Is there a Blues Scale?

[Allman_Fan]

If so, what are the notes?
(For a reference, use the key of C.)

[Tone Gopher]

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=...cdf8cbbf06dc4f

[Allman_Fan]

Ah, thanks for teaching me how to use Google.

But the first reference, wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blues_scale
gives three different versions right off the bat.

I was asking for your opinion . . . what say ye?

[Tone Gopher]

1-b3-4-#4-5-b7-1

[walternewton]

I've most often heard the term "Blues Scale" to refer to a minor pentatonic with an added flattened fifth - so C Eb F Gb G Bb C in the key of C - but lots of different scales are used in actual blues music...

[Allman_Fan]

No 2(D), major 3(E) or 6(A)?

[Long813]

Originally Posted by walternewton

I've most often heard the term "Blues Scale" to refer to a minor pentatonic with an added flattened fifth - so C Eb F Gb G Bb C in the key of C - but lots of different scales can be used in actual blues music...

Originally Posted by Tone Gopher

1-b3-4-#4-5-b7-1

Both are the same, #4/b5th. That's minor blues pentatonic.

[Tone Gopher]

Everything else is a passing tone.

Do NOT sit on the 6 - people will laugh and point at you.

[walternewton]

Originally Posted by Allman_Fan

No 2(D), major 3(E) or 6(A)?

Not in the scale most people call the "Blues Scale", which again is by no means the only scale used to play blues.

[Allman_Fan]

"Most" people?
So this is not an empirical fact, it is a popularity contest?

All the cool kids making fun of you if you sit with 6.
If you play with 2, does that mean you're Latin lover?
If you are friends with Auggie 5, must you ride a a flying carpet?

[Tone Gopher]

Originally Posted by Allman_Fan

"Most" people?
So this is not an empirical fact, it is a popularity contest?

No, the blues scale is a fact - you need a qualified reference? Read any of David Baker's texts.

It is also a fact that there exists more than one scale that is appropriate to play in the context of the blues. No popularity contest there either.

[Allman_Fan]

Did you read the wiki page, evidentally there is some "non-uniformity" out there . . .

[Tone Gopher]

Originally Posted by Allman_Fan

Did you read the wiki page, evidentally there is some "non-uniformity" out there . . .

Oh no! Not on the Wiki! How can that be???!!!

If you really care to learn some theory, check out David Baker...

If you are just trying to stir it up, have a nice day.

[Christian Reno]

Originally Posted by Allman_Fan

"Most" people?
So this is not an empirical fact, it is a popularity contest?

It's like most terms - it has a generally accepted definition, and that is pentatonic.

I don't consider it empirical fact - it is just a term that I doubt most of the original blues players would have accepted. They didn't seem to have a need for all of the disection modern players want to do to blues.

[DupleMeter]

It really depends...

If you listen to the old blues guys you will not hear any definitive scale that they all used. Robert Johnson used a different scale than Big Bill Broonzy, who used a different scale than Blind Lemon Jefferson....you get the idea. And this was a distinction based on their style, tuning preference & musical leanings (country blues, piedmont blues, kansas city blues, texas blues, chicago blues).

You can relate most of these guys back to the pentatonic scales or some slight variation of them. The beauty of the pentatonic scales is that it removes the half-step notes (the 4 & 7 in major, the 2 & b6 in minor), which are the hardest to place in a lead. Of course, this also means they lack some sophistication - which is why you hear more variations on the pentatonic than pure pentatonic (except in the vocal melodies which tend to be very pentatonic based).

What there is consensus on is the "blue notes", that is the b3 & b7 used in conjunction with their naturally occurring counterparts in chords. That is, using the b3 & b7 on a major chord for that dissonance and to blur the lines between major/minor and major7/dominant7. Playing minor pentatonic over a major key gets you this.

The #4 comes more from the jazz vein - which has it's roots in blues, ragtime & dixieland. adding a #4 to a major scale makes it a Bebop Major (1 2 3 4 #4 5 6 7), carrying that through the modes gets you nice scales like Bebop Dominant (1 2 3 4 5 6 b7 7) & Bebop Minor (1 2 b3 4 5 b6 6 b7). These are very popular in the jazz world (as you might guess form their names).

You can get away with just about anything in the blues. Heck, Chuck Berry played major scales with the b3 & b7 for flavor, but was very scalar otherwise. He was not afraid to sit on a 2 (particularly over a V chord) or a 6 (over a IV chord).

1 2 b3 3 4 #4 5 b6 6 b7 7 - are all fair game, just depends on the flavor you're after.

HTH.