BLUES
THE SECONDARY BLUES BOX
BY WOLF MARSHALL
Pattern and Licks from the “Other” Popular Anchor Point
This shape shares some obvious fingering commonalities with the “B.B. box” and is
based on an open A-type barre chord. It has both minor and major connotations.
A-type barre chord:
Secondary Blues Box (Pattern 4)
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major 3rd
6th
5
1333
@E9 D9 Fig. 10 A9
Mike Bloomfield plays both minor and major 3rds, as well as the 6th, minor 7th, and the flat 5th, in this phrase over the I–V–IV–I chords
and the turnaround of a 12-bar blues in A. His home base in this section is the minor pentatonic scale.
8
Fig. 1
14
12
14
15
12
14 1514
15
full
staccato
15
1/2
15
15
13
15
A9
I
V
E7 9
IV
11
3
staccato
13
15
1/2
15
( 15) 13
15
13
15
13
15
13
14
12
14
( 14)
I
V
2 Fig. 11
Robben Ford stresses the flat 5th with bends and a trill figure in this characteristic phrase in D minor. Notice the shift down into the third
position during the passage in measures 3 and 4—it’s a common extension of the secondary blues box.
Fig. 2
3
P.M.
1/2
8 ( 8) 6 8
5
6
1/4
1/4
75
7
353
5
35
35
4
3
3
6
1/4
868
full
58
8986
8
6
1/4
57
7
3
5
57
5
