“I always say blues isn't about the blues scale or the minor pentatonic scale. It's not scaley music – it's pattern music”: Sue Foley shows you how to stop your blues solos from sounding “scaley”

Sue Foley performs during 2023 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at Fair Grounds Race Course on May 05, 2023 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

With 15 albums under her belt, blues guitarist Sue Foley knows a thing or two about crafting bona fide blues solos. In celebration of her latest album, One Guitar Woman, Foley has now revealed her go-to blues lick that still sounds fresh.

“I always say blues isn't about the blues scale or the minor pentatonic scale or anything like that. It's not scaley music. It's a pattern music. So you got to know the patterns to kind of really sound bluesy,” she tells Guitar World.