> C D E G A to me is Pentatonic Major
> C Eb F G Bb is Pentatonic Minor
> C Eb F Gb G Bb is a "blues influenced Pentatonic Minor", or at best, a
> "Pentatonic-based Blues Scale" (Dave I think used Hexatonic but
Hexatonic
> frequently refers to C D E F G A C - pentatonic with added 4).
>
> In a sense, we could call it a "blues scale for dummies" - at least in
the
> way it's taught to and approached by many guitarists.
Or, we could call it what it is. The common denominator of the blues
that has been determined by analysis of all the early blues that we
know about. It is not a mode for dummies, it is the mode that most
clearly defines the basic scale that is altered or changed to produce
the "other blues scales". Look at what every one is saying, "its not
the blues scale because some has added this note" or "someone else
added these notes" or they inserted a 2^ in the cadence and statements
about all the OTHER blues scales. Even in this thread, they have all
been compared to this La Pentaton with the added #4/b5 ! Doesn't that
in itself say something? These 6 notes are the BASIC blues scale. This
does not make its use derivative, or "White" or British or Jazz or
anything else. It is only the BASIC scale that will instantly produce
music that will sound like blues in the hands of even the most novice
students. It would take a very good musician to create a melody with
this scale that did not cause someone to say "That sounds bluesy!"
It is basic. It is nothing more or less. There are many scales that
can also be bluesy, but they are not common to the wide array that
these BASIC 6 notes are so they are not the BASIC blues scale, they
are all judged, even by ourselves, as comparisons of this BASIC
scale.
LJS
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