementioned techniques. Notice that each of
them uses chromaticism in one form or another—in a single-note, double-stop, or chord context.
Head to premierguitar.com to hear sound clips for this lesson. Also, see the extended version!
