➧ CHOPS ➧

The Voodoo Blues Scale

B Y S T E V E T R O VAT O

➧
IF THERE’S ONE FISTFUL
of notes that never gets
old, it’s the blues scale.
Once it finds its way into the
hands of a young, inspired gui-
tarist, it typically stays there for a
lifetime. Though the blues scale is
timeless, many players yearn for
ways to import new melodic colors
into their blues-based solos. The
simplest way to do this is to change
one note of the blues scale, result-
ing in a soulful sound you may
have heard in the playing of Hol-
lywood Fats, Duke Robillard, Char-
lie Christian, and Larry Carlton—a
sound often referred to as the
replacing every D with a C#, as
shown in Ex. 1b. Play through this
mutated blues scale a few times,
and see if you can come up with al-
ternative fingerings such as Ex. 1c,
a pattern Stevie Ray Vaughan used
in his immortal blues extravagan-
za, “Rude Mood.”
E x . 2 is an SRV-approved
voodoo maneuver that uses Ex. 1c’s
fingering and sounds mean over a
swingin’ E7 shuffle—even though
it doesn’t actually tag the b7. (In-
stead, it nails the 6, C#—remem-
ber?) And for yet another voodoo
fingering, try Ex. 3. It has a similar Acoustic cowboys—Trovato (left) and Johnny Hiland mesmerize
flow to the previous example, but a crowd at the B-Band booth, Winter NAMM 2003.

“voodoo” blues scale. occurs lower on the neck and fea-

In Ex. 1a you’ll find a typical E
blues scale—a pentatonic scale
with the bluesy b5, or Bb, added.
Morphing this universal shape into
the voodoo blues scale is easy: Just
lower each b7 to the natural 6 by
tures a Charlie Christian-style slide
from the b3 up to the 3 (G to G#) on
the first string’s 3rd and 4th frets.
When you’re ready for the ul-
timate voodoo blues lick, try Ex. 4.
In the key of E, this phrase contains
elements of voodoo blues, country,
and jazz. Begin in the fourth po-
sition. Follow the fingering and
string markings closely. Robben
Ford—another master of the
voodoo blues scale—showed me
the meaty E9,13#11 grip that closes
this example, and I’ve been playing
it ever since.
For more wicked Steve Trovato
licks, click to stevetrovato.com. g

Ex. 1a Ex. 1b Ex. 1c Ex. 2

Standard E E Voodoo E Voodoo ö = 116

E7

ö ö ö bö
Blues Scale Blues Scale Blues Scale 3

ö ö= ö e
#### 4 ö nö ö
4

ö w
1
XII XII IX 4

& 4
================ =
= root

12 9
T
12 11 10
A
12 9 9
Ex. 3 B
11

ö = 144
E7
3

#### 4 ö b ö ö n ö # ö ö ö
ö ö= ö e
w
4 1

& 4
================ =

7 6 5 3 4
T
5 5
A
6
B

9 4 GUITAR PLAYER MAY 2003 PH OTO : J U D E G O L D

 E9,13 11#
1 2 2 4 3
Ex. 4. V

ö = 144
3

#### 4 ö ö ö ö n ö # ö ö # ö ö ö n ö # ö ö ö # öö ww
ö ö= ö e
E7

ö ö ww
1 1

& 4 ö n ö #ö ö ö ö ö öö
2

============================== ö ö n w
1

ö nö ö ö ö w
1

2
B1/2
3 4 5 6 7 3 4 6
T
5 7 5 5 7
A
4 6 4 4 2 1 6
B
7 5 6 4 2 2 6
4 4 5
3 0 0

PH OTO : PAU L H AG G A R D guitarplayer.com MAY 2003 GUITAR PLAYER 9 5