The students were tasked to begin the lesson by playing 12 Bar Blues in the key of B flat. The students struggled for several minutes trying to identify the major chords for this task, including the 4th and 5th chords, which were D# and F, respectively. After a few tries we experienced extreme difficulty in executing the task with these major chords.
The instructor then introduced (or refreshed our memory for) the approach of using three string power chords consisting of 1-5-1 note combination, played in the E-form using index, ring and pinkie fingers. With this approach it is much easier to find the 4th and 5th power chord by understanding how the guitar is tuned (i.e., 4th’s moving down the strings and 5th’s moving up the strings). We also reviewed moving up and down the neck and the number of semi-tones between each note, with two semi-tones between notes 1 thru 8, except 3-4 and 7-8 which only have one semi-tone separation.
We then transitioned to the 12 Bar Blues Shuffle. To execute this the 3 string E-form power chord is re-formed using the index, middle and ring fingers, which is more of a stretch to form, but leaves the pinkie-finger free to include an occasional 6th note into the rhythm. This is accomplished by tapping the 5th note with the pinkie to create a 6th note, as desired.
