Exchanging musical ideas in a jam setting is one of the best ways you can grow as a guitarist. It allows you to pick up ideas from other players, work on your timing and comping abilities, and also put your own brand of soloing to the test.
In his Uptempo Blues edition of Trading Solos, Robben Ford gives you that opportunity: to jam with one of the greats, and test drive your soloing skills.
Here are five video blues
Robben Ford Blues Guitar Lesson – Bo Diddley Squat: Track Overview
Download the tab & notation for this blues guitar soloing lesson
The next track that we’re going to trade solos over is a 24-bar blues in a kinda Bo Diddley feel in the key of A. It’s considered 24-bars because we’re counting them twice as fast. Let’s take a listen, and then we’ll look at three comping ideas and soloing techniques to use when we trade solos.
Robben Ford Blues Guitar Lesson – Bo Diddley Squat: Comping Approach Demo
Download the tab & notation for this blues guitar soloing lesson
So, let’s take a look at three different rhythm approaches we can use for this track. The feel on this is kinda a Bo Diddley kind of beat, and has an intro before the blues form begins, over which I just played a low octave note.
For the first approach, I’m creating a rhythm part by playing triads. Then, our second comping approach is just using a straight up 9 chord, and changing up the rhythm with some shorter notes. A third approach we could take is a punchy, chordal motif that I’ve developed. Let’s check out all three, and then move on to our soloing ideas next.
Robben Ford Blues Guitar Lesson – Bo Diddley Squat: Three Soloing Ideas Demo
Download the tab & notation for this blues guitar soloing lesson
So let’s take a look at three different soloing ideas for this track. The way I open the first solo is with a little melody that I’ll show you here. It’s kind of just going down the scale, and has a couple double-stops thrown in.
On the second technique, in the third and fourth bars of the opening of this blues track, I do an arpeggiated and scalar riff. Our third idea happens on the third and fourth bars of the IV chord, containing a diminished arpeggio (made up of minor thirds).
Robben Ford Blues Guitar Lesson – Bo Diddley Squat: Playalong Preview
Download the tab & notation for this blues guitar soloing lesson
Here we’ll preview both the lead and rhythm parts together so you’ll have a better idea where we’re going when we trade solos. Let’s take a listen.
Robben Ford Blues Guitar Lesson – Bo Diddley Squat: Playalong
Download the tab & notation for this blues guitar soloing lesson
Now it’s time to trade some solos! I’ll start things off by taking a solo, and then I’ll back you up while you take lead! Make sure to play rhythm while I’m soloing using our comping techniques, and listen for the soloing ideas we broke down earlier. Let’s jam!
Digging these free video blues