Theory
At last, the final day of Week 10. On day one we found the major 3rd C#, on day two we raised a half step from b3 to 3, and on day three we chose 3 over A7. Today we bring it all together — holding the minor 3rd and the major 3rd side by side in one lick, we complete the mature 'BB color.' It's the sound of hazy and clear breathing together in one phrase. The pieces you gathered one by one over the past three days finally join into a single sentence today.
Here is today's finished lick. Start from the root A, pass through b3 (C), rise brightly to the major 3rd (C#) a half step up, then settle back onto the root A with vibrato. The heart of this lick is b3→3, that single half step. When it rings over A7, the hazy b3 opens into the clear C# and resolves to fit the chord perfectly. It's short, but everything this week taught is held in these four notes. Just one bar, only four notes, yet it's full of the story of the blues.
This one small lick is the finish line of all of Week 10. No flashy system, no hard scale. Just hazy and clear living together in one lick — that's the grown-up blues voice B.B. King sang all his life. Take this lick into your hand today, and your blues now holds two colors living side by side. Slowly, at BPM 70, savor this color fully as you complete it. This is your graduation from Week 10.
▶ The blue root A, the colorless b3, and the green major 3rd C#. These three notes are today's lick material.
See it
Look together at the two colors used in today's lick. The colorless b3 (minor) and the green 3 (major) sit side by side one fret apart, together with the root A and the 5th E.
▶ Minor b3 and major 3, two colors together on one fretboard — today you go between them and mix.
Hazy and clear, two colors living as neighbors one fret apart — this picture is the heart of Week 10.
Today's practice
0–10 min · Warm-up BPM 60. Slowly, in the order b3 → 3 → root A, learn the skeleton of today's lick into your hand.
▶ BPM 60. Raise a half step from b3 to 3 and settle down onto the root — warm up the skeleton of the lick.
10–20 min · Brain training (today's target = bringing the BB color together) Before real practice, sing in your head the flow of opening from b3 to 3 and sitting on the root. When your ear draws the story of 'hazy→clear→home' first, your hand just needs to follow that picture.
20–40 min · Real practice: Major/minor BB lick (BPM 70) At last, Week 10's finished piece, the BB lick. Root A → b3 → major 3rd C# → root A vibrato. That half step crossing from b3 to 3 is the 'BB color' itself.
▶ BPM 70. Root A → b3 (C, string 3, fret 5) → major 3rd (C#, string 3, fret 6) raised a half step → root A vibrato. That half step crossing from b3 to 3 is the 'BB color.'
The hazy b3 and the clear 3 hold hands inside one lick — this sound is the grown-up blues you've completed.
40–50 min · Recording (Week 10 graduation mission!) Record the BB lick over an A7 backing. Capture in a single file how the minor b3 and major 3 blend inside one lick — that mature color.
Today's completion criteria: Over A7 you completed the BB lick running root A → b3 → major 3rd C# → root A, producing a mature color that mixes the minor and major 3rds, and recorded it. — This week's result: Major/minor BB color lick, played through and recorded (Week 10 complete!)
Common mistakes when completing the BB color. Most come from holding onto only one color.
▶ Use both colors. Not only b3, not only 3 — going between them is the BB color.
- Dropping b3 and using only 3. Then it's only bright with no blues flavor. You have to 'depart' from b3 for the color to live.
- Never using 3 and staying only on b3. That's the sound of up to last week. Today you have to open it up with 3 to complete it.
- Pressing the two notes choppily. Connect smoothly from b3 to 3 for the 'crossing' color to come out.
- Raising the speed first. Hearing the two colors clearly at BPM 70 comes first. Tempo is a later matter.