Richard Barrett experiments with suspended and altered chords to bring a sense of suspense to your compositions

OVER THE LAST two columns, I’ve demonstrated a handful of what I consider to be essential “blues approved” licks that work well both as embellishments to rhythm parts or as phrases within a solo. Our

Richard Barrett is on a mission to make you a better blues player – with full audio examples and backing tracks

In the second part of this lesson, Richard Barrett asks you to lend your ears to the sounds of the silver screen for real-life context

ONE OF MY favorite sounds in blues and blues-rock soloing is utilizing the “blue note.” I’m talking about the flatted 5th, or b5, which is located one half step below the 5th of the root note of whate

LAST MONTH, I introduced an approach to playing through a 12-bar blues shuffle in the key of E with some of my favorite licks to play over the IV (four) chord, A7, and the V (five) chord, B7. This mon