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Minor Blues Soloing; my triad based method & practice guide! (Patreon)

Published:
2024-12-14 14:00:07
Edited:
2024-12-29 14:27:37
Imported:
2026-08
Tags:

Downloads

Content

A genuine step by step walk through my favourite practice method for improvising and soloing over changes and coming up with more creative solos on the spot.. with the help of my trusty looper pedal!

We start with a simple minor blues progression, adding some dark and mysterious gypsy flair as we go.. think Marc Ribot meets Buena Vista Social Club. But later in the lesson completely switch things up and take another completely different approach with a slower blues groove, think David Gilmour meets BB King!

We build and build as the lesson goes on.. effortlessly finding new pathways, new concepts and new tonalities with with to express ourselves and add colour, melody and purpose to our solos! Stick with me through the entire lesson and by the end you’ll see just how much amazing vocabulary we’ve managed to build up with a handful of incredibly simple concepts.. all beginning with a little triad! 🤯

THIS is the stuff I wish I’d been shown back in the day. How to navigate changes in your lead playing so that when you get the nod and you have 30 seconds to say something that serves the song and has musical value… you will NEVER be short on ideas. Practice these concepts enough and it’ll soon become more internal, and ear-led. Eventually it’ll then become more about relaxing and playing what you feel in the moment. This is true improvisation and is where the fun really begins!

Files

Minor Blues soloing; essential triads & looper practice routine. How to improvise on guitar; Lesson!

Access ALL of my lesson materials by joining my Patreon page; https://patreon.com/AlexFarranGuitar If Patreon isn’t your bag, you can purchase the lesson materials directly at the link below; https://smogfalls.gumroad.com/l/cdvpy Book in for a private Zoom lesson!.. just choose a slot at the link below; https://tidycal.com/alexfarranguitar/guitarlesson A genuine step by step walk through my favourite practice method for improvising and soloing over changes and coming up with more creative solos on the spot.. with the help of my trusty looper pedal! We start with a simple minor blues progression, adding some dark and mysterious gypsy flair as we go.. think Marc Ribot meets Buena Vista Social Club. But later in the lesson completely switch things up and take another completely different approach with a slower blues groove, think David Gilmour meets BB King! We build and build as the lesson goes on.. effortlessly finding new pathways, new concepts and new tonalities with with to express ourselves and add colour, melody and purpose to our solos! Stick with me through the entire lesson and by the end you’ll see just how much amazing vocabulary we’ve managed to build up with a handful of incredibly simple concepts.. all beginning with a little triad! 🤯 THIS is the stuff I wish I’d been shown back in the day. How to navigate changes in your lead playing so that when you get the nod and you have 30 seconds to say something that serves the song and has musical value… you will NEVER be short on ideas. Practice these concepts enough and it’ll soon become more internal, and ear-led. Eventually it’ll then become more about relaxing and playing what you feel in the moment. This is true improvisation and is where the fun really begins! ⏱️Time Stamps ⏱️ 00:00 - Trailer 01:42 - Introduction 02:22 - Chord changes 02:56 - Lesson materials 03:06 - Looper 03:43 - Tone talk! 03:59 - Mapping the triads 05:20 - Level 1 improvisation 06:19 - Fretboard fluency 07:28 - One string at a time! 09:18 - E7 arpeggio 10:00 - Level 2 improvisation example 11:14 - Lesson materials 11:40 - 1 2 3 5 arpeggios 13:03 - Level 3 improvisation example 14:00 - AGAIN!.. But more double stops! 14:55 - Enclosures 15:58 - Significance of the V chord 16:39 - E7(b9) 17:28 - Throwing it all in; improvisation example 19:29 - BLUES SCALE! 19:49 - Everything + blues scale! 21:13 - Slow Blues groove; B.B King style 21:52 - Change your feel & slow your phrasing; improv example 24:12 - Practice thoughts 25:12 - Sign-off Reference videos... Triads Survival Guide; https://youtu.be/68PWHbRGSbA?si=pB_IWgrtHAvIhEZL --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for watching and please do leave a comment down below, and if you could hit the like button and subscribe to my channel, that would really be so appreciated. If you'd like to support the work I do, you can buy me a coffee at this link; https://www.buymeacoffee.com/alexfarran I'm also very active on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexfarranguitar #GuitarSolo #GuitarImprovisation #Guitarlesson #marcribot #GuitarPractice #LeadGuitar #GuitarTips #guitartutorial #GuitarTechnique #davidgilmour #JazzGuitar #BluesGuitar #RockGuitar #GuitarSkills #guitarlicks

Comments

nick kizirnis

Obviously, I am greatly looking forward to this one! I’m actually out playing a weekender of shows so I will have to catch up on this one tomorrow when I’m home. Can’t wait!

tyler taube

Going to shovel some snow and be back in 56 minutes for this one. Sounds exciting!

Carl McAndrew

Absolutely loved this Alex. Loads of ideas. Fantastic!

Alex Farran Guitar

Thanks Carl, I might have to do more of these "stream of consciousness" style lessons.

Marinho Del Santo

Thank you, Alex! I can't wait to go home and watch it, and "drain" from your lesson. I have already the feeling that you have hit the bullseye...that is exactly the piece of information and methodology that benefit us the most!!!

Alex Farran Guitar

Thank you so much Marinho, let me know how you get on with it! 🙏🏻

Andrew Blackard

Any recommendations on loopers, Alex? I've tried 3. The first supported only short loops - too short for 12-bars and it died within a year. The second two were rubbish and very difficult to make a loop without a gap between loops. Thanks!

Rupert Hawkes

Hi Alex, I know I should record it myself (once I’ve mastered the chords) but any chance you could add the backing to the downloads? No worries if now but might be helpful 😇

MarkF

Glad I bought a looper now I am going upstairs to say goodbye to my wife because I will be locked away for quite sometime woodshedding these concepts-fantastic lesson thanks!

Alex Farran Guitar

I’ve used the Boomerang III looper for 15 years now. It’s fantastic. It doesn’t store any loops at all.. which is a good thing as it requires you to input the chord changes from scratch each time! 👌🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Hey buddy, I wasn’t using a backing track at all, just what I put down in the looper, but sure, tomorrow I’ll try and record the same progression and upload it here. But really, the point in this is that you get the skills to loop it yourself 👌🏻

Rupert Hawkes

Thank you, and working on the chords now 🤓🤓🤓

Rupert Hawkes

Actually don’t worry you’re right, it will force me!

Marsha in Austin

This is awesome…and incorporates so many great strategies and concepts…..headed upstairs to the shed..!

Rupert Hawkes

Time to stop trying on my ‘S’and get out the ‘335’ , AND watch your previous Q&A to get that right hand like the ants on Tom And Jerry! Also .73mm is maybe not helping, trying the 2 and 3mm flows…. Listen folks, the trick is to pay attention to Alex’s good advice! 😆

William Dawson

When I was a kid I paid 5 bucks for a lesson. The teacher taught me one ZZ top tune. Only lesson I had because I could not afford $5 per song! Essentially, He gave me a fish and I ate for a day🤔 You my friend with Information contained in these lessons...are teaching us how to fish...😉 This lesson was fantastic... lots to work on and get my ears wrapped around! Thanks

Rupert Hawkes

Aghhh sorry where is that q&a video?

jpfaulds1

Great job Alex, again. Many thanks. A thread throughout many of your lessons is ear training. Building slowly really helps. Starting with just the triad makes a huge difference in our ability to learn your material. The 1,2 ,3 and 5 tip is deceptively simple and effective. Adding the flat 7 later works well. One major problem with most guitar instruction is we don’t really learn intervals until much later, if at all. Distinguishing a major from a minor third for example.

Paul Gringras

Hi Alex, nice lesson. On a slightly different theme I’d love to hear how you’d approach rhythm changes - tricky to make it flow and keep a bluesy vibe

Patrick

I've got a Lekato looper pedal, you can get them on Amazon right now for £40 and they more than do the job

Patrick

Excellent. Something I'm learning, and it wasn't obvious to me, is that musically the difference between styles is not that much in theory terms. Like once you get used to finding sixth intervals in the top 3 strings... That can be a blues thing, or a country thing, or a Steve Cropper thing, or it could be quite pretty and folky, or it's the riff from the Strokes' Someday, or a Hendrix thing. It's just subtle differences in attack and phrasing and tone, and you're moving whole genres with just a slight twist of the dial.

Alex Farran Guitar

That’s totally right! I always say, the only difference between styles is the kind of hat that you wear! 😅

Patrick

I really like the sound when alternating between the blues scale and the gypsy sounds, I find the gypsy stuff a bit overbearing by itself but also gear-shifting between Amin blues and Dmin blues can also sound a bit clunky.

Jan Geerts

So, that's how you Ribot. For starters. I am having so much fun with this, thanks

Alex Farran Guitar

Absolutely!.. it’s all about the blend. But… in order to have the true ability to blend, you have to devote a lot of time to one particular sound/style for a bit. 👌🏻

David Thorburn

Brilliant Lesson Alex so much high quality content 👏

Marinho Del Santo

Now I could watch and admire your video. PLEASE... KEEP THE TRIAD APPROACH! And explore Jazz and beyond... You are just brilliant my friend, brilliant! TRIPLE BRAVO.

David Lockwood

Great lesson Alex. A lot to take in but a new world awaits.

Alex Farran Guitar

Thanks David, glad you enjoyed it. Just take one step at a time and get comfortable before moving to the next, and remember to make beautiful music happen with small amounts of notes. It’s all in the phrasing 👌🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Thank you so much Marinho!… I will definitely be doing many more like this and will continue to build on the triads foundation and beyond. 😎

Alex Farran Guitar

The one that came up in your emails the other day? Just type “Q & A” in the search bar of my Patreon page and it’ll come up. It’ll be called Q&A #1 or something. From late August 2023. 👍🏻

Rupert Hawkes

Ah it was from a while back no wonder I couldn’t find but have now. I did try a flow 2mm as I had and much better than the .073 I tend to use at least for this stuff but 2.5 is like hens teeth to find. The jumbo 2.5 version is available so might try that too

Alex Farran Guitar

Thank you William! Sounds like the same experience I had as a kid, aged 9 with a guitar teacher. He taught me “Eruption” (ridiculous for a beginner of course), and then took me out in his Porsche… bit of a show off I guess you could say! 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

Alex Farran Guitar

You’ve got it buddy… the thicker picks are key for good tone 👌🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Absolutely! So many super affordable options around. Back in the day I used a crappy old tape machine to record loops… which meant recording the same progression over and over for 5 minutes. 😂

Alex Farran Guitar

Thanks for the comment my friend. Yes, that’s totally true… the slow training of one’s ear is a crucial step to better improvisation. Without it, everything is guesswork and will lack any cohesive flow as you navigate your way over the changes. Always listen out for the nearest connecting note on the next chord, adding chromaticism to reach it if needs be 👌🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Yeah it’s important to get into using the search and/or collections function on Patreon so that you’re wading through weeks and weeks of content to find what you want.

Alex Farran Guitar

I like the 2.5mm a lot, but more so on my archtop guitars with heavy strings. I think 2mm is more than enough on 10’s 👌🏻

David Lockwood

Thank you Alex. I will be booking a lesson with you after Christmas. Very important study. Any support has to be beneficial. See you in the new year.

William Dawson

That's why your so fucking good....you started wailing @ 9! My guy had a souped up El Camino....😂

Alex Farran Guitar

😂 more like a barely road-worthy Ford Mondeo, but I appreciate the sentiment 😉😂

Patrick

Just had the most amazing Farran Lesson Synergy moment, you can use Bdim triads as a turnaround over the E7 and even in the inversions that include an F it still sounds good because the Flat 9 is stylistically appropriate 🤯

John Petitt

Alex, your lessons are the perfect remedy for guitar wankery. Thank you for the help in developing my guitar voice. Looking forward to the next one.

Alex Farran Guitar

Oh man, that is too cool! Congrats on the work you're putting in and the theory/practical connections you're making! Amazing! 👏🏻

Patrick

You're creating an army of nerds...

Benny A

This is great. I can’t wait to apply it. I do have a looper built into my fender mustang amp foot switch, but have been too intimated to use it. Lately, I’ve been spending hours each week improvising over David Gilmour style backing tracks on YouTube. I struggle to make the changes sound good so usually just stick to the scale of the key, which is starting to feel boring even for me. But I can’t wait to apply these techniques.

J. Agustin Melendez

Hi Alex. Great stuff. One thing, I'm not able to watch the video through the Patreon platform on my laptop using the latest version of Chrome. When I try to play the video it forces me to go to youtube where I have to deal with adds. On the Patreon app on my iPhone I don't have this issue. Is anyone encountering this issue? I tried restarting my laptop and clearing the cache already.

Alex Farran Guitar

Hmm, is it only happening in Chrome? Sounds like maybe a chrome plugin or plugin update is needed?

Andrew Blackard

What a fantastic study! This is just what I needed. Thank you, Alex. I remember from my saxophone studies that there is a Coltrane treatise on 1-2-3-5 patterns so he loved them too. It seems like they are something that always works and serve as a basis for embellishment. One sax thing that I don't see guitarists do is 9th arpeggios that ascend to the 7th and then descend from the 9th so you end on the 3rd. In a way, it's another means to leverage the 2nd(9th). Do you ever use that trick? To my ear it's more musical than just running up and down the 7th arpeggios..

Alex Farran Guitar

Thank you Benny, I do believe these ideas will help you to hone that Gilmour-esque soloing further! Let me know how you get on!

Ian Cowan

What an epic lesson this is.... you just keep delivering Alex. Thankyou. Plenty to keep myself occupied over xmas with this....

Ben Biffton

Exposing the trick while keeping the magic, you're the greatest teacher

J. Agustin Melendez

Hi Alex, it's happening with Safari as well and in your last Christmas post as well. Does not happen on older post. I'll update my OS system today and will let you know. Thanks for the response.

Julian Gross

+1 for that. Bandmate always calling Swing 42 up tempo and I can never stick to the 1-6-2-5. Just blast over it with a 1. Or at best a 1-5. 😫

Carlos Funk

yes, great lesson, never ending guitar study.... great direction to go in. Thanks so much, your approach and ideas are the best.

Alex Farran Guitar

My pleasure Ian, I’m so happy you enjoyed it! I’ll be doing many more lessons in this type of format. I think it’s always good to see someone’s process broken down and applied in real time! 😎

Alex Farran Guitar

That’s a good start though Julian, the first approach to take is to very clearly outline the I and the V. It’s the way players like Lester Young would tackle it. Bb to Gm (just play Bb major blues vocab), and Cm7 to F7 (use all of your favourite F7 licks and F7 altered lines).

Patrick P

This is such an epic lesson and sooo valuable and helpful. Thank you so much Alex, you're the best! More lessons in this type of format in the future would be awesome.

Alex Farran Guitar

Thanks for the great feedback Patrick! I'm so glad this format is proving to be so popular!

Thomas Horne

Omg I am up all night playing this stuff from this lesson, switching keys, connecting stuff all over the neck. I never realized that this particular Marc Ribot / rockabilly thing that I always liked was actually just moving the same triad around the neck in a double stoppy kind of way… your Patreon fee is some of the best money I’ve ever spent. Very thankful for you Alex, keep it up!!

Alex Farran Guitar

Wow thank you Thomas!.. I’m so glad to hear that! Stay inspired my friend! 👌🏻🍻

Santi M

Very interesting interview to Pat Metheney by Rick Beato in youtube where Pat talka extensively about the importance of triads in his music. Highly recomended.

Nick L

Hi Alex, I’ve always loved this style of playing on electric guitar in the video I’ve attached. I guess you could call it country Tex-Mex. Could you point me to one of your lessons that features this style? If you haven’t done a lesson like this, I would love to see it in a future lessons. https://youtu.be/5to_eXQMZH4?si=JJXsb32fRltSjw8W

Peter Kelly

If you can read music this is part one of a series about triads and shapes played on piano to form complex chords but can be transferred to guitar (using a looper if necessary) https://youtu.be/yPzIP9BAWlo?si=Fsh71YhXBUwhTKYc. Hopefully ok to post a link to an other Youtube channel here!

Alex Farran Guitar

Thanks for sharing this mate, I’ll give it a watch later on! 😎

Andrew Blackard

Thanks for the suggestion of using a looper, Alex. I bought a NuX Stereo looper and am getting instant results in my practice sessions. I thought I'd drop this note for the benefit of other patreons who have to use headphones to practice (elderly mother) because the NuX seems to have some unique advantages. One, it has a headphone output so it doubles as a headphone amp and, two, it accepts input from the headphone jack of both my Fender and Lekato guitar headphone amps without that weird impedance mismatch that normally distorts the sound. This subs for FX pedals. Here is my signal path Guitar->Fender Mustang Micro ->Nux Looper->Headphones

Alex Farran Guitar

Good stuff Peter, I’ll check that out as soon as I get a chance. Funnily enough, at some point I’ll do a part 2 on triads where we dive into the idea of using them as the upper extensions of a chord. Sounds like this video may be a similar thing 👍🏻

George Nichols

Would be nice if you could provide the backing track

Alex Farran Guitar

Hey George, I didn’t use a backing track in this lesson.. I was just using my looper to lay the chords down, and as soon as I turned the looper off the recording was gone (my looper doesn’t have any storage and that’s the way I like it, so that I constantly have to keep my rhythm skills sharp!). The idea in this lesson is to get you guys to record your own chord tracks like I did!.. whether that’s on a looper, or a computer, a mobile phone a tape machine or an old dictaphone (the way I did it as a youngster!). I’ll try and record a backing of those chords tomorrow for you, but honestly, I do implore you to give it a shot yourself! 🙏🏻

Peter Kelly

Cheers Alex, I learnt a lot about triads and seventh chords over different roots from a Dick Grove course 30 years ago and some piano books by Mark Harrison but these videos take it to another level.

Ran Bush

Hello George - after Alex posted this video, I bought a Ditto looper at Sweetwater for $80USD. It requires a 12V power supply which cost $7USD. Free shipping from Sweetwater and it arrived a couple of days later. Thanks for the idea, Alex. It's a great way to practice!

Alex Farran Guitar

That’s great news buddy! The greatest practice and self-improvement tool money can buy! 👌🏻

MarkF

Not sure if this is the right platform, but wishing all “Farranheits” a peaceful holiday and a special thanks to Alex for his work which has inspired and wrangled more out of my playing than I thought possible. See you in 2025!

Charlie Gillis

Alex, what is the chord you’re playing when you move from the E7 chord back to the tonic minor a sixth?

Alex Farran Guitar

You mean when I put the Bb in the bass?.. E7(b5) is how I’d think of it, or you could call it Bb7(b5) and think of it as a tritone substitution if you wanna be fancy, but basically, take that E7 chord, and replace the bass note (E) with Bb. 👌🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

Aw, thank you Mark, Merry Christmas to you my friend and thanks so much for your enthusiasm.. I'm so glad you're enjoying where your playing is going! 👏🏻🍻

Carlos Funk

Alex, this post is really great. Now that I've been able to put the time into in a few sessions, I can see some really nice results. Like you said, I think this, allowing the time, should be a daily practice. I think it's a great idea to have a series of these ! Thanks so much for your inspiration and guidance.....I don't think anybody does it like you do !

Carlos Funk

Grab what you can, and make it work? I think this may apply to a few more things in life than just guitar !

Alex Farran Guitar

Very true Carlos! And thanks for the kind words, really glad you enjoyed the lesson so much!

jonjon 0815

thank you very much for this lesson - super in combination with your survival Guides, a lot of practice material, a very good access for soloing, great!!!!

Sebastian C

hello alex sorry to bother but for some reason i cant open the gpx files, do i need some specif app? i use a mac

Alex Farran Guitar

Hi Sebastian, thanks for being here! So the gp and gpx files are for Guitar pro software users, but the PDF files are of course universally applicable for anyone else. I do recommend checking guitar pro out as it makes the sheet music truly interactive and is a good practice tool ;)

Carlos Funk

Hey Alex, I just have to tell you that I'm stuck on this lesson. I'm not implying "stuck" in a negative context here, but I'm really focusing on learning this stuff. I think I've posted somewhere else that this is prolly the best guitar lesson on YouTube, and I'm gonna stick with that. My band is on a break, so I'm gonna do as much on this as I can in the next two months, and some other lessons of yours on triad blues soloing that I've just noticed. I'm so happy being a Patron, prolly the best deal on the guitar universe. Any lesson that would go well that I'm missing, let me know please. With gratitude, Carlos

John Whitmore

Question about some of the chords given in the PDF material, probably missed previous lesson. For some of the chords, Am6 & Dm6 for example you play the root note on the 5th fret of a lower string and mute the same note on the open string. So play A on the 5th fret of bass E, 6th, string but mute the open A on the 5th string. Why is fretted note preferred to open string?

Alex Farran Guitar

Wow thank you Carlos, I really appreciate the great feedback! Very glad you love this lesson so much! If it’s triad based lead work you’re after, I’d also recommend checking out my Americana Soul Triad soloing lessons. 👍🏻

Alex Farran Guitar

That’s correct John. It’s much better to have full control over the ring of the note for that type of strumming style (swing/gypsy jazz style). Left hand damping is such an integral part of those styles, so open strings in your chords are best avoided for sure. 👌🏻

Carlos Funk

I'm gonna get on it. By the way, I also have truefire, this is just where I spend my time. It's really helped a lot, Alex !

john charal

Hi Alex, I just joined your Patreon especially for this lesson. I hope I'm not missing something but I was hoping to have your recorded backing track as an mp3 to load into my DAW for practice. Looping the Guitar Pro file is just not the same.

Alex Farran Guitar

Hey buddy, thanks for joining up! There are hundreds of lessons here to explore.. most of which do have backing tracks. This lesson doesn’t have a backing track though, it was just a little loop I put down in the moment. The intention with this one is a little different to the more organised lead studies I do in that you are invited to brain storm along with me, in the spirit of impromptu exploration using your own looper to throw down a few simple chords. I would definitely recommend giving it a go and not other thinking it. If you really struggle to put the changes down in your looper then get back to me and I’ll gladly do a quick recording for you. Anyway, long story short, having no backing track for this one is very much intentional and in the spirit of the bigger picture behind this lesson. 🙏🏻

john charal

I knew that was going to be the answer. I was having trouble making the Am6 to Dm6 smoothly for the loop but I'll keep working on it. Still would love the track with your tone and superb rhythm. Thanks for your quick response, I'm impressed. Loving the depth of your lessons. 2026 is the year of the triad!

Tom

Hello Alex I am taking your advice and getting a looper. What would you recommend? Thank you