One of the things that separates competent blues playing from truly musical blues playing is whether you’re responding to the harmony or just running the same scale over everything. Brick 7 teaches you to do exactly that: hear the IV chord coming and play something that acknowledges it.
What you’ll get out of this lesson: You’ll learn a lick that outlines the IV chord at bar 5 of a 12-bar blues, using notes from the minor pentatonic that are common to both the I and IV chord — no scale change required.
Understanding the Chord Change
In a standard 12-bar blues in E, bar 5 is where the harmony moves from E7 to A7 — from the I chord to the IV chord. Most beginners play the same minor pentatonic shape over both and hope for the best. This lick gives you a smarter option: by targeting notes that belong to the A7 chord shape and also exist in the E minor pentatonic position, you outline the chord change without having to think about switching scales. That’s a good way of learning how to outline chords — by remembering where the chord shapes are and just hitting notes from within them.
The Lick Itself
The lick starts the same way as Brick 1 — a bend at the 14th fret of the G. Then you bar across three strings, hitting the high E, skipping the B, and landing on the G. That skip takes practice; it’s the key physical challenge of this brick. Once you’ve got it, you’ll have a phrase that signals the IV chord clearly to anyone listening.
Start listening to the blues, and when you hear that chord change at bar five, whack that lick in.
Making It Musical
The lick is only useful if you deploy it at the right moment. Start listening to your favourite blues tracks and identify bar 5 of the 12-bar progression by ear. That’s where the IV chord arrives and where this brick belongs. Over time, hearing that change and responding to it will become instinctive.
Taking it further: Once Brick 7 is secure, compare it with Brick 8 (which outlines the V chord) and notice how they work differently. Together, they give you the tools to acknowledge two of the three chord changes in a standard 12-bar blues.
Your homework: Put on a slow 12-bar blues backing track in E and practise inserting Brick 7 at bar 5 every time the IV chord comes around. Don’t worry about what else you play — just focus on landing that one lick in the right place consistently.