Re: Blues scale: is this accurate?

On Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:23:44 GMT, "Steve Latham" <llatham@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
wrote:

>
>"BestStudentViolins.com" <SunMusicStrings@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
>news:ac92f971-6a70-43da-bc62-9eb7b7b4bb61@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>I have an online friend, a working jazz pianist, who wrote me the
>> following:
>>
>> This blues scale is entirely inaccurate because there's really no such
>> thing as a blues scale. At best, certain cheap book authors have
>> touted the minor pentatonic as a blues scale, possibly adding the
>> diminished fifth or augmented fourth. But, actual blues music rarely
>> uses this combination of notes in a recognizably scalar fa****on.
>
>And he's right.

And he's wrong (fixed that for you).
>
>The "most common" version of a Blues Scale is 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7.
>
>HOWEVER, just try and play a "blues scale" along with a T-Bone Walker
(who I 
>believe is considered by most to be a blues musician) 

Most definitely - a very influential figure.



>and you'll find that 
>he rarely sticks to just these notes.

But that's just him. Play a blues scale along with Jimmy Reed Or john Lee
Hooker, and you'll find that they do stick to these notes.
>
>More accurately, the thing we are seeing called a Blues Scale nowadays is

>really a Minor Pentatonic with a Blue Note - something that's been much 
>touted in the guitar community for those wi****ng to learn
pentatonic-based 
>blues influenced rock.
>
>But most blues uses a scale more like:
>
>1 2 b3 3 4 b5 5 6 b7
>
>This is more like a Mixolydian Mode with an added b3 and b5 - two more
blue 
>notes (the b7 being considered a blue note too).

It's a pentatonic scale with chromatic filler notes between ^2 and ^3, 
^4 and ^5
>
>I've seen this called "Major Blues Scale" or just "Blues Scale" as well.
>
>Far too many blues tunes use Scale Degree 6 to ignore it. 2 (sometimes 
>considered as 9) is also extremely im****tant (from T-Bone Walker to
Stevie 
>Ray Vaughn).

They use ^9 in their guitar playing, but NOT in their singing. ^6  does
occur in vocalizing.
>
>But, this is not a "blues scale" either per se. I think it's better to
say 
>there are blues scales (plural) of which some of the most common types
are 
>X, Y, and Z. And of course, if you want to go there, you can discuss the 
>living, breathing nature of those scales and tones interchangeability and
so 
>forth.

Just as you can major/minor scales.

Danny
>
>Best,
>Steve
>