Truefire Mike Zito's Phrasing The Blues

Building a great blues solo isn’t about learning more scales. It’s about learning how to say something with the notes you already know.

If you’ve ever found yourself running patterns up and down the neck, only to freeze or sound mechanical when it’s time to improvise, you’re not alone. The missing link isn’t theory. It’s phrasing.

In Phrasing the Blues, Mike Zito breaks blues soloing into clear, manageable steps that help you move from playing scales to shaping real, expressive lines. You’ll work through three classic blues feels, using each one as a musical foundation for developing phrasing that sounds natural, musical, and confident.

You’ll learn how to apply the minor pentatonic, Mixolydian, and natural minor scales directly over the groove, and more importantly, how to turn those notes into phrases with shape, space, and intention. Along the way, Mike walks you through essential blues concepts like call and response, rhythmic variation, and articulation, showing you how to make your solos breathe and feel like the blues.

“You don’t have to play fast or flashy to sound good soloing. We start small, sometimes with just a couple of notes, and build from there. Phrase by phrase, you learn how to tell a story with your solos,” says Mike.

You’ll explore:
Three classic blues feels: a straight 12-bar groove, a swinging shuffle, and a slow 12/8 minor blues
Turning scales into musical phrases using call and response
Adding personality with bends, vibrato, slides, hammer-ons, and pull-offs
Using off-beat phrasing and rhythmic variation to create interest
Mixing scales, subdivisions, and dynamics to shape expressive solos
Putting it all together to improvise with confidence and feel

You’ll also get full access to TrueFire’s learning tools, including synced tab and notation, slow-motion video, looping, and backing tracks, so you can break everything down and work at your own pace.

Grab your guitar, and let’s get started.

Includes

19 Video Lessons
16 Charts (.pdf)
4 Jam Tracks (.mp3)
16 Tabs (.gp5 or .ptb)
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