[__b_turner__]

Hey y'all,

I'm not the best blues soloist so working in strictly pentatonics is a little strange to me but anyways, I do that just fine on the Am bits, when I hit the B7, F9, and E7#9, I try to hit only arpeggios, and voice lead those arpeggios, but I'm struggling. Anyone have any good altered dominant arpeggios, and dominant arpeggios and licks?

[Glen Runciter]

For the altered dominant chord you could use G# diminished arpeggios. The notes are G# B D and F. It's E7b9 = G7b9 &c. The diminished scale resolves warmly to Am. Another choice for E7alt is the E whole tone scale E F# G# A# B# D E. [It may be just me, but the whole tone scale seems to show up a lot in '89 Dark Stars.] And furthermore, the altered tones of E7 scale would be b9 and #9 (F and G) and b5 and #5 (Bb and C). Those notes are all key of Am Phrygian mode.

You could choose to ignore the harmonic change and play key of Am throughout. That is a fine approach. Jerry always used chromatic approach, chord tones and also single note phrases, like playing an E note seven times in a quick rhythmic flutter.

[aiq]

Minor blues scale is very useful in many situations.