How to Play the Blues in the Key of A

Play the Blues in A

The blues is a really good place to start for a guitarist to begin the process of expressing themselves. You can play laid back, aggressive, or both leaving you plenty of room to play with variety.

What Chords are in the Key of A?

The key of A has 3 sharps, F#, C#, and G#. This is important to play the right chords for playing in the key of A.

The major scale in A gives us A, B, C#, D, E, F#, and G#. The chords that go along with the major scale is this sequence of chords for any major key you play in which is, A major, B minor, C# minor, D major, E major, F# minor, and G# half diminished.

Take away the notes and you have the chord formula for any major scale which is, major, minor, minor, major, major, minor, and half-diminished for the chord sequence. So learn your keys, and look at what notes are sharp or flat in a key.

The Three Chords Needed to Play a Blues

The basic blues consist of 3 chords. In the key of A, these 3 chords are A, D, and E.

Even though a major scale has only one dominant seventh chord, for a bluesy sound make these chords A7, D7, and E7.

Doing this would give you 3 major scales to solo with. For A7 you would use the D major scale, since A7 is 5 letters away from D. For D7, use the G major scale, since D7 is 5 letters away from G. And lastly, you would use A major scale, since E7 is 5 letters away from A.

Also, you can add more movement with the A, D, and E chords by playing a power chord and adding a sixth with your ring or pinky finger as shown in the example.

Be sure to mute all other strings. Only play the notes provided. Only one open string should sound for each chord change, not two. For example when playing your A 5 and A 6 chords, mute strings 1, 2, and 3. Do this by slightly resting your index finger against those strings. Do the same when playing the D 5, D6, E 5, and E 6 chords.

A power chord is just the root note (A) and the fifth (E). When adding the sixth, it becomes A and F#, while holding down the E. Play two strums per chord A5 (A, E) and A6 (A, F#). Do this 2 times for one measure. So it will be A5 // A6// A5 // A6 //.

For the D and E chords do the same.

Just as a reminder, mute all other strings, and do not play extra strings.

Chord Progressions

Chord progressions are the chords that cycle or lead to other chords.

For example in A, a chord progression could be, A, C#minor, D, and back to A for a verse. Then for a chorus, it could be B minor, D, F#minor, B minor, D, E, E, and so on.

The blues progression in A would be A, A, A, A, D, D, A, A, E, D, A, E. One chord per measure. This is also called a 12-bar blues.

I IV V

Roman numerals are often used to indicate the chords of a key.

The upper case indicates the major and the lower case is minor.

These can be used for any key and are like a quick shortcut when changing keys. For example, our chords in A are A, D, and E and they are the I IV and V in the key of A.

If someone would say now let’s play the blues in the key of G. You would then transfer the I, IV, and V to the key of G which would give us G, C, and D.

Spell out the G scale, G, A, B, C, D, E, F#, G. Label each note 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.

Find your 1, 4, and 5 notes and these are the chords to play the blues in G.

Apply the sequence of chords for a major scale from above and you have G, C, and D major. Make them all 7th chords for the blues effect.

Variations on chord progressions

This is a basic blues. You can add a lot of variations besides just playing A, D, and E.

For example, before playing your E chord apply a B minor chord for 2 beats and E7 for 2 beats. This is considered a ii – V before returning to A to start the progression all over again for another verse or solo.

A blues can also be in minor keys as well. Change A to A minor, D to D minor, and keep the E or E7th.

Use Barre Chords to Play the Blues

Learn barre chords to play the blues in different keys. For example, if you play barre chords in the key of A, you would play A at the 5th fret, sixth string root, D at the 5th fret, 5th string root, and E at the 7th fret, 5th string root.

To transfer these to the key of G, just move your barre chords back two frets. If you want to play in the key of B, move your barre chords up two frets and so on.

To find the I, IV, and V chords for any key with the starting chord on the sixth string, use this quick shape to identify your chords.

Learn a Melody to Play Over the Blues

Learn this simple melody, also called a head, to go along with the blues. This melody can be considered a verse.

After you learn the melody, learn to play it one octave higher. This will help it stick out more and not get muddied up with the chords. You can do this by moving it up 12 frets.

Start your blues with a short intro one measure per chord with E, D, A, back to E, then start the head.

Play the head with some variation 1-2 times before taking a solo. This means to play the head, but add some slides to go into notes, make some notes shorter, add a trill, etc. to make it your own. You do not have to play it the same way every time.

End the song playing the head.

If playing with another guitarist take turns playing the head and soloing. For example, the 1st guitarist plays the head one time before soloing. The 2nd guitarist takes a solo and then plays the head out before ending.

Taking a solo

Use the pentatonic scale to play your solo. I have covered the 1st pattern of the pentatonic scale here.

There are also 4 other patterns up and down the neck for the pentatonic scale, but for now, use pattern one if you are just starting out and add the others later.

Simple Licks

Use simple licks when starting. Licks are short melodies you have committed to memory. Have a variety of licks in your pocket to fall back on when playing a solo.

You can improvise a whole solo or, just a little bit from one lick to another. I may link some simple licks here in a future article.

For now, have fun just playing some notes from the pentatonic scale. Use different phrasing/rhythms with notes, try to play the notes as you hum, etc.

Ending Your Blues

When you end your blues finish on the 1 (I) chord, A. You could play your intro head and end on the A chord after playing the E chord for a complete sound.

Other varieties could be to play A#7 to A after the final E chord. This would require the use of your barre chord 6th fret 6th string back to 5th fret same string.

Note the alternate A# power chord if you are playing the blues and not using barre chords.

In Closing

Have fun playing the blues. This is not a complete tutorial on the blues but hopefully, it gives you a good beginning on where to start.