Root Note Swapping With the 12 Bar Blues

A common approach to improvising lead over the 12 Bar Blues is to change Keys along with the chord changes.

Let's look at how we can apply this into our playing!

If you aren't already very familiar with improvising over the 12 Bar Blues, you should definitely start there!

The technique we're looking at today is moving our Root Note around, to match the Root Note of the chord the backing track is currently playing. Since our 12 Bar Blues track is recorded in the Key of A, the backing consists of the following chords:

A - A - A - A - D - D - A - A - E - D - A - E

So far, we've looked at playing the Minor Pentatonic in A, over these chords. But what happens if we shift our Minor Pentatonic around to change Keys along with the chords?

This technique opens up new options to us! Since we already know the A Minor Pentatonic will work over all the chords, you now have two options for playing over the D and E chords in the progression.

If you get mixed up while improvising, it's always good to remember you can safely jump back to A Minor at any time.

While sticking to Form 1 is a perfectly valid and common approach to this technique, it can really shine with some clever usage of multiple forms.

By using Form 3 on the E chords, Form 3 for on the D Chords, and Form 1 on the A Chords, we can remain in 5th position the whole time.

This can also help the whole section to feel more cohesive, as the notes between each form will remain close to each other in pitch.

I have also attached the link to the backing track below, if you would like to practice switching between forms now!

Here's a example of what a riff could look like with this technique.

This is meant to be played over bars 9 through 12 of the 12 Bar Blues, the E-A-D-E portion.

This triplet-focused riff makes use of all 3 forms, and includes the blues note of each form for a really unique sound.

And that's all!

Remember - this is just one of many ways you can improvise over the 12 Bar Blues. You don't need to limit yourself to this method alone. But it's definitely a powerful option, and one that's worth mastering.

As we move into more advanced styles of improvisation, you'll be glad you already have practice swapping forms on the fly.