Theory Question: Which blues scale over which key?
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- KVRian
- 1462 posts since 28 Jan, 2004
My bad....Hink wrote:I think you mis-read my intentions, I hope you didn't take it as a flame of your post...it wasn't in any way. You said that you hadn't read the whole thread (which I don't blame you), I was agreeing with what you said an explaining how I put it earlier, that's all
Friends again?
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- KVRer
- 1 posts since 14 Sep, 2006
Tim Price has a great lesson on a blues scale matrix for ii-V-I changes. in a traditional blues form you can technically use the blues scale on the tonic over any chord, but this gets old pretty fast. The next step is to switch between the tonic blues (let's say we're in the key of C - C blues = C, Eb, F, F#, G, Bb), and the blues on the sixth (A blues over C tonic). Some people combine these two scales into one, it's the same scale you get if you combine mixolydian scale w/ blues scale so it's sometimes called mixoblues (C, D, Eb, E, F, F#, G, A, Bb) it doesn't sound good as a scale though, which is why you want to think of it as two scales that you switch between. Any one of these notes works over any chord in blues if you know what to do with it. The note you most have to watch out for is the major third (E) over the IV chord. Getting back to the ii-V blues matrix: remember that the 4th bar can act as a ii-V going to IV (G-7 C7 | F7), the eight bar can be a minor ii-V going to ii (E-7b5 B7b9 | D-7), the ninth and tenth bar can be a long ii-V (D-7 | G7 ) (instead of V7 | IV7), and the last two bars can be a turnaround (C A7 | D-7 G7 or countless variations). So now you can plug in any of the blues choices from the matrix into these ii-V's and get a lot of variation while sounding like you're actually making the changes (by the way, I resent the above implications that blues players have to be dimwits to have soul - the most soulful blues I ever heard was Charlie Parker). But there are a lot of other scale choices that work well over the blues too - and a lot of other substitutions you can throw in too.
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 3404 posts since 15 Sep, 2002
kryan27,
Wow. That was great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to explain all that. I'm writing a song now that has a repeated blues riff. I'm rocking between two keys. Trying to find two keys that make the riff sound very different.
I agree that, while some musicians learn entirely by ear and noodling, others are deliberate.
Wow. That was great stuff. Thanks for taking the time to explain all that. I'm writing a song now that has a repeated blues riff. I'm rocking between two keys. Trying to find two keys that make the riff sound very different.
I agree that, while some musicians learn entirely by ear and noodling, others are deliberate.
