By: Matt Warnock
There’s no doubt that Jimmy Page is one of the most legendary players in rock guitar history. Mixing blues, rock, folk and world music together, Page created a signature sound that is still instantly recognizable to this day. Though many of his solos are tough to get down, due to his lightening fast runs that permeate many of his classic riffs, there are certain concepts and approaches that you can work on in order to get some of that Page magic into your solos, without spending hours in the practice room working out his toughest licks.
One of the cool concepts that Page liked to use was the Extended Blues Scale. This scale allowed him to cover a large range across the fignerboard, while using a “symmetrical” fingering for every set of two strings (more on this below). Now, Page didn’t use this fingering for every solo, sometimes he just stuck to the first position blues/pentatonic scale we all know and love, but when he wanted to really rip he often dug into this fingering, or at least portions of it, and came up with some of the most timeless riffs in rock history.
In this article we’ll check out bit of theory background on the blues scale, then review or learn three common positions of the blues scale, before finally combining these three fingerings to form the Jimmy Page Extended Blues Scale.
So, grab your favorite axe, crank your amp to 11 and let’s dig in!
A Blues Scale is just a variation on the 5-note Pentatonic Scale that most, if not all, rock and blues guitarists check out when first learning how to solo on the guitar. Basically, a Blues Scale is a Pentatonic Scale with an added b5, the “blues note,” as it is often referred to.
Here’s how a Pentatonic Scale looks first, then we’ll spice it up with the blues note.
Root-m3-P4-P5-m7 or A-C-D-E-G in the key of A
And, when we add in a b5 we get the Blues Scale.
Root-m4-P4-D5-P5-m7 or A-C-D-D#-E-G in the key of A
It’s that simple, but man does that extra blues note sound great! Now that we’ve reviewed a bit of the theory behind this scale, let’s check out some common fingerings that we’ll use to combine in order to build the Jimmy Page Blues Scale in the final example.
Let’s first take a look at the basic, position 1 Blues Scale in they key of A minor. This is usually the first scale guitarists learn when they start to explore lead playing, so it might be review for some of you. If it is new, take some time to really work out this fingering, it is one of the most common and important scale fingerings for rock and blues guitarists to have down.
Now that you have reviewed, or learned, the first position of the Blues Scale, we’ll take a look at the position that falls right before it on the neck, often called Position 5 of the related Pentatonic Scale.
Just a little side-note, for fingering purposes, we don’t really see any fingerings starting on the “blues note” in the Blues Scale, the b5. Instead, you have five different positions of this scale, one for the five notes of the Pentatonic Scale that it is derived from. So, when working out the other fingerings of this scale, in A minor, you would have a fingering starting on A (root), C (m3), D (4th), E (5th) and G (m7), giving you five different ways to play this scale.
Here is the fifth position of the Blues Scale in the key of A minor, starting on the note G. Notice how the second note of this fingering, A, is the first note of the first position. This is a good way to start to see how these fingerings link together, and will help you when we start to combine positions to form the Jimmy Page Extended Blues Scale.
We’re now ready to look at the last fingering that wee need to build the Jimmy Page Scale, the second position of the Blues Scale. In the key of A minor, this scale will start on the note C, the second note of the underlying Pentatonic Scale. You can now see how these three scales are starting to fit together. You have position five, which is then followed by position one and finished off with position two, combining to cover a good chunk of the neck of the guitar when these three positions are pulled together.
With the three different positions of the blues scale, 5-1-2, under your fingers, you can now combine sections of these scales to form the Jimmy Page Extended Blues Scale. The cool thing about this fingering is that, not only do you cover a large part of the neck with these notes, but the fingering is symmetrical. This means, that every group of 2 strings has the same fingering.
On the first six notes, bottom two strings, you use 1-3 1-1-2-3 to play the notes on the sixth and fifth strings. Then, when you arrive on the middle two strings you repeat the same fingering on the 4th and 3rd string, and finish with the same fingering, which adds one extra note on the top to grab that juicy blues note that a lot of guys like to use in their lines.
Take your time when learning this scale. Notice how it starts in position 5 for two strings, the moves into position 1 before finishing off on position 2 on the top two strings. For an added taste of Page’s soloing vocabulary, try adding slurs (hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides) as you climb up and snake your way down this fingering. Since you are using a symmetrical fingering, you can play repeated patterns up the scale with ease, just repeat what you just played using the same fingers in the next string group.
Check this scale out in your practice room, then bring it to your soloing in a jam session or your next gig. With a little practice, you can really fly through this scale, adding that Jimmy Page flash to your solos that he became legendary for while helping you break out of the traditional pentatonic/blues scale boxes that we all know and love.
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