Much of my soloing in the past has been of the "get in the box and go" variety, mostly based on the minor pentatonic/blues scale for the main key of the song. It's occurred to me that most rock and blues tunes actually have a major key tonality. Now I'm playing more major 3rds and 6ths over basic I-IV-V blues progressions and it has really good, traditional blues sound. If you use a mixture of major and minor tonalities in your solos, the scale for blues becomes a blend of the dorian and mixolydian modes (a major 7 would give you a totally different sound), with the flat 5 passing tone from the standard blues scale. So the questions - Am I onto something here? Is this how the real blues guys play their solos? And if so, why all the emphasis on the blues scale in magazines and whatnot, at the expense of expanding into the broader palette?
Yes, you're on to something. That is exactly how many blues guitar players think and play. The blues approach to music is kind of a hodgepodge of things and breaks the rules a bit. If you want to truly understand music theory you'll have to break away from the blues mentality temporarily. Learn what the rules are first, then how to break them. My guitar theory book and DVDs focus on the complete picture that is foundational to all popular styles (blues songs included). With that said, the minor pentatonic scale alone will work a large part of the time in blues and blues-based rock without requiring any music theory knowledge to apply. I think this is why it's so popular.
Second, I've been trying to "crack the code" on turnarounds for the I-IV-V 12 bar blues, at least the theory behind the pattern that proceeds resolution the to V chord.
Instead of thinking about where blues turnarounds start, focus on where they end. You can approach the V chord chromatically from either direction. You can even descend and ascend at the same time. Try it!
