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6 Cool Guitar Blues Turn Arounds in the key of E

By 23 Comments

Photo by Steve Garry
A good blues turnaround is the icing on the cake of every blues progression.

I always beg, borrow, steal and create my own nice sweet sounding turnarounds to add that extra magic when I’m playing a blues song. It’s one of the things that makes the blues sound so cool.

Blues turnarounds are played at the end of a section of a blues progression which then leads to the next section or the end of the song.

To get a good impression of how turnarounds are played listen to blues guitar players like B.B King, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Clapton and study theirs.

Tip: Every time you play the blues try to play a different turnaround, so you don’t end up playing the same turnaround ten years from now. It’s easy to fall into that trap. Expand your vocabulary!

Enjoy these 6 turnarounds to spice up your blues:

Have a great one!


BLUES TURNAROUND #1



 

e:-------0--------0--------0-----------------------------|
B:-----------------------------0-----3--2----------------|
G:----4--------3--------2------1-----3--2----------------|
D:--6--------5--------4--------2-----2--1----------------|
A:---------------------------------x-3--2----------------|
E:-------------------------------------------------------|

 



BLUES TURNAROUND #2



 

e:---------4------4------4---4-------9--10--11-----------|
B:-------5------5------5-----5-------8---9--10-----------|
G:----/7------6------5-------4-------9--10--11-----------|
D:-------------------------------------------------------|
A:-------------------------------------------------------|
E:-0-----------------------------------------------------|

 

BLUES TURNAROUND #3



 

e:------0-----0-----0------------------------------------|
B:----3-----2-----1-------------------3------------------|
G:--4-----3-----2-----0h1-------------2------------------|
D:-------------------------2----------1------------------|
A:----------------------------0-1-2---2------------------|
E:-------------------------------------------------------|

 

BLUES TURNAROUND #4



 

e:-------------------------------------------------------|
B:----9-------8-------7------5-------6---7---------------|
G:------7-------6-------5----7-------7---8---------------|
D:-9-------8-------7---------6---x---6---7---------------|
A:---------------------------7---x---x---x---------------|
E:-----------------------------------6---7---------------|

 

BLUES TURNAROUND #5



 

e:--3b-0---0---------------------------------------------|
B:-------3----3p0-----------------------------------2----|
G:-----------------3p2p0--2p0-----0h1---------------2----|
D:-----------------------------2--------2p0---------1----|
A:-------------------------------------------0h1h2--2----|
E:-------------------------------------------------------|

 

BLUES TURNAROUND #6



 

e:-------------------------------------------------------|
B:------0----0----0----0----0----5--6--7-----------------|
G:-------------------------------6--7--8-----------------|
D:-------------------------------5--6--7-----------------|
A:-------------------------------------------------------|
E:---0----4----5----6----7-------------------------------|

 
 
 
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Comments

  1. Very cool. You’re right. You can always use a new blues turnaround. They keep any blues from going stale. I do think for beginners trying to practice these that they should get them “installed” into your bag of tricks first, before trying to play a new turnaround every time. I see a lot of guitarists with ADD nowadays and it’s definitely hurting quality. Once you have a few of these down tho, man it gets fun to play them blues. :-)

    ~Johnny

  2. Also makes a great fingerboard exercise to practice in all 12 keys, nice work!

  4. I’ve never really played blues (been more of a metal/grunge guy) but now I think I’ll have to reconsider. These are really cool and now I can play them with a more bluesy feeling rather than a straight rock rhythm. Thanks a lot!

  6. Hi nick,

    I used to a metal guy too. I spent many hours playing Slayer, Pantera, Sepultura, Death, Metallica, Megadeth and more.

    I just wanna say blues soloing is perfect to mix with metal.

    Okay blues turnarounds ain’t nothing to do with metal but it won’t hurt you either. It will expand your vocubulary and creativity.

    Good luck!
    Klaus Crow

  9. Hey Klaus,

    Great post…But i’m not able to get the 5th one. Any chance of an audio reference? Thanks for these

  10. Hi Aum,

    I don’t do audio and video at this point of time, but I’ll be sure doing them in the near future.
    I’m working on it.

    Best regards,
    Klaus Crow

  15. I always think a good turn around is beautiful. Thanks a lot for this tip. Including all the other helps you published here.They are gold.More power.

  17. Dear can you send me the this song’s ring tune in guitar version on youtube.
    The song is jutt and juliet indian movie. challi vangra judai.

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  20. What guitar (make and model) are you using in this series of videos?
    Nice looking and sounding guitar!

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