Looking to refresh your blues vocabulary? Turn things around with these classic blues phrases...

One of the staples of blues playing is the turnaround - and it offers a great opportunity to add some real authenticity to what might otherwise be just another pentatonic statement.

It's easy to be cynical and call some of these ideas clichés, when in fact a small twist on a classic formula can remind us why these motifs became so popular and deserve to be called 'essential guitar vocabulary'.


Below are five examples, which are based around an eight-bar gospel-style 12/8 blues, many of them incorporating a hybrid picking approach, as many classic blues licks do. Each idea is placed in a musical context.

For more blues playing tips, check out my ebook and audio course, "Blues Guitar Styles."



TURNAROUND 1).
Usually heard descending in a lower register, this example reverses those conventions, keeping a traditional feel but treading new ground. It mixes in well with the C blues scale.

Listen:





TURNAROUND 2).
Using chromatic triads and keeping the root on top is another classic move. It's worth taking the time to choose the most comfortable fingering for you, but at this tempo it shouldn't present too many problems.

Listen:






TURNAROUND 3).
This example takes a more fragmented approach, borrowing the moving 6ths motif from many classic turnarounds.

Listen: