Fretwork

Fretboard

Pick a style. Fretwork plays the changes; you play over them, and it tells you how each note sat.

mic off

A blues · 12 bars

Slow blues in A

Twelve bars, a shuffle, and five notes that have carried a century of music. Start here.

  1. A7
  2. A7
  3. A7
  4. A7
  5. D7
  6. D7
  7. A7
  8. A7
  9. E7
  10. D7
  11. A7
  12. E7
stopped
123456789101112131415EADGBEEGACDD♯EGACDD♯EGACDD♯EGACDD♯EGACDD♯EGACDD♯EGACDEGACDD♯EG

Bright notes are the scale, frets 5–8 are your box for now. Brass is the root. Ringed notes belong to A7 right now.

What you're playing

Turn on the mic and every note you play gets a verdict.

Land on these

  • A
    root
    Home. Land here when the chord goes back to A7.
  • D♯
    blue note
    The E♭. Pass through it on the way somewhere; never sit on it.
  • G
    ♭7
    The G. Slide up to it on the D7 bars and it sings.
  • Play less than you think. One phrase, then a bar of silence, then answer it.
  • When the chord changes to D7, aim for a D or an F♯ on the first beat. That's the whole trick of sounding like you know the changes.
  • Bend the D on the G string up toward E. Even a half-hearted bend sounds like the blues.

Licks to steal

The box climb

Walks up the pentatonic box and stops on the root, which is what every first blues lick should do.

  1. A6·5
  2. C6·8
  3. D5·5
  4. E5·7
  5. G4·5
  6. A4·7
  7. C3·5
  8. D3·7
Blue-note slide

Touches the blue note on the way down so the phrase leans, then resolves to A.

  1. D3·7
  2. A♯4·8
  3. A4·7
  4. G4·5
  5. E5·7
  6. D5·5
  7. C6·8
  8. A6·5
Turnaround

The last two bars in one line: down to the E, so the whole thing wants to start again.

  1. E2·5
  2. C3·5
  3. B3·4
  4. A4·7
  5. G♯4·6
  6. G4·5
  7. E5·7