“It’s atried-and-true sound that we’ve heard inthe soloing of all of our favorite players, from Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter and Leslie West to Eddie Van Halen”: Jared James Nichols explains why we should all be using the blue note in our solos

One of my favorite sounds in blues and blues-rock soloing is utilizing the “blue note.” I’m talking about the flatted 5th, or b5, which is located one half step below the 5th of the root note of whatever chord you’re relating to.

Let’s use the key of G as our point of reference: Figure 1 begins with a G5 chord, establishing the “home base” sound of the I (one) chord. I follow this with the single notes G, then the minor 3rd, Bb, then the b5, Db, which I proceed to bend up a half step to D, the 5th. I then play these same notes an octave higher, followed by a phrase that descends through the G blues scale (G, Bb, C, Db, D, F).