Ten four-bar progressions built from the devices that define the style — pedal-point bass, triads over unrelated roots, m11 voicings stacked in fourths, open strings ringing through changing harmony, and the #9 dominant. Each one comes with its voicings, a thirty-three-note run over the changes, and every note labelled with its job.
These are original progressions written in the idiom, not transcriptions of anyone's recordings. The point is the vocabulary, not the repertoire.
Chord toneDiatonic tensionAltered / chromatic
Articulation row: ~ vibrato / slide up into \ slide off b bend a semitone into B bend a tone into
Sounding—
01
Ring
Am9 · Fmaj7#11 · C/G · Gsus4 A minor
Four shapes that all leave the top two strings open. The B and E ring through every chord, so the harmony changes underneath a fixed pair of notes — which is why the B lands as the 9th, then the #11, then the 7th, then the 4th without you moving a finger.
The voicings
Am9 Fmaj7#11 C/G Gsus4
e| 0 0 0 3
B| 0 0 1 1
G| 5 2 0 0
D| 5 3 2 0
A| 0 x 3 x
E| x x 3 3
R 9 b3 5 b7 5 b3 9 3 5 7 R 7 13 5 #11 R 9 3 5 3 9 7 13 R 9 4 5 b7 5 4 R R
Voice itDry Badger clean, wet side with the BigSky hall wide open. Let each chord decay into the next.
The open B is doing all the work. Play the four chords and listen only to that note.
Bar two's B is a #11 against F. That's the brightest moment in the progression — don't rush it.
The run stays almost entirely on the top two strings so it sits above the voicings rather than fighting them.
02
Lift
Em11 · A/C# · Cmaj7 · Bm7 E minor to A
The A/C# is the whole trick. A major triad over its own third, dropped into an E minor context, lifts the tonality out of the minor without properly leaving it. The C# is the only note in the progression that isn't in E natural minor, and it changes everything.
R 9 b3 11 5 b7 R b7 3 5 13 5 3 9 R 7 5 13 7 R 9 3 9 R R 9 b3 11 5 11 b3 R R
Voice itSlight breakup on the dry amp so the chords have edge; wet side on a long modulated delay.
Bar two of the run leans on C# twice at the top. That's the note the chord bought you.
The G# at the end of bar two is the major 7 of A — a borrowed note that pulls straight into the Cmaj7.
Bend into the F# in bar four from E. It's the 5th of Bm7 and it's the note the phrase has been heading for.
03
Descent
Bm11 · Bm7/A · G6/9 · F#7#9 B minor
A bass line walking down while the chord above barely changes, then a dominant with a #9 to snap it back round. The G6/9 has no third in the voicing at all, which is why it sounds suspended between major and minor before the F# arrives and settles the argument.
The voicings
Bm11 Bm7/A G6/9 F#7#9
e| 0 2 0 x
B| 3 3 0 10
G| 2 4 2 9
D| 0 4 2 8
A| 2 x x 9
E| x 5 3 x
R 9 b3 11 5 b7 5 11 b3 9 R b7 b6 5 11 b3 5 13 7 R 9 3 5 13 R b7 b13 5 3 #9 b9 R R
Voice itThis is the one for the Butter Machine into the Suhr S. Single coils, dry side just breaking up.
Bar two of the run uses G natural where bar one used G sharp territory — the harmony has gone properly Aeolian.
The F# in bar three is a major 7 against G. Landau writes that interval constantly; it's the sound of a 6/9 chord with something extra.
Bar four is a straight altered descent: b7, b13, 5, 3, #9, b9, root. Six different tensions in one bar.
04
Pedal
Dm9 · Bb/D · C/D · Dm11 D minor
One bass note for four bars. Everything above it is a shape in the same fret zone with one or two fingers moving. This is the most characteristic device in the whole vocabulary — harmonic motion with no bass motion, so the chords feel like they're changing colour rather than changing place.
The voicings
Dm9 Bb/D C/D Dm11
e| x x x 5
B| 5 3 5 6
G| 5 3 5 5
D| 3 3 5 5
A| 5 5 5 5
E| x x x x
R 9 b3 11 5 b7 R b7 7 R 9 3 5 3 9 R R 9 3 5 3 9 R 7 5 11 b3 9 R b3 11 b3 R
Voice itClean and wide. Both amps, phase checked, BigSky plate on the wet side.
Every voicing lives between frets three and six. Learn the shapes as one hand position with variations.
The A in bar two is the major 7 of Bb. Against a D bass it sounds like a Dm chord with a bright top — which is exactly what it is.
Bar three's B natural is the 7 of C over a D bass. That's a lot of tension for a chord that sounds this pleasant.
05
Slow Burn
Em11 · Am11 · F#m7b5 · B7#9 E minor
A minor blues that goes somewhere. The first two bars are quartal and open — stacked fourths, no thirds to get in the way. Then the half-diminished narrows it and the #9 dominant kicks the door in. Twelve-eight feel, played behind the beat.
The voicings
Em11 Am11 F#m7b5 B7#9
e| 7 0 x x
B| 8 1 10 3
G| 7 0 9 2
D| 7 0 10 1
A| 7 0 9 2
E| x x x x
5 b7 R b3 R b7 5 11 R b3 11 5 b7 5 11 b3 b7 b13 b5 b3 9 R b3 b5 b9 #9 3 5 b13 11 #9 R R
Voice itDry amp cranked, wet side barely there. This one wants to be loud and dark.
Both m11 voicings are stacked fourths. No thirds anywhere — that's why they sound modern rather than bluesy.
Bar three of the run keeps hitting C against an F# root. That b5 is the pivot into the dominant.
Bend the D up towards D# in bar four and hold it. That semitone is the entire #9 sound.
06
Wide
F#m11 · Dmaj9 · Amaj9 · E/G# E major
Big open voicings with the third or the seventh at the bottom and a lot of air in the middle. The progression is a plain vi-IV-I-V in E, but voiced so that no two chords share a shape and every one has a ninth in it. Bright, glassy, and it needs space.
The voicings
F#m11 Dmaj9 Amaj9 E/G#
e| 0 0 7 0
B| 0 5 5 5
G| 2 6 6 4
D| 2 4 6 2
A| x 5 0 x
E| 2 x x 4
R 9 b3 11 5 b7 R b7 7 9 3 5 3 9 7 13 R 9 3 5 13 7 13 5 3 5 13 R 9 3 9 R R
Voice itClean, both sides, TimeLine on a long dotted eighth. Volume swells suit this one.
C sharp and F sharp appear in all four bars but change function every time. Track either one.
The A5 at the top of bar two is the highest note in the pack. Get there with a slide, not a jump.
Bars three and four use the same contour a chord apart. Landau repeats shapes like this so the ear hears the harmony move.
07
The Turn
Am9 · G/B · Fmaj7#11 · E7#9 A minor
A descending Aeolian cadence with the third chord raised into Lydian and the fourth turned into a dominant. The Fmaj7#11 is the fulcrum — a B natural sitting inside an F chord, which is what stops the progression sounding like a folk song.
The voicings
Am9 G/B Fmaj7#11 E7#9
e| 0 3 0 x
B| 0 3 0 8
G| 5 0 2 7
D| 5 0 3 6
A| 0 2 x 7
E| x x x x
b3 5 b7 R 9 b3 5 b3 3 9 R 7 13 5 3 9 5 7 R 9 3 #11 5 7 b9 R b7 b13 5 3 #9 b9 R
Voice itFuzz in front for the last bar. The Thornicus on the E7#9 is the whole point of the arrangement.
Bar two walks all the way down to the third string. Get down there and come back — the register change is the phrasing.
The B at the end of bar three is the #11 of F, and it's also the 5th of the E7 that follows. It belongs to both chords.
Bar four alternates G and G# — the #9 and the 3rd. That is the entire sound of the chord, played as a line.
08
Suspended
Asus2 · Bm7/A · D/A · A A major
An A in the bass for four bars and three chords floating over it. Nothing resolves until the last bar, and even then the third arrives quietly. Everything is built from the open A and E strings plus two or three fretted notes, so the whole thing rings.
The voicings
Asus2 Bm7/A D/A A
e| 0 2 2 0
B| 0 3 3 2
G| 2 4 2 2
D| 2 4 0 2
A| 0 0 0 0
E| x x x x
R 9 5 13 5 9 R 13 5 b7 R 9 b3 11 5 11 R 3 5 3 9 7 13 5 7 R 9 3 5 13 5 3 R
Voice itCleanest setting you have. Compressor on, wet side in stereo — this needs the width.
The third of A doesn't appear in the run until bar two, and it arrives as the 9th of Bm7. Withholding it is the point.
Bar three is a D arpeggio over an A bass — the sound of a suspended resolution that hasn't happened yet.
The G# opening bar four is the only leading tone in the whole line. One note does all the resolving.
09
Grease
G7#9 · C9 · G7#9 · D7#9 G
Three dominant chords with sharp ninths and nothing else. The #9 shape is the same grip moved around, and the line lives on the pair of notes that make it — the minor third and the major third of the same chord, next to each other. Play it dirty and behind the beat.
The voicings
G7#9 C9 G7#9 D7#9
e| x x x x
B| 11 3 11 6
G| 10 3 10 5
D| 9 2 9 4
A| 10 3 10 5
E| x x x x
R #9 3 5 b7 13 5 #9 R 9 3 5 11 3 b7 13 R b7 13 b13 5 11 #9 3 R #9 3 5 b7 b13 5 3 R
Voice itFuzz Factory or the Thornicus, wah half-cocked. Dry amp only. No reverb.
Bb against B, over and over. Bend into the Bb from A and let it sit sharp.
Bar three drops onto the third string and gets muddy on purpose. That register is where this vocabulary lives.
The D7#9 in bar four is the same grip as bar one moved down five frets. One shape, whole progression.
10
Halo
Emaj9 · C#m11 · Amaj7#11 · B7sus E major
The bright one. Major ninths and a raised eleventh, with a suspended dominant that never resolves its third. Nothing here is bluesy at all — it's the other half of the vocabulary, the ringing clean side, and it needs the reverb to make sense.
The voicings
Emaj9 C#m11 Amaj7#11 B7sus
e| x 4 4 x
B| 7 5 4 5
G| 4 4 6 2
D| 6 4 6 4
A| 7 4 0 2
E| x x x x
R 9 3 9 R 13 5 3 R 9 b3 11 5 11 b3 R R 9 3 #11 5 7 13 5 R 9 4 5 b7 5 4 9 R
Voice itBoth amps clean, Mobius on a slow rotary, BigSky shimmer underneath. Play it quietly.
The D# in bar three is a #11 against A. It's the single most characteristic note in this progression.
B7sus has no D# in the voicing, so the dominant never fully commits. Landau leaves it hanging like this constantly.
Play the run an octave down on strings three and four once you know it. Same notes, completely different weather.
Getting inside the vocabulary
Chords before runs
Learn all four voicings first and play the progression until the changes are boring. The run only means something once your ear already knows what it's sitting on.
Watch the common tones
These progressions are built so one or two notes hold while the rest move. Find them in the voicings — usually the open strings or the top note — and you've found the reason each progression works.
Record the changes, play over them
Two bars each, loop it, and improvise before you read the run. Then read the run and see what you missed. That comparison is the actual lesson.
Bends are not decoration
Where the articulation row says bend, the target note is a chord tone and the note you start from isn't. That's the whole phrasing device — arrive rather than land.
Vibrato last
Wide and slow, started late, only on notes with time to breathe. Marked on the long notes for a reason; adding it everywhere kills the effect.
Steal the device, not the lick
The useful thing here is the pedal bass, the slash chord, the open-string ring, the #9. Once you own those, the runs are disposable.