skills/human-melodic-phrasing/references/blues.md

# Blues phrasing

## Vocabulary
- Minor pentatonic plus the blue notes: the b5 as a passing tone, and the major
  3rd approached from the b3 (bend or hammer from b3 to 3 over the I chord).
- Mixolydian colour on the I and IV chords: the 6th and the major 3rd.
- Over the V chord, the b7 and the 9th; over the IV chord, the b7 of IV
  (which is the b3 of the key) is the strongest note.

## Target notes
- I7: 3rd (bent up from b3), b7, root at phrase ends.
- IV7: its b7 (the key's b3) and its 3rd (the key's 6th).
- V7: its 3rd (the key's 7th) and its root, then fall to the I.
- Turnaround (bars 11 to 12): descending chromatic line to the V, then rest.

## Rhythm and space
- Call and response: a 2-bar statement, a 2-bar answer that reuses the
  statement's rhythm with different last notes.
- Start phrases on beat 2 or the "and" of 1 as often as on beat 1.
- Leave beats 3 and 4 of the second bar empty or on one held note; the band
  fills the gap.
- Triplet quarter feel and shuffle both belong here; set `feel` to `shuffle`
  or `swing` rather than writing dotted rhythms.

## Guitar technique
- Full bend on string 2 or 3 to the 4th or 5th, with vibrato at the top.
- Quarter-tone bends are not available; use `bend-half` from the b3 to the
  3rd instead.
- Slides into the root from a fret below at phrase starts.
- Repeated-note figures (the same bent note three times) are idiomatic, not
  a mistake.

## Avoid
- Running the pentatonic box up and down without bends or rests.
- Ending every phrase on the root on beat 1.
- Playing the 4th of the I chord on a strong beat.