Today I would like to present a neat fingerpicked blues rhythm pattern inspired by the great Jimmy Reed, who inspired a generation of guitarists from the Rolling Stones to Bob Dylan.
It’s in the key of A and is based on a simple eight-bar progression, as opposed to the more common 12-bar blues form, and it’s a fun and refreshingly different template to play and improvise over.
The structure of the progression is two bars on the I (one) chord, A, followed by four bars on the V (five) chord, E, with the last two bars returning to A.
Additionally, I think of the groove as a mid-tempo backbeat, like a half-time feel, at around 78 beats per minute, as opposed to a more country-style “two beat,” with quarter notes at 156 bpm.
Figure 1 presents the eight-bar rhythm pattern. On the A(7) chord, I thumbpick all the notes on the A string and fingerpick the notes on the higher strings. Likewise, on the E(7) chord, I thumbpick the low E string and fingerpick the A and D strings.
Bar 1 of Figure 2 shows the three-note A5 chord shape upon which the pattern is built, with the open A note joined by E and A, barred at the 2nd fret on the D and G strings with the 1st finger. Bars 2 and 3 state the initial pattern.
The open low A note and the octave-higher A on the G string remain constant throughout, as the notes on the D string move up and down, initially from the 5th, E, to the 6th, F#, to the b7th, G.
The pattern’s syncopated rhythm is built from eighth and 16th notes, with an eighth note played on beat 1 of each bar and followed by various combinations of eighths and 16ths.
The result is a series of shifting rhythmic syncopations, which are accentuated by where the thumbpick drops in the low notes.
Figure 3 shows the change to the V chord, E(7). Here, I use the same shapes as I had for the A chord, now moved down one string, with the open low E and octave E note on the D string remaining constant while notes on the A string ascend and descend, initially from B to C# and D (the 5th, 6th and b7th of E).
The syncopations are the same as before, but some of the riffs are a little different here, in terms of my use of hammer-ons and pull-offs.
Figure 4 presents a cool twist on the A(7) pattern. Occasionally, I’ll add the chord’s 2nd, or 9th, B, above the flatted 7th (G). As shown in bar 1, on beat 2, the B note on the G string’s 4th fret is fingerpicked together with G at the 5th fret on the D string.
These two notes are a major 3rd apart and produce a sweet-sounding dominant-9th harmony within the pattern. I use the same approach over the V chord, in bar 5 of Figure 1. Here, I pair the flatted 7th of E – the D note on the A string’s 5th fret – with the 2nd, or 9th, F#, at the 4th fret on the D string.
