If you’ve been working your scales like I asked in Part 1, you’re ready for this. Today we learn the chord progression and the first two riffs of our 12-bar solo. This is where it starts to sound like actual music.

This is Part 2 of the Slow Blues Solo Challenge.

The Chord Progression

We’re working with a 1-4-5 in E minor: E minor, A minor, B minor. Now here’s a detail that matters — these aren’t dominant 7th chords like you hear in a lot of standard blues. This is pure minor. I do add minor 7ths to the bar chords as I move up the fretboard, but an A minor 7th is a very different animal from an A dominant 7th.

Why does this matter? Because when you know the chords, you hear how the solo notes line up with them. I wrote every riff in this solo with the chord changes in mind. Once you get good at it, you’ll hear that connection clearly.

Riff Number One — Bar 1

Each riff covers one bar. Twelve riffs, twelve bars — that’s the whole solo.

Riff one doesn’t start on beat one. There’s a rest. You come in on the second beat at the 14th fret, fourth string with your third finger. Then cross over to the 12th fret, third string. Roll your first finger over to catch the 12th fret, second string.

Those three notes? That’s your E minor chord in a higher register. That’s not an accident — I pulled them right out of the chord. Then you hit the 12th fret second string again and hammer on to the 15th fret with your pinky. Pick that 15th fret one more time and that’s riff one done.

When you hammer, come down hard enough that it almost sounds like you picked the note. Use the bony tip of your finger and commit to it.

Riff Number Two — Bar 2

Riff two starts on the 12th fret, fourth string. Hammer on to the 14th. Then it moves up — pick, hammer, pick, pick, and slide up to the 16th fret on the third string. You’re actually shifting into the third position of that climb scale from Part 1. Then you come back down.

There’s a rest at the start of this one too. And here’s something I want you to remember — a little space between phrases is a good thing. You don’t speak without ever taking a breath, right? Same with a guitar solo. Treat your guitar like a voice. If you could sing this progression, what would you play?

Practice These Two Together

Here’s my suggestion for your 45 minutes: spend the first 15 running your scales with the jam track to warm up. Then 15 minutes on riff one by itself — and because we’re in the key of E minor with no outside notes, you can play riff one through the entire 12-bar cycle. It’ll sound fine over every chord. Same thing for riff two with your last 15 minutes.

At the end, start fitting riff one into bar one and riff two into bar two. Don’t panic about getting it perfect. Just get the note groupings under your fingers.

When you’ve got these two down, move on to Part 3 — Call and Answer where we’ll add four more bars and hit the halfway mark.

Back to the full Blues Soloing section.