All Topics  
Blues scale

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Blues scale
 
 
  Topics Blues scale Topic Home

The term blues scale is used to describe a few scales with differing number of pitches and related characteristics.

The hexatonic
Hexatonic scale

In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitch or note per octave. Famous examples include the whole tone scale, C D E F G A C; the augmentation scale, C D E G A B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F A B C; and what some jazz theory calls the "blues scale", C E F F G B C....
, or six note, blues scale consists of the minor pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitch per octave in contrast to an heptatonic scale scale such as the major scale. Pentatonic scales are very common and are found all over the world, including but not limited to Celtic music, Hungarian folk music, West African music, African-American spiritual , Jazz, American blues music a...
 plus the 4 or 5 degree. A major feature of the blues scale is the use of blue notes, however, since blue notes are considered alternate inflections, a blues scale may be considered to not fit the traditional definition of a scale.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Blues scale'
Start a new discussion about 'Blues scale'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The term blues scale is used to describe a few scales with differing number of pitches and related characteristics.

The hexatonic
Hexatonic scale

In music and music theory, a hexatonic scale is a scale with six pitch or note per octave. Famous examples include the whole tone scale, C D E F G A C; the augmentation scale, C D E G A B C; the Prometheus scale, C D E F A B C; and what some jazz theory calls the "blues scale", C E F F G B C....
, or six note, blues scale consists of the minor pentatonic scale
Pentatonic scale

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitch per octave in contrast to an heptatonic scale scale such as the major scale. Pentatonic scales are very common and are found all over the world, including but not limited to Celtic music, Hungarian folk music, West African music, African-American spiritual , Jazz, American blues music a...
 plus the 4 or 5 degree. A major feature of the blues scale is the use of blue notes, however, since blue notes are considered alternate inflections, a blues scale may be considered to not fit the traditional definition of a scale. At its most basic, a single version of this "blues scale" is commonly used over all changes (or chords
Chord (music)

In music and music theory a chord is a set of two or more different note that sound simultaneously. Most often, in European-influenced music, chords are tertian Sonority that can be constructed as stacks of thirds relative to some underlying musical scale....
) in a twelve bar blues progression
Twelve bar blues

The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration....
. Likewise, in contemporary jazz theory
Jazz harmony

Jazz harmony is the harmony idiom or harmonies used in jazz. It is a part of Western harmonic practice and similarities between jazz harmony and traditional harmony include; notational techniques , many chord progressions, and the incorporation of many musical scale ....
, its use is commonly based upon the key
Key (music)

In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a certain key, such as in the key of C or in the key of F-sharp....
 rather than the individual chord.

The heptatonic, or seven note, conception of the "blues scale" is as a diatonic scale
Diatonic scale

In music theory, a diatonic scale is a seven note musical scale comprising five whole steps and two half steps, in which the half steps are maximally separated....
 (a major scale
Major scale

In music theory, the major scale or Ionian mode scale is one of the diatonic scale Musical scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher....
) with lowered third, fifth, and seventh degrees and blues practice is derived from the "conjunction of 'African scales' and the diatonic western scales". Steven Smith argues that, "to assign blues notes to a 'blues scale' is a momentous mistake, then, after all, unless we alter the meaning of 'scale'.

Despite this, an essentially nine note blues scale is defined by Benward and Saker as a chromatic variation of the major scale
Major scale

In music theory, the major scale or Ionian mode scale is one of the diatonic scale Musical scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher....
 featuring a flat third and seventh degrees which, "alternating with the normal third and seventh scale degrees are used to create the blues inflection. These 'blue note
Blue note

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note sung or played at a slightly lower Pitch than that of the major scale for expressive purposes. Typically the alteration is a semitone or less, but this varies among performers and genres....
s' represent the influence of African scales on this music."

Sources


External links

  • How to play on the blues scale