Blues scale + 3rd?

[OliBeau]

I learned the blues scales long time ago but I received a book from my teacher on blues and it's saying something a little strange...

They wrote that blues scale is made with : the root, half tone diminished 3rd, *3rd, 4th, half tone diminished 5th, halftone lowered 7th.

What's strange is that I always learned that the blues scales don't have a 3rd (not diminished..)...

If it was a cheap book I would say that it's a mistake but it seems to be good (a Hanon book...).

Can someone help me on this ?

OliBeau

[Staccato]

I don´t really understand what you mean, but could you write down the notenames and I will se if a can explain.

[HammondToby]

The classical blues scale is an augmentation of the pentatonic scale with added 4th. This would be the standart blues scale (blue notes in parentheses):

1, 2, (b3), 3, 4, (b5), 5, 6, (b7)

When I play blues scales, I usually use the following steps:

1, 2, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7

But the most important notes within the blues scale (to me) are: 1, 2, b3, b5, b7 the rest is more to play around ;-)

Best regards
HammondToby

[OliBeau]

Think I think to review my notes... lol

(Sorry for the 2 other posts : it was a really laggy day and my topic didn't appeared...)

Thx

OliBeau

[arroyomusic]

I learned the blues scales long time ago but I received a book from my teacher on blues and it's saying something a little strange...

They wrote that blues scale is made with : the root, half tone diminished 3rd, *3rd, 4th, half tone diminished 5th, halftone lowered 7th.

What's strange is that I always learned that the blues scales don't have a 3rd (not diminished..)...

If it was a cheap book I would say that it's a mistake but it seems to be good (a Hanon book...).

Can someone help me on this ?

OliBeau

'diminished' means 'flattened'.

'half tone' means 'half step', or the distance from one note to the next closest note.

'half tone diminished 3rd' is a fancy-schmancy way of saying 'minor 3rd'.
'half tone diminished 5th' is a fancy-schmancy way of saying 'flatted 5th'.
'half tone lowered 7th' is the same as a 'halftone diminished 7th' which is a fancy-schmancy way of saying 'minor 7th'.

so the author of this book is basically saying a blues scale is comprised of a Root, minor 3rd, 4th, flatted 5th, 5th, and minor 7th...bada-boom, bada-bing.

[Narek]

The classical blues scale is an augmentation of the pentatonic scale with added 4th. This would be the standart blues scale (blue notes in parentheses):

1, 2, (b3), 3, 4, (b5), 5, 6, (b7)

When I play blues scales, I usually use the following steps:

1, 2, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7

But the most important notes within the blues scale (to me) are: 1, 2, b3, b5, b7 the rest is more to play around ;-)

Best regards
HammondToby


Just a quick question (since I have just started experimenting and improvising with the blues scale) let's take the C Blues Scale:

I know it as: C Eb F F# G Bb; so where did you get the 2 from? And can you elaborate more on this: 1, 2, (b3), 3, 4, (b5), 5, 6, (b7)?

Thanks in advance.

[SerFox]

Yea that's the blues scale, just an adaptation from the blues penta.

[bobbykunkle]

An Example:

The blues scale comes from the major pentatonic scale of the flat 3 of whatever key you are in. A pentanonic scale is a 5 note scale (the major pentatonic goes 1-2-3-5-6).

So, if you are in the key of 'C', then the bluesy pentatonic scale would be the 'Eb' major pentatonic scale:
Eb-F-G-Bb-C

Pentatonic scales are neat because they have no minor seconds (half-steps) in them so it leaves for a very open sound and is a good way to improvise because you don't worry about as many notes. The blues scale takes a small variation on the pentatonic scale and throws in chromaticism from the 2-3 (in the relating key, it would be 4-5). This gives you that bluesy sound that plenty of people love to hear.

The 'C' blues scale goes as follows:
C-Eb-F-Gb-G-Bb-(C)

The 'F' blues scale goes as follows:
F-Ab-Bb-Cb-C-Eb-F

Many people use the major third in the blues scale because you usually are soloing over a major flat 7 chord like C7 or F7. Playing a lick that includes Eb going to E natural over a C7 chord makes for a neat sound.

[HammondToby]

I know it as: C Eb F F# G Bb; so where did you get the 2 from? And can you elaborate more on this: 1, 2, (b3), 3, 4, (b5), 5, 6, (b7)?

Well, the blues scale is, AFAIK, not that defined but it is an augmented penta, this is where I get the 2 from. So, my notes in a C-blues-scale are:

C, D, (Eb), E, F, (Gb), G, A, (Bb)

The notes in parentheses are the blue notes, the 'F' is added to the pentatonic scale. For soloing I use the same scale, as you said, but with an added 'D' (if we are in a C-blues), 'cause I like the sound of the 9. I usually play the 9 in most of the chords, so my C7 is a C7/9... In the end it's all a matter of taste: you can use the 2 or not, but I do ;-)

Best regards
HammondToby

[Neofire72]

Blues scale in any ket is simple :-

Root, minor 3rd, perfect 4th, diminished 5th, perfect 5th, minor 7th. Use that formula in any ket and you have the blues scale.

People use so many variations and that's cool, like mixing the above with a major/minor pentatonic, major scale with minor 3rd added etc etc. It's all about finding whats good and what suits you at the time.

Cheers.