Richard Chapman

Approaching a cold and mist wreathed English channel from a hot and sunny France, I was reminded of the writings of the 6th century historian Procopius concerning the island of Britain- “They imagine that the souls of the dead are transported to that island. On the coast of the continent there dwell under Frankish sovereignty, but hitherto exempt from all taxation, fishers and farmers, whose duty it is to ferry the souls over. This duty they take in turn. Those to whom it falls on any night, go to bed at dusk; at midnight they hear a knocking at their door, and muffled voices calling. Immediately they rise, go to the shore, and there see empty boats, not their own but strange ones, they go on board and seize the oars. When the boat is under way, they perceive that she is laden choke-full, with her gunwhales hardly a finger’s breadth above water. Yet they see no one, and in an hour’s time they touch land, which one of their own craft would take a day and a night to do. Arrived at Brittia, the boat speedily unloads, and becomes so light that she only dips her keel in the wave. Neither on the voyage nor at landing do they see any one, but they hear a voice loudly asking each one his name and country. Women that have crossed give their husbands’ names.”

I’ve been playing and developing basic minor blues progressions which feel natural. I used similar sequences in The Complete Guitarist, written back in 1992. Below are two of the main sequences I’ve used for a minor blues from my teens onwards. For the Complete Guitarist I wrote two sequences in E minor. A minor is a good key for the guitar. Playing in this key regularly, I’ve come to the conclusion that the two modes for soloing are A Dorian, A B C D E F# G and A Aeolian ( natural minor scale) A B C D E F G. This could be viewed as just two major keys – G and C. A blues or rock musician could move towards playing more inventively over this sequence by adding the note B to their A minor pentatonic positions- the scale becomes hexatonic ( six note) – A B C D E G. Using full seven note scalar and modal positions, there is (more or less) one alteration that is essential throughout, the one between F# and F natural to solo through a sequence which can be seen as jazz, blues or blues/rock. This is for the first sequence below, using Bm7b5 in bar nine, rather than the other common chord in jazz, F7. With E7 in bars 10 and 12, I always voice the G#, internally, and this note can be ignored, or used chromatically with the G natural for improvisation. The basic sequence with a common variant underneath for comparison- Am7   |    Am7   |    Am7    |     Am7    |   Dm7    |   Dm7    |   Am7    |   Am7    |   Bm7b5   |   E7     |    Am7    |    Am7 Am7   |    Am7   |    Am7    |     A7       |   Dm7    |   Dm7    |   Am7    |   Am7    |    F7         |   E7    |    Am7     |    E7

Certainly going well with the two sequences I’m working on. Just spoken to friends Nigel and Andreas and they both like G – it’s a good key. The next step is to think about whether I try to outline what I’m doing before I play a few things. Perhaps this gets in the way of the art but without a computer there’s nothing I can do to get engagement in this area. What I’m attempting to do isn’t educational- it’s a way of getting people playing , and setting up a platform for people to get involved.

The area of keys for the blues is fascinating, and I think this will run and run. I haven’t got going on this yet! I’ve written a bit about this on my Facebook page. Perhaps the most interesting thing is that there are keys for chords and keys for soloing on the guitar and they don’t always coincide. If I had to use just one key it would be E for major/Mixolydian type sequences yet I’ve never liked this key for blues soloing. I love it for other areas though and this is curious and I need to think about this and try it again. E minor type blues chords sound very dark and muddy to me. If minor blues chords are put up to A , they can sound neutral, yet they are good for theory and this is a good key for soloing. C works for everything, and maybe it is the best key for all instrumentalists , not just guitarists ! And C minor is the most common jazz minor key for the blues. I know a good few guitarists who like G, and there’s no doubt that jazz players ( brass, bass and keyboards) like and use F all the time, and of course they use Bb a lot. D is a good key for everything – I’ve maybe underestimated this as a key for blues on the guitar, yet I’ve always liked D minor modal sequences.

Back on the guitar after a week off.  This always feels great and I play with real focus and musicality. Concentrating on the new linear ideas. Playing slowly is a good way to hear things internally and create variations. Guitarists and many other instrumentalists tend to play externally and establish repetitive mechanical patterns. It’s good to use a lack of technique after time off to allow a flowing vocal approach.