Chords for Matt Schofield Guitar Lesson - West Side 12/8 Blues Breakdown - Blues Speak
Tempo:
160.05 bpm
Chords used:
G
D
C
Gm
F
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret

Start Jamming...
I really dig playing over those kind of high-energy 12-8.
I call them like
West Side Chicago, like Magic Sam used to play on the stuff.
The real drive in 12-8 blues.
And it's nice, I tend not to get too fancy on
them melodically.
It's nice to work those notes and I go for a lot of
Big Ben's, Albert King type inspired things.
And
[G] you know, like quite direct
playing.
You don't need to play everything that you know how to do all
the time.
Sometimes it's better to just speak clearly and well-defined and that
gets the point across more.
And that's what I try and do on a track like that.
And again, pacing it with the dynamic of the band.
This is a real band track with
real human beings playing and we tried to give you some dynamics to work
with to build the solo.
So you know, it's step back, play a line, let it breathe.
It's always important, you know, as guitar players we can just keep playing and
playing and playing.
But sometimes it's, you know, good to just step back and take
a breath, take a space, because that makes the next thing you play
have that much more impact.
So space always just as important as what you
do play, as they say.
The notes you don't play are just as important.
And then as
the dynamic of the track builds up, really trying to build the pace of it as
well.
Adding a few more notes, working up a little higher, getting stuff stinging.
[Bbm] [G]
[Bbm] [Bb]
[C]
[Eb]
Sort of moving some little two-note chord [C] things.
[Bbm]
[Cm] [Gm] [G] [Eb]
[Dm]
Those are quite nice [F] ideas
to, you know, once you've played out all your [Am] stinky single note stuff,
you know, start making it.
[Gm]
[Ab]
[G] [G]
[Ab] And again, I'm always trying to bring out the changes,
even in the simpler side [Gm] of the playing.
When [A] the five chord comes
around, [Bm]
[C]
[B] [Gm]
and [Ab] [D] back to the one, you know, it's always even in its simplicity trying to
bring out those changes.
So in that first verse, when the five chord comes round,
[F] [G]
[D] I play something along those lines.
It's like kind of mashing up the minor
pentatonic and changing it for thewe'rewe putting that, in this case it's an A, [Gb] [G]
[D] which makes it [Dm] thehasha the flavor of [G] D minor pentatonic. And so it's kind of jumping back and forth to me, how I see it, is sneaking out of the G minor pentatonic with the harder straight blues sound, like that. And then dipping into the D minor pentatonic to bring out that change with some [Gb] little [D] hard to do on the spot, actually. I'm better at doing it in mid-flow, but, [E] [A]
[D] you know, it's like slides and slurs and things like that. It's as much color as we can work into the whole thing, really, is what we're going for. But essentially it's G minor pentatonic into D minor pentatonic and landing with a big, solid, full stop [G] on that five chord itself. You know, it's like punctuation, really, is what we're doing. Another little thing that happened there in the moment before the four chord, it'sfirstfir of all, it's like playing with the time a little bit and I'm playing against the rhythm a little bit, kind of that juggling thing we talked about, you know, playful phrasing, as I call it. So it's kind of [Gb] something [D] [C] [B] [E]
[Ab] like that. Again, it'swe'rewe' coming [D] something [D] [F] [C]
along those lines. And again, it'sI'm hinting at the sound [Ab] of [D] [E]
the C7, I suppose you call it C Mixolydian, [Dbm] but it's also still sort of G minor [D] pentatonic. [Bbm] [G]
So it'sI'm kind of trying to set up the idea of the C coming by bringing some of the C flavor, the C7 flavor out of the G minor pentatonic and playing with the time. And you getagain,ag it's like a little moment of excitement that leads you to the chord change. And then in the third chorus, [C] kind of taking the same idea as the last time around and expanding on it even more. So weyouy know, I've messed with the time again, throw it around a little bit and put a couple of, I guess you could call it like chromatic kind of notes to add a bit of extra tension. [G] So [D] we're going something likesomethingsom along those lines. So we got the flat 9 using that a little bit. [C]
And then lead into the C7 [F] and [Gm] work my way [Bb] down [Bb] [G] [A] [G]
[C] out of the C7 [Am] scale again like that. So, you know, it's like saving up we've used the single note stuff and then we're going to drop something kind of a little more sophisticated by using some [Bb] [G] small chords to move around, but use them in a rhythmically interesting way. So, yeah, that'sagain,again it's using that moment of the oncoming change to kind of get in there and mash it up a bit. And then land strong onto the [F] change [E] so that everybody can take a breath for a second after the spectacular thing you just
I call them like
West Side Chicago, like Magic Sam used to play on the stuff.
The real drive in 12-8 blues.
And it's nice, I tend not to get too fancy on
them melodically.
It's nice to work those notes and I go for a lot of
Big Ben's, Albert King type inspired things.
And
[G] you know, like quite direct
playing.
You don't need to play everything that you know how to do all
the time.
Sometimes it's better to just speak clearly and well-defined and that
gets the point across more.
And that's what I try and do on a track like that.
And again, pacing it with the dynamic of the band.
This is a real band track with
real human beings playing and we tried to give you some dynamics to work
with to build the solo.
So you know, it's step back, play a line, let it breathe.
It's always important, you know, as guitar players we can just keep playing and
playing and playing.
But sometimes it's, you know, good to just step back and take
a breath, take a space, because that makes the next thing you play
have that much more impact.
So space always just as important as what you
do play, as they say.
The notes you don't play are just as important.
And then as
the dynamic of the track builds up, really trying to build the pace of it as
well.
Adding a few more notes, working up a little higher, getting stuff stinging.
[Bbm] [G]
[Bbm] [Bb]
[C]
[Eb]
Sort of moving some little two-note chord [C] things.
[Bbm]
[Cm] [Gm] [G] [Eb]
[Dm]
Those are quite nice [F] ideas
to, you know, once you've played out all your [Am] stinky single note stuff,
you know, start making it.
[Gm]
[Ab]
[G] [G]
[Ab] And again, I'm always trying to bring out the changes,
even in the simpler side [Gm] of the playing.
When [A] the five chord comes
around, [Bm]
[C]
[B] [Gm]
and [Ab] [D] back to the one, you know, it's always even in its simplicity trying to
bring out those changes.
So in that first verse, when the five chord comes round,
[F] [G]
[D] I play something along those lines.
It's like kind of mashing up the minor
pentatonic and changing it for thewe'rewe putting that, in this case it's an A, [Gb] [G]
[D] which makes it [Dm] thehasha the flavor of [G] D minor pentatonic. And so it's kind of jumping back and forth to me, how I see it, is sneaking out of the G minor pentatonic with the harder straight blues sound, like that. And then dipping into the D minor pentatonic to bring out that change with some [Gb] little [D] hard to do on the spot, actually. I'm better at doing it in mid-flow, but, [E] [A]
[D] you know, it's like slides and slurs and things like that. It's as much color as we can work into the whole thing, really, is what we're going for. But essentially it's G minor pentatonic into D minor pentatonic and landing with a big, solid, full stop [G] on that five chord itself. You know, it's like punctuation, really, is what we're doing. Another little thing that happened there in the moment before the four chord, it'sfirstfir of all, it's like playing with the time a little bit and I'm playing against the rhythm a little bit, kind of that juggling thing we talked about, you know, playful phrasing, as I call it. So it's kind of [Gb] something [D] [C] [B] [E]
[Ab] like that. Again, it'swe'rewe' coming [D] something [D] [F] [C]
along those lines. And again, it'sI'm hinting at the sound [Ab] of [D] [E]
the C7, I suppose you call it C Mixolydian, [Dbm] but it's also still sort of G minor [D] pentatonic. [Bbm] [G]
So it'sI'm kind of trying to set up the idea of the C coming by bringing some of the C flavor, the C7 flavor out of the G minor pentatonic and playing with the time. And you getagain,ag it's like a little moment of excitement that leads you to the chord change. And then in the third chorus, [C] kind of taking the same idea as the last time around and expanding on it even more. So weyouy know, I've messed with the time again, throw it around a little bit and put a couple of, I guess you could call it like chromatic kind of notes to add a bit of extra tension. [G] So [D] we're going something likesomethingsom along those lines. So we got the flat 9 using that a little bit. [C]
And then lead into the C7 [F] and [Gm] work my way [Bb] down [Bb] [G] [A] [G]
[C] out of the C7 [Am] scale again like that. So, you know, it's like saving up we've used the single note stuff and then we're going to drop something kind of a little more sophisticated by using some [Bb] [G] small chords to move around, but use them in a rhythmically interesting way. So, yeah, that'sagain,again it's using that moment of the oncoming change to kind of get in there and mash it up a bit. And then land strong onto the [F] change [E] so that everybody can take a breath for a second after the spectacular thing you just
Key:
G
D
C
Gm
F
G
D
C
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ I really dig playing over those kind of high-energy 12-8.
I call them like
West Side Chicago, _ like Magic Sam used to play on the stuff. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The real drive in 12-8 blues.
_ And it's nice, _ _ I tend not to get too _ fancy on
them melodically.
It's nice to _ work those notes and I go for a lot of
Big Ben's, Albert King type inspired things.
And _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ you know, like quite direct _ _
playing.
_ _ _ You don't need to play everything that you know how to do all
the time.
Sometimes it's better to just speak _ clearly and _ _ well-defined and that
gets the point across more.
And that's what I try and do on a track like that. _
And again, pacing it with the dynamic of the band.
This is a real band track _ with
real human beings playing and we tried to give you some dynamics to work
with to build the solo.
So you know, it's _ step back, play a line, let it breathe.
It's always important, you know, as guitar players we can just keep playing and
playing and playing.
But sometimes _ it's, you know, _ good to just step back and take
a _ breath, take a space, because that makes the next thing you _ play
_ have that much more impact.
_ So _ space always just as important as _ _ _ what you
do play, as they say.
The notes you don't play are just as important.
And then as
the dynamic of the track builds up, really trying to _ _ _ _ _ _ build the pace of it as
well.
Adding a few more notes, working up a little higher, getting stuff stinging. _
_ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ Sort of moving some little _ _ two-note chord [C] things.
_ [Bbm] _
[Cm] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
Those are quite nice [F] ideas
to, you know, once you've played out all your _ _ _ [Am] stinky single note stuff,
you know, start _ making it.
_ _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Ab] And again, I'm always trying to bring out the changes,
even in _ the _ simpler side [Gm] of the playing. _ _ _ _
When [A] the five chord comes
around, _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [Gm] _
and _ _ _ [Ab] _ [D] back to the one, you know, it's always even in its simplicity trying to
bring out those changes.
So in that first verse, when the five chord comes round, _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ _ I play something along those lines.
_ _ _ _ It's _ _ like kind of mashing up _ _ _ _ the _ _ _ _ _ minor _ _
pentatonic and changing it for _ _ _ the_we're_we putting that, in this case it's an A, _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ which makes it [Dm] _ the_has_ha the flavor of _ [G] _ _ _ D _ _ minor pentatonic. And so it's kind of jumping back and forth to me, how I see it, is _ sneaking out of the G minor pentatonic with the harder straight blues sound, _ _ _ like that. And then dipping into the D minor pentatonic to _ _ _ _ _ bring out that change with some _ _ [Gb] _ _ little_ [D] hard to do on _ the spot, actually. I'm better at doing it in mid-flow, but, _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ you know, it's like slides and slurs and things like that. It's as much color as we can work into the whole thing, really, is what we're going for. But essentially it's G minor pentatonic into D minor pentatonic _ and landing with a big, _ _ _ _ solid, _ full stop [G] on that _ five chord itself. You know, it's like punctuation, really, is what we're doing. _ Another little thing that happened there in the _ _ moment before the four chord, _ _ _ _ it's_first_fir of all, it's _ like playing with the time a little bit and I'm playing against the rhythm a little bit, kind of that juggling thing we talked about, you know, playful phrasing, as I call it. So _ it's kind of _ _ [Gb] something _ [D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _
_ [Ab] like that. _ Again, _ it's_we're_we' coming _ _ _ [D] something _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [C] _
_ _ along those lines. And again, it's_I'm hinting at the _ sound [Ab] of _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
the C7, I suppose you call it C Mixolydian, [Dbm] but _ _ it's also still _ sort of G minor [D] pentatonic. _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
So it's_I'm kind of trying to set up the idea of _ the C coming _ by bringing _ _ some of the C flavor, the C7 flavor out of the G minor pentatonic and playing with the time. And you get_again,_ag it's like a little moment of excitement that leads you to the chord change. And then in the third chorus, _ [C] _ kind of taking _ the same idea as the last time around and expanding on it even more. So _ we_you_y know, I've messed with the time again, throw it around a little bit and put a couple of, I guess you could call it like chromatic kind of notes to add a bit of extra tension. [G] So _ _ _ _ [D] we're going something _ _ like_something_som _ _ _ _ _ _ _ along those lines. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ So we got the _ _ _ _ _ flat 9 using that a little bit. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ And then lead into _ _ the C7 _ [F] and _ [Gm] _ _ _ work my way [Bb] down _ [Bb] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _
_ [C] _ _ _ out of the C7 [Am] scale again like that. So, _ _ _ _ you know, it's like saving up_ we've used the single note stuff and then we're going to drop something kind of _ a little more sophisticated by using some [Bb] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ small chords to move around, but use them in a rhythmically _ interesting way. So, yeah, that's_again,_again it's using that _ moment of the _ _ oncoming change to kind of get in there and mash it up a bit. And then land strong onto the [F] change _ [E] _ _ so that everybody can take a breath for a second after the _ spectacular thing you just
_ _ _ _ _ _ I really dig playing over those kind of high-energy 12-8.
I call them like
West Side Chicago, _ like Magic Sam used to play on the stuff. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ The real drive in 12-8 blues.
_ And it's nice, _ _ I tend not to get too _ fancy on
them melodically.
It's nice to _ work those notes and I go for a lot of
Big Ben's, Albert King type inspired things.
And _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ you know, like quite direct _ _
playing.
_ _ _ You don't need to play everything that you know how to do all
the time.
Sometimes it's better to just speak _ clearly and _ _ well-defined and that
gets the point across more.
And that's what I try and do on a track like that. _
And again, pacing it with the dynamic of the band.
This is a real band track _ with
real human beings playing and we tried to give you some dynamics to work
with to build the solo.
So you know, it's _ step back, play a line, let it breathe.
It's always important, you know, as guitar players we can just keep playing and
playing and playing.
But sometimes _ it's, you know, _ good to just step back and take
a _ breath, take a space, because that makes the next thing you _ play
_ have that much more impact.
_ So _ space always just as important as _ _ _ what you
do play, as they say.
The notes you don't play are just as important.
And then as
the dynamic of the track builds up, really trying to _ _ _ _ _ _ build the pace of it as
well.
Adding a few more notes, working up a little higher, getting stuff stinging. _
_ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ [Bb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ Sort of moving some little _ _ two-note chord [C] things.
_ [Bbm] _
[Cm] _ _ [Gm] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ _
Those are quite nice [F] ideas
to, you know, once you've played out all your _ _ _ [Am] stinky single note stuff,
you know, start _ making it.
_ _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [G] _
_ [Ab] And again, I'm always trying to bring out the changes,
even in _ the _ simpler side [Gm] of the playing. _ _ _ _
When [A] the five chord comes
around, _ _ [Bm] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [Gm] _
and _ _ _ [Ab] _ [D] back to the one, you know, it's always even in its simplicity trying to
bring out those changes.
So in that first verse, when the five chord comes round, _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [D] _ _ I play something along those lines.
_ _ _ _ It's _ _ like kind of mashing up _ _ _ _ the _ _ _ _ _ minor _ _
pentatonic and changing it for _ _ _ the_we're_we putting that, in this case it's an A, _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ which makes it [Dm] _ the_has_ha the flavor of _ [G] _ _ _ D _ _ minor pentatonic. And so it's kind of jumping back and forth to me, how I see it, is _ sneaking out of the G minor pentatonic with the harder straight blues sound, _ _ _ like that. And then dipping into the D minor pentatonic to _ _ _ _ _ bring out that change with some _ _ [Gb] _ _ little_ [D] hard to do on _ the spot, actually. I'm better at doing it in mid-flow, but, _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ you know, it's like slides and slurs and things like that. It's as much color as we can work into the whole thing, really, is what we're going for. But essentially it's G minor pentatonic into D minor pentatonic _ and landing with a big, _ _ _ _ solid, _ full stop [G] on that _ five chord itself. You know, it's like punctuation, really, is what we're doing. _ Another little thing that happened there in the _ _ moment before the four chord, _ _ _ _ it's_first_fir of all, it's _ like playing with the time a little bit and I'm playing against the rhythm a little bit, kind of that juggling thing we talked about, you know, playful phrasing, as I call it. So _ it's kind of _ _ [Gb] something _ [D] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _
_ [Ab] like that. _ Again, _ it's_we're_we' coming _ _ _ [D] something _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [C] _
_ _ along those lines. And again, it's_I'm hinting at the _ sound [Ab] of _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
the C7, I suppose you call it C Mixolydian, [Dbm] but _ _ it's also still _ sort of G minor [D] pentatonic. _ [Bbm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _
So it's_I'm kind of trying to set up the idea of _ the C coming _ by bringing _ _ some of the C flavor, the C7 flavor out of the G minor pentatonic and playing with the time. And you get_again,_ag it's like a little moment of excitement that leads you to the chord change. And then in the third chorus, _ [C] _ kind of taking _ the same idea as the last time around and expanding on it even more. So _ we_you_y know, I've messed with the time again, throw it around a little bit and put a couple of, I guess you could call it like chromatic kind of notes to add a bit of extra tension. [G] So _ _ _ _ [D] we're going something _ _ like_something_som _ _ _ _ _ _ _ along those lines. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ So we got the _ _ _ _ _ flat 9 using that a little bit. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [C] _
_ _ And then lead into _ _ the C7 _ [F] and _ [Gm] _ _ _ work my way [Bb] down _ [Bb] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _
_ [C] _ _ _ out of the C7 [Am] scale again like that. So, _ _ _ _ you know, it's like saving up_ we've used the single note stuff and then we're going to drop something kind of _ a little more sophisticated by using some [Bb] _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ small chords to move around, but use them in a rhythmically _ interesting way. So, yeah, that's_again,_again it's using that _ moment of the _ _ oncoming change to kind of get in there and mash it up a bit. And then land strong onto the [F] change _ [E] _ _ so that everybody can take a breath for a second after the _ spectacular thing you just