11/3/2014 Turni ng Your Pentatoni cs Into Bl ues — www.sey mour duncan.com https://ww w .readabili ty .com/ar ti cl es/ugtj l8k3 1/3 seymourduncan.com Turning Your Pentatonics Into Blues by Peter • March 6, 2014 • 2 min read • original My earliest experience with playing blues guitar was being taught the Minor Pentatonic scale. I loved that damn scale: it allowed me to play those cool blues-based Chuck Berry licks. And it was always cool to be able to say “dig me as I play some sweet blues” at a jam with my then-fellow-13-year-olds (it happened once). But after a while, as I started to listen to more and more blues, something started to bug me. It didn’t sound like I was playing the blues. Sure, I was playing the Minor Pentatonic scale, which the guitar mags and my teacher had both told m e wa s an i ntegra l pa rt of the blues. And I certainly had enough built-up ea rl y-teena ge a ngst to powe r a small to m edium-sized h ellhound – another essential bl ues element. But t he licks I wa s playing just soun ded …stock. They just weren’t as nuanced, as emotive or as bluesy as the licks I was hearing from guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan or older blues kings like BB King and Buddy Guy. At first I thought it was down to attitude and experience. “Live it and it will come.” But eventually I realised that the
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8/12/2019 Turning Your Pentatonics Into Blues — www.seymourduncan
11/3/2014 Turning Your Pentatonics Into Blues — www.seymourduncan.com
https://www.readability.com/articles/ugtjl8k3 1/3
seymourduncan.com
Turning Your Pentatonics IntoBlues
by Peter • March 6, 2014 • 2 min read • original
My earliest experience with playing blues guitar was being taught the Minor Pentatonic
scale. I loved that damn scale: it allowed me to play those cool blues-based Chuck Berry
licks. And it was always cool to be able to say “dig me as I play some sweet blues” at a jamwith my then-fellow-13-year-olds (it happened once). But after a while, as I started to
listen to more and more blues, something started to bug me.
It didn’t sound like I was playing the blues.
Sure, I was playing the Minor Pentatonic scale, which the guitar mags and my teacher
had both told m e was an integral part of the blues. And I certainly had enough built-up
early-teenage angst to power a sm all to m edium-sized hellhound – another essential
blues element. But t he licks I was playing just sounded …stock. They just weren’t as
nuanced, as emotive or as bluesy as the licks I was hearing from guys like Stevie Ray
Vaughan or older blues kings like BB King and Buddy Guy. At first I thought it was down
to attitude and experience. “Live it and it will come.” But eventually I realised that the