Blues in E on chromatic - Part 1

When you start learning a new key on chromatic, start by just playing the home note over several choruses of a 12-bar blues progression.

For the key of E, that means just playing the note E. This is the blow note in Holes 2, 6, and 10.

This may sound stupid, but it gets you comfortable with that note as a home base:

- Feeling its location as home base

- Feeling the action of playing it (blow or draw, slide in our out)

- Hearing it in the 12-bar progression

Try playing it first as long notes, then as a repeated note with rhythms that fit with the backing track.

The next most important note is the note called the dominant, the 5th note in the scale. e-f-g-a-b = 1-2-3-4-5, so the note is B.

Remember how wailing on Draw 4 in second position seems like such a strong note? It's called the dominant note for the same reason, and this is the next note to get comfortable with.

You can find B on a chromatic in Draw 4, 8, and 12. Try playing just that note over a 12 bar progression, again as long notes and then with appropriate rhythms.

In the next installment, I'll show you simple moves you can make from these two inportant notes, and ways to connect them into a scale.