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In this lesson, we take a detailed look at harmonizing the blues—turning single-note ideas into chordal lines while keeping the phrasing, swing, and character of the blues intact.

I first explored this subject many years ago, and I wanted to revisit it with a specific focus on the blues and the kind of detailed transcriptions and examples I include in my lessons today.

We’ll explore different approaches to harmonizing melodic lines, including chord voicings, substitutions, chromatic movement, and rhythmic phrasing. I demonstrate these concepts through numerous musical examples and complete blues choruses so you can hear how the ideas work in context rather than simply as isolated exercises.

The accompanying PDF includes detailed transcriptions of the examples and choruses from the lesson, making it easy to study the voicings and incorporate these concepts into your own playing.

The goal isn’t to memorize one harmonized blues solo—it’s to develop a vocabulary and a process you can use to create your own chordal lines over the blues.