Minor Blues

This is a lesson on the minor blues and how we can use the 5 CAGED shapes to solo over this. This is much less complicated than trying to learn and memorize a bunch of scales and modes. Then we expand from there using the minor-major scale. If you haven’t learned the 5 CAGED shapes in key of C you might want to review that blog post.

A minor blues is a variation of the 12 bar blues, but sounds quite different. This is the basic structure (12 bars or measures):

i i i i
iv iv i i
bVI V i V

So for key of C minor we have the following progression:
Cm Cm Cm Cm
Fm Fm Fm Fm
Ab7 G7(b13) Cm G7

The chords in C minor (Eb major) are Cm7, Dm7b5, Eb major7, Fm7, Gm7, Ab7, Bbm7

Here’s an example video of Coltrane’s Equinox (guitar version):

You’ll see a lot of theories about how to solo over this and lots of complicated scales, modes. But of course we have a simple way of soloing over this (to start with). The relative major key of C minor is Eb Major so go grab your 5 major shapes in the key of Eb.

Use it over the whole song at first. Use the C minor pentatonic scale within each shape as well (not just the one at the eight fret!).

Then to better reflect the chord tones, temporarily modify the G to Gb over the Ab7 chord, then modify the Bb to B for the G7. The b13 is just the Eb which is part of the C minor key. The equivalent modes would be C aeolian over Cm7, F dorian over Fm7, Ab lydian dominant (mixolydian with #4) and G phrygian dominant/5th mode harmonic minor (but we don’t want to go there).

For more on this topic (minor-major scale, and other alterations) you can join Online Guitar Coaching and get access to all 7 video lesson courses.