This ActionTab is from the Blues Rock 1 Series in the Jamzone.

The traditional core of blues playing is the 12 Bar Blues, which we've taken a good look at already in the Jamzone. However, the influence of the blues style goes much further than the traditional 12 Bar format. Much modern music has at least some influence from the blues. This is particularly true for guitar-based music. Rock music is strongly related to the blues, as is much pop, RnB, etc.

In this series we are going to get closer to modern uses of blues guitar - often called Blues Rock, Progressive Rock, or Soft Rock. We'll start out here by using a slow rock beat and a simple acoustic chord progression for the backing music. Then we'll be doing some cool bluesy solo licks and seeing how they work.

This is a modern blues progression played over a slow rock beat. The chord progression is based in the key of E minor:

Em7 - Asus4 (repeat 4 times) C - D/Dsus4

If you struggle with the Em7 chord in this progression, you can just use a normal E minor chord instead (the tune ends on one). However, it sounds much better using the Em7 so don't be lazy and give it some practice!

Once you've learned the lead guitar styles we're going to explore in this series, then come back to this Backing track, loop it, and try out your own licks over the top! Starting with the E minor scales (blues, pentatonic, natural minor etc) for your solos is recommended.