Blues Outside the Box — A Trichord-Pair Approach to Superimposing the Blues Scale

Most improvisers meet the blues scale the same way: as one fixed six-note shape, dropped over a dominant chord and left there. Blues Outside the Box starts from a different question — if a six-note scale is really just two three-note cells stacked together, how many genuinely different ways can the blues scale be split? The answer is a clean, closed number: ten. Not a curated subset — every single way to divide its six notes into two trichords, worked out in full and verified against real chord tones and tensions rather than assumed by habit.

Naming the harmony is the easy part. This book pairs that system with a complete mental practice method, physical technique, and macro-pulse rhythmic approach — the same complete-system philosophy behind the trichord-pair approach to major and melodic minor — so the material actually gets into your ear and your hands instead of sitting on the page.

Blues Outside the Box also tackles a question most blues-scale material never addresses directly: the scale’s built-in run of three consecutive half steps. This book shows you exactly when that run should be heard as a chromatic approach-note pattern — the same device bebop scales are built around — rather than three notes each needing to individually justify itself against the chord underneath.

What This System Gives You:

• Every Valid Combination — All Ten: Because the blues scale has no leftover note, this isn’t a curated selection — it’s the complete, closed set of every way to split its six notes into two trichords, each with its own contour and color.
• A Full Superimposition Analysis: A working appendix checks all twelve transpositions of the blues scale against the chord tones and available tensions of eight common chord types — CMaj7, Cm7, C7, Cm7b5, C7sus4, C-Maj7, Cdim7, and CMaj7#5 — so you know exactly which key to borrow from, and exactly which single note to treat as a passing tone when you don’t get a perfect fit.
• The Chromatic-Run Reframe: A clear, practical explanation of why the blues scale’s built-in half-step run is an approach-note pattern rather than a liability, with the bebop-scale connection that makes the idea click.
• A Complete Mental Practice Method: Build a stable virtual instrument, fire the same motor pathways as live performance below the threshold of movement, and use the minutes before sleep to hardwire a combination into permanent memory.
• Macro-Pulse Rhythm Applied Directly: The anchor-point method that keeps an eighteen-bar sequence, a twenty-four-bar exercise line, or a two-octave scale run from turning into a note-by-note grind.
• Technique That Won’t Cost You Your Hands: A resting reference position, forearm-driven mechanics, and the specific hand position that lets you practice this material for years without injury.
• Full PDF and MIDI Practice Files: All ten combinations run through all twelve keys, in four different formats — ready to read and to hear.

Table of Contents for Blues Outside the Box:

1. Front Matter: Acknowledgments, About the Author, Foreword, Preface: How to Use This Book.
2. Chapter 1: Introduction — What Is Blues Outside the Box?
3. Chapter 2: Mental Practice
   • Building an Internal Map of the Instrument.
   • Engaging Both Hands, Not Just Your Inner Ear.
   • Working Within Your Mental Fatigue Limit.
   • Hearing Before You Practice: The Key-Center Test.
   • Practicing in the Minutes Before Sleep.
4. Chapter 3: Technique and Physiology
   • A Resting Reference Position.
   • Let the Larger Muscles Do the Work.
   • Staying Within a Comfortable Range of Motion.
   • Fretting-Hand and Picking-Hand Basics.
   • Stop at the First Sign of Pain.
5. Chapter 4: Macro-Pulse Rhythm
   • Finding Anchor Points.
   • Building Tiers.
   • Applying This to the Blues Outside the Box Material.
6. Chapter 5: The Blues Outside the Box System
   • Why the Blues Scale Is Different.
   • The Ten Trichord Pairs.
   • The Chromatic Run: An Approach-Note Pattern, Not a Liability.
   • Bebop Scales: The Same Idea, Built Into the Parent Scale.
7. Chapter 6: Practice Materials and Application
   • What’s Included: Four File Types.
   • How to Practice; Practicing as Chords.
   • Frequently Asked Questions.
8. Chapter 7: Troubleshooting, Context, and Consistency
   • Common Pitfalls in Mental Practice.
   • Understanding Context.
   • Consistent Note Production.
9. Conclusion
10. Appendix A: Contextual Ear Training
11. Appendix B: Pitch Class Sets, Chord Tones, and the Blues Scale Superimposition Analysis
12. Appendix C: Original Compositions using Blues scale divided in Trichord Pairs

Superimposing the Blues

Really the core of this course is superimposing the blues scale in various ways. One being the use of trichord pairs (triad pairs) to split the blues scale in half and the other is using the blues scale and superimposing it over other key centers.

Advanced Blues Scale

You could think of the melodies found in this course more like SRV meets John Scofield or Mike Stern for tea. Also reminds me Robbin Fords playing. All these great players were pushing the limits and you can too with the melodies contained in this course.

Examples of Exercises Found in Blues Outside The Box

There are four types of files found in the Blues Outside The Box

• Blues Scale Runs
• Simple List of 10 Trichords Pairs in All Keys
• Blues Trichord Pair Exercises
• Trichord Sequencing for Blues Scale
• Other Exercises found in Harmonic and Melodic Equivalence 21A Course. The whole course is included in this course.

Rather than show you PDFs of the exercises I thought it might be of more value to hear what these exercises sound like in real music. This first example you can hear three of type of exercises presented found in this course. You will hear these lines played by guitar over a bass vamp. I highly recommend you permutate the rhythm within these examples when you add them to your vocabulary.

• 

  

• The are three different Types of Melodies in the example above. The course gives you these types of melodies in all keys.

The 2nd example let’s you hear what all 12 blues scales sound like over an F bass vamp. I only give you the first page of the example because it’s quite long. I think you can hear from this example that blues scales in any key can work over a one key vamp. By using some of the additional techniques recommended in the book. i.e. Approach Notes in particular allows you to resolve the melodies in awesome ways.

• 
• The Example above plays all 12 blues scales against the Key of F. It starts with the key of C. You can hear from this example how all 12 blues scales work over one key center. I think it sounds pretty awesome myself!:

ISBN: 978-1-59489-299-8

Status: In stock. Digital book available for immediate download.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to already own Trichord Pairs to use this book?

No. Blues Outside the Box is a complete, standalone system built specifically around the blues scale. It uses the same mental practice, technique, and rhythm approach as Trichord Pairs, so if you already know that method, Chapters 2 through 4 will feel familiar — but nothing in this book assumes you own or have read the other title.

What other books do you recommend using alongside this one?

Guitar Technique and Physiology for the full hand-position and picking curriculum, The Sonic Resource Guide for the complete pitch class set theory behind Appendix B, and Ear Training One Note Complete and Contextual Ear Training to build the key-center hearing this whole system depends on.

What should I use to improvise over these combinations?

Get a looper if you can, and build loops using one of the ten trichord pairs as a scale to solo over. If a looper isn’t an option, Jam Tracks Volume One, available on the Muse Eek Publishing website, works well for this — the pairs in Chapter 5 sit especially naturally over static or slow-moving dominant vamps.

How much should I practice these trichord pairs each day?

As a starting point, spend about 30 minutes playing and memorizing a single pair through one key. Then spend another 15 minutes improvising with it — melodically, and with the chords if you play a chordal instrument. That’s a good baseline — build up from there as it becomes comfortable.

Do I need to know pitch class set theory to use this book?

No. Appendix B is a complete primer — prime form, integer notation, and a full chord-tone-and-tension breakdown for eight common chord types — written for musicians with ordinary theory background and no prior exposure to post-tonal thinking.

How is the superimposition analysis in Appendix B actually useful in practice?

It tells you, chord by chord, exactly which key’s blues scale sits entirely inside that chord’s tones and tensions (four such matches exist), and for every chord where no perfect match exists, exactly which single note is the outlier — almost always the b5 — so you know precisely what to treat as a passing tone rather than guessing.

Any advice on how to make these examples actually sound good?

Be very conscious of keeping the velocity even across each example — very little change in loudness or attack from note to note. This isn’t easy to do but will really help make them sound good. Chapter 7 covers this in more depth.

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