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which notes for blues

2 replies [Last post]
Mon, 02/12/2018 - 09:48
bod
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Hi Winslow,

Following the posts on the major chords, I am kind of lost.

What are the notes to be played in blues ?

If we take the G scale.

  • The notes of the G major scale are : G A B C D E F# G
  • The notes of the G blues scale (pentatonic minor + C#) are : G Bb C C# D F G

If we take the notes from the major scale and the notes from the blues scale then it sums up to 10 notes out of the 12 possible notes (this excludes G# and Eb only).

If I want to improvise on a blues backtrack (excluding the IV and V for simplification), I guess that I should concentrate on the G major chord (G B D) and play the bluesy notes (Bb, C# and F).

Alternately, I could just focus on the G blues scale notes.

A third possibility would be to play any of the 10 notes until it sounds good.

Maybe blues is not so much a set of rules and I should just wander in the above 10 notes until, after a few years of trouble with my practice and a many years of suffering with my life, blues springs out of my mind.

Can you help me make sense out of this ?

Thanks

 

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Tue, 02/13/2018 - 16:51
#1
Expert Winslow Yerxa
Expert Winslow Yerxa's picture
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Many approaches work

Blues is very flexible this way, even forgiving, which is one of the reasons people like to play it. The huge potential note set (which by the way, also includes G# and Eb if you know how to incorporate them) *can* make sense, but it cahseem daunting and shapeless unless you run it  through a few filters that not only reduce the note set, they also create a character specific to that subset of notes in each filter. Players, whether or not they're consciously thinking of words like "flter," do this to create contrast and interest - Little Walter playing "Off the Wall" comes to mind.

I started to write a very long post on this, but it occurred to me that I could make it much simpler (if you want the long complex version, come to me for a Skype lesson via my teaching page).

So the short, simple version goes like this:

  1. Get a blues backing track that just stays on a G or G7 chord. (You could also use one of my root-note drones, available here.)
  2. Explore several different note sets - some of them are scales, some are just chord arpeggios.For each one, play the first note in the series, then alternate it with the second note. Then play the second note and alternate it with the first. Then the second note and the third note, the third alternating with the fourth, and so on, all the way up and down.Play each note, and each alternation, long enough to really hear the impression the note makes against the home chord that plays in the backing track.

Here some note sets to explore:

  • The draw notes, all the way up and down. No bends.
  • Draw notes, all the way up and down, playing each bend. Each bend counts as a note in the sequence described above.
  • Draw notes alternating with blow note in the same hole.
  • Draw notes, alternating with the blow note one hole to the right.
  • The major pentatonic scale (G A B D E)
  • The six-note blues scale, where the notes are possible (G Bb C Db D F)
  • The major scale with the blue notes embedded, where possible (G A Bb B C Db D E F F#)

Note: Even though I've stated the scales on G because thy're G scales, try starting on D (Draw 1) and work down from there if the bent Draw 1 or Blow 1 are part of the series, then work your way back up.

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Thu, 02/15/2018 - 00:23
#2
bod
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Thanks

Thanks a lot,

 

I tend to be too conceptual about the music. Using the approach you propose is more feeling oriented. This is what I need.

 

It will also take more time to investigate, which is part of the process I guess.

 

 

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