Jam Over This Killer Major Pentatonic Backing Track In E from Guitar Control instructor Darrin Goodman. This fun backing track is a traditional 12 bar in the key of E and will have you playing sweet blues tonight.
Backing Track Structure
This backing track is a traditional 12 bar blues. It consists of four bars of the one chord, which is E9. Then two bars of the four chord, which is A7. Then back to two more bars of the one chord. Then we have one bar of the five chord, which is B7 and then one bar of the four chord and finally two more bars of the one chord or in this case the turnaround.
The Scales
Ideally you will want to use the pentatonic major scale for this. You can stay in the E Major Pentatonic scale throughout, but it sounds so sweet when you change with the chord changes. So for the four bars of the one chord you will use E Major Pentatonic. For the four chord you will use A Major Pentatonic and for the five chord you will use B Major pentatonic. Don’t know the major pentatonic scale? No Problem. To play the major pentatonic scale you simply use the pentatonic scale patterns you already know and just play them three frets flat. So if you want to use the first pattern of the pentatonic scale, the first pattern, you would simply start it on the 9th fret instead of the 12th fret to play over the one chord; in this case the one chord is E9.
If you really want to dig into the blues and learn all of the concepts including using the major pentatonic scale then check out our course How To Play Smokin’ Blues. This course is taught by Guitar Control founder and instructor Claude Johnson. This course will have you playing sweet blues guitar tonight!