5 Blues Licks For Turnarounds

Hi everyone!

In this lesson, we will focus on one of the trickiest parts of the blues: the turnaround.

I want to share with you a few phrasing examples, made in order to follow the chord sequence as close as possible but also adding some additional colors in some cases.

The most important thing here is to follow the chord sequence being aware of the chord shapes we are playing around.

Thought this method, I highly recommend memorizing the sound of intervals used and the effect that those sounds create.


I also added a full 4/4 Shuffle Blues Jamtrack for you to practice on. You'll notice that at the end of it there is the turnaround used for these examples.


Guitar : Ibanez AZ2402

Equipment : Laney IRT- Sls + Torpedo Captor X + Apollo Twin Duo

Tempo : 90 bpm

Time Signature : 12/8

Chord progression

|| G G/B C6/9(omit.3) C/D D7(#5#9) ||


Key signature : G Blues


Techniques used :

- Hammer On/Pull Off
- Sweep Picking
- Legato
- Alternate Picking
- Bending
- String skipping


Have fun and stay tuned for the next lesson! ;)