Guitar Tricks Online Guitar Lessons

Lesson 3: Outlining the IV and V Chords

 
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In this example, we are going to take a look at another lick that Freddie King was known to play. This particular style of lick had a strong impact on Eric Clapton. This can be played over any chord in the blues, but for our sake we are going to play it to outline the notes in our IV and V chords. Let's take a look!

Instructor Anders Mouridsen
Tutorial:
The Freddie King Style
Styles:
Difficulty:
print notation download lesson open guitar tuner
Lesson 3: Outlining the IV and V Chords song notation
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Lesson 3: Outlining the IV and V Chords By Anders Mouridsen

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Questions & Answers

1 year ago
I am doing a Blues Guitar course as well as working on Guitar Tricks, and so I am going back through Anders Blues Licks. I am slightly confused about what is going on in the Freddie King Style lesson 3 lick. Anders at the start says it in the key of E, So E is I Chord, A is IV and C is V. One would normally expect in blues that the main scale to be the Minor Pentatonic or the Blues scale, I know the is a sweeping statement, but would you confirm this is generally the case? In this example Freddie is using the E Blues scale, am I correct that it works tonally because the F# (string 2, fret 7), is the 2nd note in E Major or ninth if you wish, or could be considered the 4th note in the C# minor pentatonic scale? Sorry if this seems a silly question, I find this stuff can be confusing. Thanks Adrian
Mike Olekshy 1 year ago

Hello - thanks so much for your question! You are correct - generally speaking, the main scales used for blues are the Pentatonic Minor and the Blues scale - but it's also common to use the Major Pentatonic scale as well. In this lesson, Anders is showing a lick that works great over the I, IV, and V chord in E, specifically giving the sound of 9th chords. So for example, you could be playing the blues rhythm using E9, A9, and B9 - and then use this lick to highlight the sound of the 9th chords in the rhythm - since the lick contains the note you referenced (F# over the A chord) which is the 9. But also, this lick works great even if you're not using 9th chords in the rhythm, because it still gives you the flavor and sound of the 9 chords. Hope this isn't too confusing and you find it helpful!!!