Before we dive into learning the solo, it’s important to talk briefly about the chord progression we’re working with. Understanding the chord progression is a very important part of soloing!
This track is in shuffle feel. One way of thinking about that is that we’re breaking every quarter note into a triplet. You can count these like this: “one trip-let two trip-let three trip-let four trip-let,” or alternatively, “one and a two and a three and a four and a.” Emphasize the main beat, ie ONE and a… You’ll notice that either way of counting produces 12 syllables. Now, listen to the jam track, and listen for the high hats or the ride… you’ll hear them playing those 12 beats per bar too. If you’re not familiar with playing in triplet feel, it can seem quite different at first. Just sit and listen to the jam track, start working with it, and pretty soon you’ll get adjusted.
The chord progression is simple: A7, D7, and E7 in a 12 bar blues. If you want to play along, you can use any form of those chords you know. In the video, I demonstrated the D7 and E7 with a variation that’s actually a D7+9. That chord looks like this: x54555, and the E7+9 like this: x76777.
If you have any questions on any of this, please ask them in the comments section below, and I’ll do my best to answer there.
