The ABC Method: Blues Solos That Never Sound Like Noodling Again

If you've been stuck trying to play a great blues solo and you just don't know where else to turn, this lesson is for you. After playing on Grammy nominated recordings and teaching thousands of students all over the world how to play the blues, I can tell you today's lesson is as simple as ABC.

It's called the ABC method. Stevie Ray Vaughan knew about it. BB King knew about it. John Mayer knows about it. And by the end of this post you'll know how to use it so your solos always sound like ideas, never like noodling.

The lay of the land

We're operating over a B minor blues, the same changes as The Thrill Is Gone by BB King. The chords are B minor, E minor, a G dominant, F sharp, and back home to B minor.

Most players hear those chords and just run the minor pentatonic scale up and down. It sounds noodly. It sounds like you never land on a solid idea. That's exactly the problem the ABC method solves. And the best part is it doesn't require more information. It requires doing less.

How the ABC method works

Instead of wandering around the scale, you develop an idea. That idea is A.

Then you respond to it with a second idea. That's B. I like to build both ideas out of the sliding super pentatonic scale.

Then you repeat them. A again, B again. Now your listener has a theme they can actually follow.

Then C comes in, a brand new idea. And after C, you resolve back to A.

That's the whole method. A, B, A, B, C, back to A. Literally as simple as ABC.

The hidden ingredient: space

Here's the nuance most people miss. There's space between every idea. Long pauses.

You play your A, and then you stop. You let it hang. Then you answer with your B.

BB King knew that the space between ideas is what gives a solo that professional gloss. It says you're confident enough to leave silence out there. Most players aren't comfortable with silence, so they try to fill it with gibberish. Don't. The space is doing work for you. Listeners need it to absorb what you just played.

Keep your ideas small

Three to five notes. That's the sweet spot for an idea.

You don't need a flurry. You need a phrase simple enough to repeat, because repetition is what turns a lick into a motif. If you just pour out an onslaught of random pentatonic notes, it's too hard to follow. And remember, you're a listener too. Even you can't follow your own playing when it's all glued together.

A variation to try

Once A, B, C feels natural, try resolving back to B after your C instead of A. All the ingredients are still there. You're still repeating, still developing a theme, just with a different shape to the story.

And that's the point. I'm not trying to spoon feed you licks. This is a concept you can take and run with over any blues you encounter. Put on a backing track and go A, then B, A then B, C, and back home.

If you like frameworks like this one, the chord scale chord method pairs perfectly with ABC.

Watch the original video: fix your bad blues solos instantly by doing this

Want to go deeper?

The sliding super pentatonic scale I'm building these ideas from has its own course. If you want to master it up and down the neck, check out Super Pentatonics.

Grab the free Blues Bootcamp. It walks through these concepts with tabs, downloadable PDFs, backing tracks, and a jam with me section so you can actually get this into your hands.

And if you're ready to become the blues guitarist you hear in your head, check out The Blues Guitar System, my full course.