This lesson explains the solo for Blue on Black by Kenny Wayne Shepherd and how to figure out which key to solo in. If you need the chord progression first, check out the Blue on Black guitar chord lesson.
Blue on Black uses the chords D, C and G—which is the V, IV, and I in the key of G major. You might think this means you’d solo in G major, like Sweet Home Alabama does with the same D-C-G progression. But here’s where Kenny Wayne Shepherd breaks the rules.
The Flatted 7th Rule
The difference comes down to how the chords are arranged. In Sweet Home Alabama, the progression is half-bar D, half-bar C, full-bar G—which makes G feel like home. But in Blue on Black, it’s a full bar of D, with the C and G as weaker changes. The song keeps returning to D, which makes D feel like the tonic (the home chord).
In the chorus, the song builds on an A chord. The A doesn’t belong in G major, but it’s the V chord in D major. Because the D acts as the tonic and keeps pulling you back, this song is actually in D pentatonic minor—not D major.
Why D Pentatonic Minor?
Here’s the key: when you move from D to C, that C acts as a flatted 7th over D. In D major, you’d expect a C# chord (C# diminished or C# minor for the 7th). But this progression uses C major instead—a flatted 7th.
As soon as you flatten that seventh, you commit to a minor-sounding progression, even though there’s not one minor chord in it. The G is the 4th over D (neutral), and the A is the 5th (neutral). The only “color chord” creating the mood is that C—the flatted 7th—which gives the whole thing a minor tonality.
So when you’re soloing over Blue on Black, use D pentatonic minor. Try it yourself—play the D-C-G progression and solo using D pentatonic minor positions. You’ll hear how perfectly it fits.
The flatted 7th trick is one of those gray areas in music theory that gives rock and blues so much character. It fools your ear into hearing minor tonality in a major chord progression.
Want more country guitar licks in pentatonic minor? Check out Cool Country Guitar Licks in E Pentatonic Minor.
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