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Studio

Song · 1969

Why I Sing the Blues

Artist
B.B. King
Released
1969
Guitar
B.B. King
  • Solo

What makes the part famous

The techniques to work on to play it, each in one sentence.

  • Solo

    The passage where the guitar steps forward and sings on its own, phrase after phrase.

The scale of the Why I Sing the Blues solo

Here the guitar plays mostly solos and riffs. On the recording's isolated guitar, the studio picked out the notes that come back most: they sit in this scale, the box where you look for the phrases by ear and improvise.

Tonic
C
Scale
C minor pentatonic
Position
Fret 8

The phrases add the major third (E) and the major sixth (A).

Minor and major third in the same phrases: the mix that makes the blues sound like the blues.

Positions in standard tuning, to play along with the record.

EADGBe891011CE♭FGB♭CE♭EFGAB♭CE♭
TonicScale notesAdded notes

Automatic analysis, checked by hand against the song's known key. No tab here: the scale tells you where to look, your ear finds the phrases.

Analyze your own recording

Record yourself playing it, or upload a version you have the right to use: the studio isolates the guitar and finds the chords, tempo, strumming and fingerings, with a fretboard video and a PDF.

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Same guitarist

All their songs

Same techniques

More famous parts that take the same work.

No lyrics or recordings here: just the titles, to help you pick what to learn. Titles and names belong to their respective owners.