- 5,909
I have been exploring the sound and feel of different blues scales played against typical blues sequences in different keys. Now I need to understand a bit more about the theory......
What many people call "the blues scale" is called the "minor blues scale" by our own Pete Thomas (e.g. in Taming the Saxophone Vol. 3). I think of this as the minor pentatonic with an extra note which is the flat 5th. So the C min or blues would be C - Eb - F - Gb (or F#) - G - Bb.
A good blues tutor/playalong book I have (Blues Improvisiation Complete - Jeff Harrington) says that you can also play the blues scale of the 6th of the key tone, to get an effective but different blues sound. So in the key of C that would be the A minor blues scale which is A - C - D - Eb - E - G. You can see that this has got good notes against C, with both the 3 and b3 and also the 5, but no b7 or b5.
Harrington says: ... on any blues, we can use two blues scales: one based on the root and the other based on the sixth of the overall key. We can even mix them together. However, for now, we will look at each one separately.
Each scale has its own melodic and harmonic characteristics. The blues scale based on the root is darker, bluesier, and more dramatic. It contains more notes outside the key. The blues scale based on the sixth has a brighter and more major quality.
What I have just noticed (sorry for my slowness) is that the notes of the A minor blues scale are the same as those in the C major blues scale. So I think that means I only have to learn 12 rather than 24 blues scales.
On this webpage http://tamingthesaxophone.com/12-bar-blues-chords.html Pete Thomas notes that what he calls "the major blues scale" is commonly used in rhythm and blues. Maybe this is because of what Harrington describes as its "brighter and more major quality".
It maybe also explains why for one of the tunes I was jamming with (Shake, Rattle and Roll) it felt like I should be playing mainly in the major blues scale, but for the other (Let the Good Times Roll) I preferred the sound of the minor blues scale.
A couple of questions:
Rhys
What many people call "the blues scale" is called the "minor blues scale" by our own Pete Thomas (e.g. in Taming the Saxophone Vol. 3). I think of this as the minor pentatonic with an extra note which is the flat 5th. So the C min or blues would be C - Eb - F - Gb (or F#) - G - Bb.
A good blues tutor/playalong book I have (Blues Improvisiation Complete - Jeff Harrington) says that you can also play the blues scale of the 6th of the key tone, to get an effective but different blues sound. So in the key of C that would be the A minor blues scale which is A - C - D - Eb - E - G. You can see that this has got good notes against C, with both the 3 and b3 and also the 5, but no b7 or b5.
Harrington says: ... on any blues, we can use two blues scales: one based on the root and the other based on the sixth of the overall key. We can even mix them together. However, for now, we will look at each one separately.
Each scale has its own melodic and harmonic characteristics. The blues scale based on the root is darker, bluesier, and more dramatic. It contains more notes outside the key. The blues scale based on the sixth has a brighter and more major quality.
What I have just noticed (sorry for my slowness) is that the notes of the A minor blues scale are the same as those in the C major blues scale. So I think that means I only have to learn 12 rather than 24 blues scales.
On this webpage http://tamingthesaxophone.com/12-bar-blues-chords.html Pete Thomas notes that what he calls "the major blues scale" is commonly used in rhythm and blues. Maybe this is because of what Harrington describes as its "brighter and more major quality".
It maybe also explains why for one of the tunes I was jamming with (Shake, Rattle and Roll) it felt like I should be playing mainly in the major blues scale, but for the other (Let the Good Times Roll) I preferred the sound of the minor blues scale.
A couple of questions:
- Where Pete talks about the major blues scale in example 12i of this http://tamingthesaxophone.com/12-bar-blues-chords.html I noticed that the b7 is included in the scale, but in "Taming the Saxophone" there is no b7. Why is that ?
- Do you have any pointers for when the major blues scale will work better ?
- Do you think about the major blues scale as a different scale on the same root note or the same scale on a different root note ?
Rhys
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