Minor Blues

1 – ♭3 – 4 – ♯4 – 5 – ♭7, six notes in twelve keys

Six notes: 1, ♭3, 4, ♯4, 5, ♭7. C blues: C – E♭ – F – F♯ – G – B♭. The ♯4 is the blue note — a chromatic that lives between the 4 and the 5 and gives the scale its bent, vocal quality. The ♭3 and ♭7 give it the minor flavour; played over a dominant chord (I7, IV7, V7) those "wrong" notes produce the characteristic blues clash.

The blues scale is older than jazz theory — it is the vocabulary the form was built around. Over a 12-bar blues, the same blues scale of the home key works on every chord: C blues on C7, F7, and G7 alike. The chord changes don't dictate the scale; the scale dictates the chords.

Now 2 octaves, both hands — the same pattern extended up and back with fingering marked above every note in each hand.

Intervals

1 – ♭3 – 4 – ♯4 – 5 – ♭7. Six notes.

Use

Over every chord of a blues. One scale, three chords.

C7 blues

F7 blues

B♭7 blues

E♭7 blues

A♭7 blues

C♯7 blues

F♯7 blues

B7 blues

E7 blues

A7 blues

D7 blues

G7 blues

The Daily Drill

Bend the blue note

3 minPlay C blues with a metronome. Linger on the F♯ — bend up to it from F, or slide down to G. The blue note has to move to feel right; it never sits still.
8 minCycle three keys. The fingering for key 1 is shown; for other keys, the shape (1-2-3-4-1-3-5) maps onto the same physical pattern as long as the thumb avoids the chromatic in the middle.
4 minImprovise over a 12-bar blues using only C blues scale notes. Don't switch to F blues for the IV chord. Hear how the same six notes work over the whole form.
3 minTry the line on an alt dominant. C blues over A7alt: the root C is the ♯9 of A7; the ♭3 (E♭) is the ♭5; the ♯4 (F♯) is the 13; the ♭7 (B♭) is the ♭9. Same notes, new function.

Minor pentatonic vs. blues scale

Minor pentatonic is five notes (1, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7); the blues scale adds the ♯4/♭5 to make six. The chromatic blue note is the defining sound, but it should be a passing tone, not a landing point — slide through it, don't park on it. Used carelessly the blue note sounds like a wrong note; used properly it sounds like the entire history of American music. The same six pitches form the major blues scale when reframed: starting from the relative major, C minor blues (C E♭ F F♯ G B♭) is the same six pitches as E♭ MAJOR blues (E♭ F G♭ G B♭ C) — C is the 6th degree of E♭, and reheard from E♭ the collection becomes the major blues scale. Different mode, same vocabulary.

Six notes. Over a hundred years of recorded music. The grammar of every jazz, blues, rock, and gospel solo ever played.

80 bpm

Sound