blues scales

[sax_queen55]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this site... But anyways... I am leaving for Jazz camp in a few days and I was wondering (just to make my life a little easier) if anyone knows where I can find a list of all the blues scales... I know the formula for it (lol I think I do anyways), but its so time consuming to write them all out, and to have them at my fingertips would be priceless... especially at camp. Hope you can help, thanx in advance

sax_queen55

[EricV]

Hi there...

and welcome to ibreathe.
Wow, all the different blues scales ? I think there are only one or two really common ones which are transposed to the key you need.
The most common one would be:
1 - b3 - 4 - b5 - 5 - b7 - 1
in E: E-G-A-Bb-B-D-E

You can find that one transposed to all the other keys here:
Pentatonic Blues Scale in all keys (http://www.20minutemusic.com/resources/scalecharts/pentblues_scalesT/)

There are some creations like the "Country Blues Scale" ( which is guitar-based ) but the one above is the most popular one.
It´s nothing else but a minor pentatonic with an added flat5. You can experiment with adding other "passing tones" or whatever, but this one should be a good starting point.
Hope this helps
Have fun at the camp and check in at ibreathe again
Eric

[Fingers]

Well, it's not really a blues scale, but I find myself using the Dorian mode quite often.
The blues scale has a minor third and the Dorian mode has one, too.
Over the I chord, it's dorian - the same set of notes over the IV chord is mixolydian (fits also perfectly as the chords in a blues are most of the time dom7 chords) and over the V chord it's Aeolian.

[Guni]

Hi Fingers,

yes, this certainly works well. Ya might wanna try to add the major third of the 7th chord to the scale. This will sound more 'bluesy'.

Guni

[mattblack850]

You can find that one transposed to all the other keys here:
Pentatonic Blues Scale in all keys (http://www.20minutemusic.com/resources/scalecharts/pentblues_scalesT/)

Eric
Just tried this link but it didn't seem to work:confused: :confused:
Shame, as I would be interested in this as well.
Was it an iBreathe article??

[cardello]

in response to whoever mentioned the dorian scale, try using the dorian bebop scale which is just the dorian scale but also introduce the 3rd.

D bebop dorian: D E F F# G A B C D

jazzy blues..

[Mateo150]

in response to whoever mentioned the dorian scale, try using the dorian bebop scale which is just the dorian scale but also introduce the 3rd.

D bebop dorian: D E F F# G A B C D

jazzy blues..Isn't that a mixolydian scale (plus the flat 3), clear this up for me too... I've heard people call the mixolydian scale the bebop scale, is this interchangable vocabulary? Or is the bebop scale the one you mentioned above.


I dunno, I always use the regular blues scale as a base, then add the second and sixth, and sometimes major 3rd, and use this as a scale. Like to use groupings of 3 notes in succession ("3 semi-tones") also, like 4th, flat 5, fifth, or flat seventh, seventh, root; no matter what key I'm in.

Do other people have base scales? I really only know the major, minor, and blues scales, and any other scale I just view as an augmention or modification of some sort to one of those scales. Don't think I could remember the sounds of all those modes, and I can never really hear when someone is switching modes, just sounds like they shifting from a major zone to a minor zone (my thinking is like that).

[Sir Speedy]

The Blues Scales are Minor Pentatonic Blues (1 b3 4 b5 [nat]5 b7) and Major Pentatonic Blues (1 2 b3[natural] 3 5 6 ) from the same root .

The Major Pentatonic is kind of the same shape guitarwise , but if you look at it from the root
the Blue note is b3 ed for Major and b5th for Minor .

As a point of interest , when a 12 bar goes from the I7 to the IV7 And you play Major pentatonic That major pentatonic is , built off of the I7 s Root
It falls right into line with the Dominant 7th Arpeggio , that outlines the IV7 chord , they are very similar . The Minor 7-5 Arpeggio a Major 3ed from the root of the IV7 , is also quite similar to the IV7 Arpeggio.
You know it only took me 10 years to figure that out :D

[Sir Speedy]

Hey everyone, I'm new to this site... But anyways... I am leaving for Jazz camp in a few days and I was wondering (just to make my life a little easier) if anyone knows where I can find a list of all the blues scales... I know the formula for it (lol I think I do anyways), but its so time consuming to write them all out, and to have them at my fingertips would be priceless... especially at camp. Hope you can help, thanx in advance

sax_queen55
Try "Sax on the web .NET " . Look for "a complete list " of Paul Coats articles , at the bottom of the page . That site has great info for all levels , Have Fun :cool:

[Los Boleros]

One thing to keep in mind is that there are many variations on blues progressions. You select the proper scales depending on which chords are used.
I am not gonna write out the complete 12 bar progressions but a 1-4-5 blues can have deferent combinations of major and minor chords.
Here are a few examples of 1,4,5 in the keys of A.

A-D-E

Am-Dm-Em

Am-Dm-E7


Then there are the turn-arounds

|Bm7b5/E7/|Am///|

|Bm/E7/|Am///|

|B7/E7/|Am///|

|D/E/|A///|

|B/E/|A///|

I think in order to prescribe a scale, you have to know which chord progression is being used and then select your scales on a chord by chord basis.

[UKRuss]

Hey, you guys do know the original post is from 2002?

Thats prolly why links don't work and...sax queen has prolly been and gone on many more Jazz camps since and Ol' fingers is a snerio member now probably...

:D

[cardello]

bebop scales are useful for creating longer lines that have chord tones landing on the strong beats...

the dominant bebop scale you mentioned earlier is the mixolydian scale but you also include the natural 7. Also, try adding the flat six into the major scale (i.e. Ab into a cmajor scale) this is the major bebop scale or something along those lines...

[Sir Speedy]

Okay , that 'll help in camp thank you very much


Yeah, the BeBop Sclae , that's the ticket , see you in 2003 )))))
:D