One of the albums that many guitarists check out when first exploring the jazz genre is Kenny Burrell’s Midnight Blue record. As well, since it was covered by Stevie Ray Vaughan, a lot of players are drawn to the classic tune “Chitlins Con Carne.”
When learning how to play in the style of Kenny Burrell, especially like a tune such as Chitlins, one of the key elements to explore is mixing chords and single-lines during each phrase of an improvised chorus, which you can hear during the melody section of Chitlins especially.
To help you get that cool-sounding Kenny Burrell chord/single-note sound in your jazz guitar soloing ideas, this lesson will explore a sample solo written out of an A minor blues chord progression that is inspired by Kenny’s playing on Midnight Blue and “Chitlins Con Carne.”
The single notes in the solo are all based on the A minor blues scale, and the chords used are typical, three-note shapes that many jazz guitarists use in this type of soloing/comping situation, including Kenny.
So, grab your axe and let’s dig into some smooth sounding cool jazz in the style of Kenny Burrell.
Kenny Burrell Chitlins Con Carne
Kenny Burrell Minor Blues
Kenny Burrell Minor Blues Backing Track
Here is a short backing track that you can use to practice the solo in this lesson, as well as work on improvising over the minor blues chord progression in the woodshed.
Practicing This Solo
Learning a solo from memory is a great way to digest the material in that improvisation, but there are also other exercises that you can use to continue your study of this material in the woodshed.
Here are 3 ways that you can continue your study of this Kenny Burrell Minor Blues Solo as you dig deeper into the concepts in this solo in the practice room.
1. Play the solo with a backing track over the first chorus, during the second chorus you improvise the single lines but keep the chords as is. Continue this alteration throughout the backing track.
2. Write out your own Kenny Burrell inspired solo over an A minor blues progression, using the blues scale for the single notes, and small, three-note chords for the comping sections of the solo.
3. Practice singing an improvised single-line where you see the single-notes in the solo above, then comp the chords on the guitar where they land. This is a great way to connect your ears and voice to your fretboard while working on a minor blues solo at the same time.
To learn more about jazz blues guitar playing, check out our ebook:
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59 comments
Great lesson! I’ve been working on this tune. Thanks ever so much.
Chitlins con carne is in Cm
yeah, it’s actually in C7 but the 7s are 7#9 chords, gives them a minor feel. This study is based on the feel of the song, not the exact chord changes.
Yes, you’re right, Chitlins is not a minor blues but the first chord is C7+9.
What doe’s A7th alt. look like written out in full – please explain. GREAT lesson!!!
A Bb C C# Eb F G
I don’t have an absolute hearing, but if you listen to the recording it’s definitively a Cm7. I’v played a C7 and C7 alt against it, but that’s very dissonant
Hey, it’s a C7#9 and F7#9 chord he uses. Try these fingerings.
8788xx for C7#9
x8789x for F7#9
Play those with his recording and see what you hear. Cheers.
Yes, I guess you’re right. It’s that high Eb note that confused me 🙂
Matt a shortcut I use when making a chord like g 9 ion third fret.. I look at the root g on third then going down.. I see the major third b on second fret a string. Now I see a pattern . The six is under the third and the the ninth a is under the sixth.. to find the flat seven just move up one fret on the d string. .I’m texting so I may have made a mistake
Being a great fan of KB, your lick is highly appreciated. Transcriptions of Midnight blue to follow;-)
I am actually working on this tune – the lesson comes exactly the righ time…
Thanks for the work
cheers bjh
Muchas gracias Dirk. Muy linda lecciòn.
Saludos para todos-
Wonderful stuff from megastar guitarists.. wish I had 10% of their talent
great lesson thanks so much
hi Kenny,
thanks a lot for this nice sound. you’re great. thanks to people you playing guitar will means a lot more for those who like this instrument.
it was not so difficult to play the tune, because your lesson was very clear.
STANLEY
Suriname
Thank you for all the musical knowledge you send me. I find it very helpful and useful in my musical endeavours
very nice lesson and very informative also ! Rob !
great lesson
If you listen to the chords you will hear that Chittlins con Carne is a major blues, not minor! It’s the #9 voicing on the C7 that leads listeners to call this minor. It is however a real blues: both major third an minor third (as #9)are present!
Absolutely, great progression because of the 7#9 chords! This lesson is based on the feel of the tune, not the exact chords.
Thanks for sharing this great piece of music
Thanks for this! Such a great album! I’m currently working on transcribing Kenny’s Sound. Really cool tune. Kenny Burrell is the coolest!
You’ve always got so much powerful info on here, and it’s very useful immediately…Much better than anything I’ve seen elsewhere…Thanks…!!!
Nice lesson! I really enjoy your posts, always clear and informative. This one kept me thinking though. When you have the A7alt bar there, shouldn’t that last chord (last 8th note of the 4th bar) be Dm already? I mean like an anticipated chord. And the same happens in the following chord changes. I’m just thinking wouldn’t the anticipation sound more natural and keep the swinging forward motion?
anyway, thanks for the lessons and keep up the good work
Hey Lucas. Glad you dug the lesson. Yes, if you wanted to anticipate the next chord in this lesson, you could play one chord ahead on any bar in the tune. So even like in bar six, you could play Am7 on the & of 4 if you wanted. Both ways will work, so check them out and then you’ll have a few options to use when applying these ideas to a jam situation.
Much appreciated,thanks a lot!!
just got this tune on a starbucks jazz guitar compliation
thanks for the chart
craig
http://www.roundtownsound.com
I like the sliding from position 5 to position 1 on the fingerboard warm feeling
Thank you.
Great lesson. Thanks!
Very cool, great material!
Another useful lesson from you.Thank You!
Excellent contribution to the community.Kenny and Passare my favorites. Thank you!!
Great lesson, trank you !
Excellent lesson. Could you explain what is meant by the phrase
“..comp the chords on the guitar where they land”. What does “where they land” mean?
Thanks.
Hey, that just means keep them in the same part of the bar, on the same beats, but improvise the single notes around the chords where they already are.
Matt, I’m so impressed by your lessons.
Thanks Peter, hope you’re doing well!
I love Kenny Burrel sound. Great site!!!
Matt – thanks for the lesson. I wonder if you could provide the fingering that you use in the first 4 bars. Although I can play the notes, I feel I don’t have the right fingering for it to flow smoothly. By the way, I still have Kenny Burrell’s “Midnight Blue” on vinyl. I bought it back in 1963! Thanks for this lesson and all of your lessons!
Hey, I use my first and third finger only on all those notes, except the A, 10th fret on the 2nd string, where I use my pinky.
Matt – Thanks. Hmmm…I don’t quite see what you mean, for example, I don’t see how to slide up with 1 from 5th fret to 9th fret with 1st finger, because then you can’t play the G on the 2nd string. I’m kind of cheating and sliding with 3rd finger from 7th to 9th, then use 2 to play the G on the 2nd string. Here’s fingering I’m trying: 3,1, slide with 3 (not 1) from 7th fret to 9th fret, then 2 on the G on 2nd string, but now I’m stuck on which fingers to play the Eb, D, C. Seems your saying slide down from Eb to D with 3rd finger, then play the C with the 1st finger.
Hey, yeah that’s what I do, I usually start the slide from 7-9 with the 3rd finger, though if you can do it 5-9 will work as well. I use 3-3-1 on the Eb-D-C as well, so a slide form Eb-D then 1 on C. hope that helps!
Matt – Thanks, that’s a perfect explanation! Clears it up for me.
Enjoyed this lesson. Thank you very much.
Preciosa lección, gracias por enviármela.
Realy authenic KB Lines, I like it very much. But it need a lot of time to create lines like that!
Great stuff.
Good job Dirk!! Thank’s!!
Good job Dirk, thank’s!!!!!
Killer Lesson, fantastic !!!!
Thank you for making this available. I can play it pretty well. Are there more songs and exercises like this in the Intro to Jazz Guitar book?
Yes, both volume 1 and 2 have similar lessons.
http://www.jazzguitar.be/store/the-jazz-guitar-gazette-premium.php
Lovely..and amazing tune. Centainly good lesson
BRILLANTE JAM PARA IMPROVISAR GRACIAS,,,,,,,
Thanks a lot M. Warnock.
Your lessons are cristal clear for a newcommer like me (I try to learn jazz guitar since a week, i came from garage-blues with the only knowledge of power chords and pentatonics).
Sorry for my writing, I’m french…
Salutations to all the members.
Thanks for great lesson :))
The best website i know!
thanks for this blues bit!