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This progression is called the blues progression (in a major key). I am going to show it to you using major chords first - the E major form and the A major form. And then I’ll show it to you using the E7 and A7 forms. The 7th chords give the progression a much ‘bluesier’ feeling.

What scale? Well, this is a hard question. While all of the chords are apparently in the key of A, the A Major scale isn’t exactly the right scale because it is called the ‘Blues’. As soon as you call it the blues, you are saying that you don’t want the major scale sound, but you want a ‘blues’ sound. Actually, part of the problem is that usually in blues, these chords are often played as the 7^th chords that I’ve shown you here, and these actually are NOT in the key of A major, because of the 7^th. So anyway, try this scale, which is the pentatonic used as a minor, PLUS the notes I’ve put in red. And as illustrated for the key of A, you’d play it there on the 5^th fret, since I said you want the pentatonic minor.

This next thing is the A minor blues progression. It is the same progression as the A major blues progression, but it uses minor chords instead. It can be very cool.

What scale? Okay, this one is easier. Just use the Am scale.

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