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Beyond Blues: Phrasing—A Lost Art

Corey Christiansen October 18, 2011
4-5 minutes

Phrasing: When it comes to an improvised

solo, it’s pretty much what separates the
good players from the greats. It’s the
difference between a solo that sounds like
a composition and a solo that sounds like
the fingers are just randomly falling down on the strings.
So what’s the trick to phrasing? Well the definitive answer is
colossal, so let’s start off by just dealing with the basics. The first
thing you have to understand is the phrase structure (the number
of measures in each phrase) of the music you are playing. In this
case, we’re talking about the blues and more specifically a 12-
bar blues. There are three four-bar phrases in a 12-bar blues.
Most popular music is built on phrases that contain an even
number of measures, with four- and eight-measure phrases
being the most common.

Singers generally understand the phrase structure of the blues

better than the average soloist, so let’s look to them for some
lessons. In Fig. 1, you can see a lyric over a blues form that

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demonstrates a typical phrasing structure. It’s very easy to see

that the lyric sung in the second line is identical to the lyric in the
first. Typically, the melody would also be very close, if not the
same, especially if the melody was using notes out of the blues
scale, which we know works for all the chord changes in the
blues. The lyric for the third is the summary of the first and
second phrases. Notice the use of space in measures three and
four of the first phrase. This is a very important part of the blues.
The space at the end of a phrase lets you digest what you have
played, allows other members of the group to react and respond
to your playing, and it gives you some time to set up your ideas
for the next phrase.

What we are going to try to do now is use the same technique,

but replace the lyric and song melody with an improvised melody.
This is harder than it might seem, because as the soloist, you
have to remember and be accountable for the melodic material
you play in the first phrase so you can repeat verbatim it in the
second.
We will start out with some simple ideas that are generated from
the blues scale and graduate to ideas that use a melody we’ll

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manipulate to follow the chord changes. Even though this is a

simple concept, many advanced players have a hard time
accounting for what they have played. If you can’t account for
what you’ve played, you are subjecting yourself to an out-of-
control solo that, frankly, will be devoid of strong phrasing.

In Fig. 2, you can see an example of putting this phrasing to use

in a melodic way. I’m intentionally keeping the examples pretty
easy. This concept is the classic situation of “It’s really easy to
talk about it and understand it, but it’s hard to actually execute
with integrity.” When you practice this, be very honest with
yourself if you are remembering exactly what you played in the
first phrase and playing it exactly the same in the second phrase.
The third phrase gives you the opportunity to play whatever you
want to summarize. I’m keeping all the notes for this example
within the A minor pentatonic scale, so our repeated melody
won’t clash with any of the chords.

or download example audio...

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The next step, shown in Fig. 3, is to take a phrase that outlines

the changes and keeps the integrity of the line by altering the
line’s notes to match the chord changes in the blues.
or download example audio...

As I said earlier, this is an easy concept to talk about, but it’s a

tricky concept to perfect. Players gain control by being
accountable, and this concept makes you accountable for every
note and every rhythm played. As you practice, pay attention to

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the details. It’s easy to say you have something down when in
reality, you don’t. Be honest in your practicing.

Corey Christiansen

Corey Christiansen, a former senior editor and

guitar clinician for Mel Bay Publications, is known
for his fluid jazz improvisation and instructional
chops. He teaches full-time at Utah State University and is an
Artist-in-Residence at the Jacobs School of Music in
Bloomington, Indiana, the Atlanta Institute of Music, and the
Broadway Music School. To learn more about his CDs and DVD,
and see his current workshop and performance schedule, visit
coreychristiansen.com. Photo by Jimmy Katz

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