Blues Rhythm Guitar Lesson 10: Hammering On  The Major Third and Mixing in the Relative IV/5

A major characteristic of the blues tonality is the tension created between the major and minor third.  Utilizing the blues scale or minor pentatonic scale over the dominant seventh tonality of the twelve-bar blues creates this relationship melodically.  We can incorporate this technique in the harmony by fretting the dominant 7 chord with a minor third and immediately hammering the second finger on to the major third.  We can further create motion on any given chord by toggling to the relative IV chord while maintain the tonic of the original chord as the bass note, creating a IV/5.