Harmonic Blues Moves
BY COREY CHRISTIANSEN
Corey Christiansen, a former senior editor
and guitar clinician for Mel Bay Publications,
is known for his fluid jazz improvisation
and instructional chops. He teaches full-time
at Utah State University and is an Artist-in-
Residence at the Jacobs School of Music in
Bloomington, Indiana, the Atlanta Institute of
Music, and the Broadway Music School. To
learn more about his CDs and DVD, and see his
current workshop and performance schedule,
visit coreychristiansen.com. Photo by Jimmy Katz
However, the big-dog guitar players have
a plethora of great ideas to keep this
12-bar form interesting and unique, while
making profound artistic statements. In
this lesson, I’ll provide a few harmonic
“moves” that will help you at your next
jam, gig, or writing session.
Let’s start with Fig. 1, which has a
boogie-woogie feel. In this example, we are
using two voicings, one on strings 6–4– 3
and the other on strings 5–3– 2. The first
voicing is a traditional “four-to-the-bar”
voicing that a lot of guitarists use when
playing swing music. You might have heard
Fig. 1
44 &
G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
Fig. 1
G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
CHOPS: Intermediate
THEORY: Advanced beginner
LESSON OVERVIEW:
• Learn how to use inversions to
create motion in your comping.
• Play Freddie Green-inspired
voicings over a blues
progression.
• Create soulful rhythm sounds
using 6th and 9th chords.
˙
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C7 B¨/D C/E B¨/D C7 B¨/D C/E B¨/D
oe
oeoe b
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe oeoeoe b oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
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D7 C/E D/F© C/E C7 B¨/D C/E B¨/D
oeoe
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe oeoeoe b oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
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G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
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oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
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G7 F/A G/B F/A
oe
oeoe
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oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
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G7 F/A G/B F/A D7 C/E D/F© C/E
oe
oeoe
oe
oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe oeoeoe oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe oeoeoeoeoeoeoeoeoe
Click here to hear
sound clips of
hese examples.
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Here are the facts: Most guitarists have a very limited amount of chordal
material to play when it comes to comping a blues progression. Once all the power
chords, barre chords, a few strum patterns,
and open chords are used up, most guitarists are tapped out.
On one hand it’s really a blessing.
Pretty much every guitarist can play some
kind of blues and be somewhat convincing in a couple of styles. But on the other
hand, it’s a shame that all these cats are
playing the blues with the same ideas and
same sound. Very little changes other than
the lyrics and maybe the tempo. Due to
how the piano is laid out and how it is
taught, it seems that pianists generally
move around and develop harmonic ideas
more easily than the average guitarist.
Fig. 2
44 &
G7
oe
oeoe
Fig. 2
F/A
oeoeoe
A©º7
oe
oeoe #
#
G/B
oeoeoe
C7
w
ww b
˙
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Fig. 3
44 &
C7
oe
oeoe b
Fig. 3
B¨/D
oeoeoe
D©º7
oeoe
oe
#
#
C/E
oeoeoe
F7 w w
w
b
˙
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