StevieI thought all you folks who read my blog would enjoy checking out a lesson on blues turnarounds I taught my Blues Workshop students today. Included are mp3′s of each turnaround—just click “Listen.”

Turnarounds, typically played during the last two measures of a blues progression, give the cycle an emphatic ending, and signal that they you’re about to head back to the beginning of the progression again (hence the name). A well-executed turnaround really makes you sound like you know what you’re doing. Drill them into your muscle memory until you can do it in your sleep (as you can see, I’ve been playing the blues in my sleep quite a bit lately).

Though I’ve written these in the keys of A and E, most of these turnarounds are moveable. To move them to a different key, identify your locator note. This note should match the note your key is named after. So if you’re playing in the key of G, and your locator note is on the first string, you’ll play that note on the first string, 3rd fret (which is a G note). Now shift the rest of the pattern to fit that new position.

Key of A

1. First part is moveable. The note on the 1st string at the beginning of the 2nd measure is your locator note.
Listen
A Turnaround 1

2. First part is moveable. Note on 1st string is your locator note.
Listen
A turnaround 2

3. Moveable. First note is your locator note.
Listen
A turnaround 3

4. First part is moveable–just make your first note the root note of your I chord. Note on second beat of 1st measure, 4th fret is locator note.
Listen
A turnaround 4

5. Moveable–just change the chords to fit your key (chord in first measure is a I chord, and chord in second measure is a V chord). Note on 1st string, 5th fret is locator note.
Listen
A turnaround 5

Key of E

1. Easy to move if you change chords to fit the new key. Locator note is a whole step (2 frets) higher than the 2nd string note.
Listen
E turnaround 1

2. Not moveable.
Listen
E turnaround 2