Blues Scales

[skywalker]

Hi All

I have read everywhere that a blues scale has a flat 3,5 and 7, (a minor pentatonic with an added flat 5). Am I right in assuming therefore that all blues is done in a minor key??. I ask bcoz my blues tutor book has lines in major keys, which doesn't seem to fit the blues scale.

I am not sure if I have misread something, or am just being a numpty.

Please put me out of my confusion

Thanks all

Steve

[Paul Cooke]

there is a "blues" scale... (minor pent with flatted 5th added) but not all blues uses it...

[Guest Bald Eagle]

[quote name='skywalker' post='76330' date='Oct 19 2007, 08:42 AM']Hi All

I have read everywhere that a blues scale has a flat 3,5 and 7, (a minor pentatonic with an added flat 5). Am I right in assuming therefore that all blues is done in a minor key??. I ask bcoz my blues tutor book has lines in major keys, which doesn't seem to fit the blues scale.

I am not sure if I have misread something, or am just being a numpty.

Please put me out of my confusion

Thanks all

Steve[/quote]

You are indeed correct [i]the[/i] blues scale is the minor pentatonic with the addition of the 'blue note'.

Your book maybe refering to 12 bar blues which is slightly different and played on the major scale.

You will need to noodle them both to get the feel and sound, they are both correct though in their own situation, I think, but I don't play much blues these days!

[skywalker]

I will go away and noodle and digest this - maybe it will start to make some sense.

Thanks guys for your input - any more comments much appreciated to help me understand. (What me... a numpty????) - I think so sometimes


Steve

[john_the_bass]

I need to learn some theory!

[Mikey D]

You can also get the 'major' blues scale by adding the b3rd to the major pentatonic. So in C:

C D Eb E G A

It is a lot brighter sounding. You just need to bit a bit more careful when using it as the natural 3rd (E) would sound out of place over the IV chord (ie F) in a normal blues.

Also the 'blue notes' (b3, b5 b7) originally came from african work songs and were classified by musicologists and put in this even tempered scale through their common use. Try bending up to the notes and stopping just short for an even more blues sound.

[skywalker]

[quote name='Mikey D' post='77812' date='Oct 22 2007, 06:34 PM']You can also get the 'major' blues scale by adding the b3rd to the major pentatonic. So in C:

C D Eb E G A

It is a lot brighter sounding. You just need to bit a bit more careful when using it as the natural 3rd (E) would sound out of place over the IV chord (ie F) in a normal blues.

Also the 'blue notes' (b3, b5 b7) originally came from african work songs and were classified by musicologists and put in this even tempered scale through their common use. Try bending up to the notes and stopping just short for an even more blues sound.[/quote]

Thanks Mikey, I'm working through all this and beginning to understand it. I wish I was young again and my brain could absord this at one go.

Steve

[funkysimon]

Some mileage can be had by playing the minor blues scale (or even the melodic minor) with the root a fifth away from the dominant 7th chord you're playing over (so if the chord is C7, you play Gm7 blues scale). I seem to recall that Wes Montgomery often worked the other way, so would play major blues scales a 4th away from the written minor 7 chord.