JamTrax: Blues

Been running through Ralph Argesta's book on soloing and found a neat way to practise.

Set the CD running, the first two backing tracks (E and A) repeat 8 times. The first time I play rhythmn with open chords, then second time through I switch to barre chords; both times concentrating on good thwakity twang strumming. The third time I introduce rythmic double-stops and mix them with barre shapes. By this point I'm in the mood for the free-form soloing and try and shift from say the A7 barre which is all 5th and 7th shape into the basic blues box. Then it's a matter of mixing 5 7 5 7 runs with pairs at 5th and 8th fret on the two thinnest strings. Finally I'm practising getting back to rythmn, coming out the 'solo' and back into strict tempo.

My top tip is if you fluff a note then make yourself bend it. That way people will think you're just getting jazzy, pushing the envelope - well I hope it's a safety net habit!