The blues is a kind of hybrid.

It derives from a scale that doesn't exactly fit any of our standard western
models. Moreover, many of the pitches aren't fixed. Blues singers (and hence guitar
players) spend most of their time sliding around between pitches, tho a few ideal
"target" ones can be identified.

In comparison with our major scale, blues has a b7 and a somewhat flat 3rd. IOW,
the 3rd is not minor, but somewhere between major and minor - exactly where doesn't
matter too much, but this is what your instructor meant by the "sweet spot". Bend
the b3 slightly, and you should hear it.

So we use a major key sequence, but a minor scale for improvisation (partly because
you can easily bend flat notes up, you can't bend sharp ones down!).
We add the b7 to the tonic chord, to represent the b7 of the blues scale. (Eg A7 in
key of A). This chord contains a major 3rd, the upper limit of the blue 3rd.
We add the b7 to the IV chord, to represent the b3 of the blues scale, the lower
limit of the blue 3rd. (Eg D7 in key of A, with a C natural.)
The V chord naturally has a b7 anyway.

Other notes in the blues palette match (more or less) notes in the major scale:
2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th.
4th and 5th are fundamental, and match the roots of IV and V chords, of course.
2nd and 6th are less important, but do occur, at least as the basis of bent notes
(bending up to 3rd or 7th).
There's a crucial area of expressive pitch between 4 and 5, often referred to as a
b5 note, but in reality best treated as a variable note, a decoration of 4 or 5.
You can bend the 4th any amount up to a whole step.

Improvisation in blues can go various ways. You can stick solidly to the minor pent
throughout (A minor in an A major blues, all 3 chords) - just bending notes here
and there, if you feel a conflict with the chord.
Or you can follow the chords a little more, going with the mixolydian mode (or
major pent) of each chord.
The latter sounds more "jazzy" or "country" - brighter - the former "darker",
"meaner", more bluesy. (Add the b5 here for extra orneriness... )
But you can also combine both approaches.
This is the great appeal of blues, its flexibility of expression. The essential
thing is to appreciate the role of those "in between" notes, and to bend the notes
below into those areas.

Getting it right is quite a subtle art. Just using the "right" scale is not enough.
It's about phrasing, and bending to achieve vocalised sounds: crying, wailing,
muttering, yelling, etc. A blues solo is best thought of as a response to the
vocalist.

Listening to - and copying, playing along with - great blues artists of the past
(singers as well as guitarists) is an essential part of the learnng process.

(If you analyse it like this, it makes it sound MUCH more complicated than it
really is... )