STUDY

GUIDE

Josh Smith
Rulin’ The Blues
Vol.2: Shuffle

[Link]
Josh Smith / Rulin’ The Blues - Vol.2: Shuffle 2

CHAPTER 1

CLASSIC BLUES APPROACH

LICK 1: These licks are all played over alternating Bb9 and F9 chords, to help
you see how Josh plays through the I (F9) and IV (Bb9) chords in the full
solo. Right from the start, you can see how he makes extensive use of the
“BB King box”: index finger on the root note (F) on the 2nd string, and then
the G, Ab and D notes allow you to create a lot of melodic ideas over the two
chords.

LICK 2: To further clarify what we said for Lick 1... the D note is the (sweet-
sounding) 6th of F9 and the major 3rd of Bb9. The G is the 9th of F9 and
the 6th of Bb9. The Ab is the minor 3rd of F9 (add a quarter-tone bend for a
bluesy sound) and the minor 7th of Bb9).

LICK 3: Josh moves around the fretboard a lot on this one, taking advantage
of the different tonal possibilities. In all positions, though, notice how he’s
always building his lines around chord tones (or tensions), not playing
scales.

LICK 4: In the first half, watch out for those smooth bend-slide-bend moves,
particularly the second time, when you’re sliding up to the 8th fret. The
second half is all about making the most of minimal material, focusing on
that partially-bent Ab note... the minor 3rd over F9 and the minor 7th over
Bb9.

LICK 5: You’ll hear Josh do this kind of thing a lot. It’s a little six-note F
Dorian (F G Ab Bb C D Eb) phrase with bends on the G and D notes, which
he then plays an octave lower, and then two octaves lower. In bars 5 and
6, notice how he smoothly switches from this Dorian note group to the
standard minor pentatonic (F Ab Bb C Eb), but then introduces the major 3rd
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CHAPTER 1 3

(A) when the F9 chord arrives.

LICK 6: Another lesson in economy of note choice, with just a small group
of minor pentatonic notes over both chords. This also shows how you
don’t have to totally follow the chord changes – in isolation, that Ab-A bend
would normally sound uncomfortably dissonant over Bb9, but it works here,
because our ears can still accept its relation to the F9 tonic (“home”) chord,
where it’s targetting the strong major 3rd.

CHAPTER 2

THEMATIC APPROACH
LICK 1: As you might have gathered from the full solo, the idea behind the
Thematic Approach is that we work with repeating short phrases, varying
them to fit the changing chords. In this first example, Josh plays two phrases
built from parallel 6th intervals, one for Bb9 and one for F9.

LICK 2: Where Lick 1 demonstrated a pretty rigid interpretation of the

thematic approach, this one is at the opposite end of the spectrum. In both
4-bar sections, we start with a minor 3rd interval and then that quick D-Eb
slide, but Josh resolves to the F9 chord in totally different ways.

LICK 3: This one is built very tightly around chord tones. Josh uses a partial
Bb major triad (just the D and F; major 3rd and 5th) over Bb9 and then a
partial F7 (Eb and A; minor 7th and major 3rd) over F9.

LICK 4: The challenge with this approach is in deciding how far to push it.
Sometimes you can play a whole solo (or a whole 12-bar chorus) with just
one idea and minimal variations. The increasing tension becomes a feature.
Other times, especially if the theme is very minimal, you might only want
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CHAPTER 2 4

to play it a couple of times before resolving to something new, as in Josh’s

descending blues scale line in bars 5-6.

LICK 5: Following from the idea in Licks 1 and 3, Josh now uses three-
note chords (mostly the Bb and F major triads) again adding little melodic
variations.

LICK 6: As in Lick 5, Josh is using chord (and double-stop) ideas as his

primary themes, but this is much more free-flowing. The common thread is
the Bb7 shape in bars 2 and 6.

LICK 7: As this lick demonstrates, the repeating theme can be very short:
just five notes. For the last two licks, Josh is playing over a static F9 chord to
emphasis this approach.

LICK 8: Again playing over a static F9 chord, Josh explores a more complex
two-bar phrase, starting with an Fdim7 chord.
Josh Smith / Rulin’ The Blues - Vol.2: Shuffle 5

CHAPTER 3

JOSH SMITH APPROACH

LICK 1: Finally, here’s how Josh actually does it. These licks are more
complex and diverse than the first two sets, but you’ll still hear elements
of the classic blues and thematic approaches, because these form part of
Josh’s style. This first example has a clear thematic approach, taking a very
simple two-bar idea, modifying it, extending it and then adding a contrasting
fourth idea. For this set of licks, Josh is playing over a static F9 chord.

LICK 2: In these licks, you’ll hear how Josh uses a lot of chromatic notes
to create smoother lines or to link ideas. Also notice how he moves freely
between Dorian, Mixolydian and major/minor pentatonic scale fragments.
The chord tones are always the main focus of his licks, but he surrounds
them with a range of other scale notes.

LICK 3: This is almost entirely F Mixolydian (F G A Bb C D Eb), with a little

chromatic run in bar 2 and a couple of passing minor 3rd (Ab) notes in bar 3.

LICK 4: Now Josh leans heavily on F major chord shapes and the F major
pentatonic (F G A C D).

LICK 5: This lick is the classic blend of minor pentatonic (F Ab Bb C Eb)

and Mixolydian (F G A Bb C D Eb). The important thing here is not to think in
terms of linear scales – the focus is always on the F major triad (F A C) or
F7 chord (F A C Eb), using the scale notes to provide melodic contour and
colour. Notice how Josh often ascends through the major triad with added
6th (D) but then descends with more of a minor pentatonic flavour (often
also adding the flat 5th: Cb or B).

LICK 6: As in Lick 5, notice the mix of F major triad, Mixolydian and minor
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CHAPTER 3 6

pentatonic.

LICK 7: We start here with a slippery blues scale (F Ab Bb B C Eb) phrase,

but then the rest of the line is mostly major pentatonic (F G A C D). Again,
though, it’s primarily about targeting chord tones, particularly C and A. Check
out the unexpected E note (major 7th) in bar 9 – it’s not normally part of the
blues vocabulary, but it can work really well as a brief moment of tension,
leading to the root note.

LICK 8: A sparse example, using the hybrid combination of F major triad

and primarily minor pentatonic melody lines. There’s another example of the
major 7th (E) being used as a passing note in bar 4.
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Josh Smith
BLUES GR AB BAG VOL.3: MAJOR BLUES

Dive into Josh’s bag of tricks for the final time as we complete our journey into
his creative mind and uncover a world of major blues.

AVAIL ABLE NOW

J T C G U I TA R .C O M
J T C G U I TA R . C O M