- This topic has 5 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 5 days, 14 hours ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
The “minor blues scale” (that is to say the minor pentatonic with an added #4/b5) is the usual scale used to improvise over a standard twelve bar blues. For example, for a blues “in A” (chords A7, D7 and E7) the scale would be: A C D (D#/Eb) E G, and you are supposed to be able to use this scale without worrying about the underlying chords.
Let’s verify this…The table below indicates the effect of each note of that scale when played over the three chords. The notes in green are no-brainers, those in yellow are tension notes that call for a resolution, and those in red are absolute no-no’s.
(If you want to understand where this table comes from, please read my post about chord tensions)
For example, playing the note C (more precisely, a B#) on an A7 chord turns that A7 into an A7(#9), i.o.w. a strongly altered 7th chord that definitely needs resolution. This tension is THE sound of the blues, by the way!
Playing that same C note on D7 is completely consonant since it is a chord tone.
Playing it on E7 turns the E7 into an E7(b13), another altered 7th chord that will need resolution.Pay particular attention to the notes in red:
– playing D over A7 (the 4/11 on the I7 chord) severely clashes with the major third (C#) of the chord and must be avoided
– playing G over D7 is the same problem
– same problem again for A over E7; playing D# over the E7 chord will clash with the 7th of the chord
This doesn’t mean you should never play these notes; but it does mean that you should never land on these notes and highlight them. They will work as passing notes, not as main melodic notes.Down below you will find a similar table for the major blues scale (major pentatonic with added b3).
As you can see, this scale is a lot easier on the chords than the minor equivalent, but this also means that it brings a lot less character.
Note however that, unlike what is usually claimed, the major pentatonic is perfectly usable over the IV7 chord as long as you avoid playing the 3rd of the scale (C#) over that chord as that will clash horribly with the root (D). Put differently: that would turn the chord into a D7(maj7) and this chord sounds awful!
It is of course possible (and even recommended) to mix the two scales on any twelve bar blues.
What these tables tell us, is that it helps to understand what you play in order to properly resolve the strong tension that some scale degrees produce.
– the “green” notes are consonant and can be used as resolution notes
– the “yellow” notes are those that bring interesting tension, but they need resolution
– the “red” notes should only be used as passing notes
An easy “recipe” is to always resolve your phrases on the root of the current chord; this way you can’t go wrong. But you can of course use any chord tone (green note).I hope you’ll find this information useful.
Regards,;
JM -
Hi J-M,
I agree this is a good “first principles” exercise but it seems a very painful way to learn.
I think most of us learn by aquiring some blues vocabulary and gradually undestanding why some phrases sound good and others don’t. Maybe understanding that the major pentatonic can sound good over the I and the minor over the IV. Gradually one might start to see intervals and gain further understanding. Eventually one might start to see arpeggios of the dominant chords in each position and highlight chord tones of the changes. This seems to be more the arc of my learning.
None of this addresses rhythm, space, dynamics, technique. Just goes to show how complicated something as “simple” as the blues can be.
John-
All true, John.
The story behind this post is a discussion/question I had with a beginner buddy guitarist who told me that he didn’t understand why some notes seemed to sound “harsh” and “wrong” when he was improvising with the pentatonic scales. After all, these scales were all supposed to “work”, didn’t they? And yet the result was not always pleasant.
Music is an art, not a science, so I agree that practice comes first and I didn’t want to suggest that you need to start with this sort of theoretical development.
I guess I just wanted to highlight the tension/release mechanism at work on those dom7 chords. For my friend, it was a sort of light bulb moment so maybe it will help others as well.
-
-
-
An AM member sent me the following question in PM:
For a blues in A (A7, D7, E7), is it possible to use the A minor blues scale over A7, the D minor blues scale over D7 and the E minor blues scale over E7 ?
The short answer is yes, you can do that.
This approach is different from what I discussed in the original post above. Instead of using one single (major or minor) blues scale over the entire progression, in this case you would “follow” or “highlight” the chord changes.
As discussed above, using the D minor blues scale over D7 will potentially bring a lot of tension, depending on the notes you play (#9, #11). It’s exactly the same situation as using the A minor blues scale over the A7 chord.
The same is true for the E minor blues scale over the E7 chord.Now, while it is usually appropriate to load the V7 chord with a lot of tension, this is not necessarily true for the IV chord. So, I would personally be careful with the D minor blues scale over the D7 chord… I would rather go for something more consonant, such as the A minor blues scale or the D Mixolydian scale.
But I guess it’s largely a matter of taste.-
I’ve often found the D minor pentatonic to sound a bit off when I’ve tried using it to improvise over a D7 as a IV chord. The sound of the major pentatonic generally sounds much better. As it’s just a subset of the D minor blues scale I assume that’s for the same reason as you’ve described?
I’m not careful or skilled enough when using it?
I’ve certainly seen Brian rip out some cool minor pentatonic licks in the same scenario so with care it can work
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
