Grab your mandolin, and let’s jam some blues!

Though blues may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you picture the mandolin, be sure with a slide here and a hammer on there, you can be as expressive on this 4-string axe as any!

Here’s a few blues mandolin tracks to get you in the mood while you read this 5-minute article:

Four Essential Blues Mandolin Lessons

Created by African Americans in the deep southern states of the U.S.A around the 1860s, blues music has undoubtedly had the most significant influence on popular music.  What began as a simple yet expressive vocal form, blues music, deepened the musical connection between performer and listener.

There are three characteristic features of blues music you need to understand to play the blues: the blues scale, the blues rhythm and the blues structure or form.

The blues mandolin scale

The blues scale is likely the most defining aspect of blues music.  If we compare the blues scale to a 7-note major scale, you will see that many of the notes are lowered and closely resemble the minor scale.  Generally, the minor scale and the blues scales are associated with a more sombre or melancholy mood.

Now look at the mandolin fretboard below to see all the notes of the G blues scale.  The root note or “G” is highlighted in blue.  For more mandolin blues scales check out the Mandolin Blues Book.  

To further enhance a genuine sense of the blues on an instrument such as the mandolin, we need to mimic the voice using some of the following techniques:

Blues Mandolin Techniques

In addition, the blues rhythm is equally as important as the blues scales to define the blues genre.

   For more music theory tips check out this post:  10 music theory tips all musicians should know.

Blues rhythms

It’s hard to think about blues music without imagining the swing or shuffle rhythm.  The long-short gallop of notes with a steady driving beat sitting in a repeating trance-like groove.  Though blues music is also played with an even 50/50 subdivision of eighth notes, the shuffle has a lop-sided feel, more like a long-short 66/33 feel or triplet subdivision.     

The triplet eight-note provides the underlying pulse in a shuffle, where each beat is divided into threes.  The shuffle rhythm has to be practiced and internalized until it feels natural.  If you are unsure about the shuffle rhythm, try this little exercise:

1) Count evenly to three repeating 1 -2 – 3 – 1 -2 – 3      2) Now clap only on 1 and 3:

The shuffle is a crucial step in understanding blues music and must be fully ingrained.  Next, let’s move on to the structure or form of the most common blues chord progression all blues players need to master: the 12 bar blues.

Blues Chord Progressions

The blues likely started out as a free call and answer form but eventually transformed into the 12 bar blues, the most prominent musical structure in blues music.  Of course, there are many ways to structure blues music, including the 8 and 16 bar blues, the blues waltz, and many more though we will focus on the basic 12 bar blues.

Here are four variations of the 12 bar blues you can play along with on your mandolin.  The audio is followed by the video below.  Slow down the video in the settings on YouTube if necessary.  

Now we know about the blues scale, the blues rhythm and the blues 12 bar blues form. There’s just one more step needed before you start jamming!    

  Want more blues tips?  Check out this article by Brad Eaton: Simple Improvisation Techniques on the 12 Bar Blues

The blues vocabulary

Maybe you are fortunate to play in a band or know a guitar player to jam with, or perhaps you prefer to play along by yourself or with a backing track?  Either way,  you need to develop a blues vocabulary.

The blues vocabulary simply means memorizing some standard riffs, knowing the blues scales in several keys, memorizing some blues chord progressions, having an excellent shuffle rhythm, and adding bluesy instrumental techniques to create an authentic blues vibe.

Of course, the whole inner emotional aspect is needed to genuinely express your feelings, but that part you can’t teach, you can only live.

Hopefully, you are going to grab your mandolin or shopping for one online!  Please leave any comments or suggestion for more free lessons below.

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