The 'blues note' (b5) is very useful all over the entire 12-bar blues progression and functions as an 'outside' note (not in any of the chords) and creates a little bit of tension. The trick is not to stay on the b5, but rather move through it on to other more favorable scale notes.
I highly recommend you to schedule a live online 1 on 1 lesson with me where I can clarify this in more detail, plus play for you some live examples of using the b5 in action:
-Dave Celentano
Originally Posted by: dlwalkeHey Dave,
If, for your solos, you stay on the I minor pentatonic scale (let's say A minor pentatonic) even when the chords switch to IV7 and V7 (e.g., D7 and E7), what happens to the blues note. I've never seen it placed anywhere in any of the blues box shapes other than a tritone away from the root of the I chord. However, if it stays there and you continue to use it when the IV chord comes around, you're playing the b2 (or b9) of the IV chord, and then when you get to the V chord that note is the maj7 of the chord. I doubt that either of those are particularly usable. Do you use it only for the I chord (assuming as I said that you stay on the A minor pentatonic scale throughout the chord changes).
On another "note" (haha), I regret that I will not be able to participate in the live blues stream this week but I will be traveling and will have to catch the recorded lesson when I get back.
Thanks
Dave
