Blues Scale - Advanced Blues Lesson 9

Scales provide musical pathways. Other lessons have considered the major scale. Now that you have a good understanding of bending (hopefully!), we can introduce the blues scale. This will "fatten up" your blues solos, and provide a new pathway through your instrument.

Begin by playing a major scale, namely 4B 4D 5B 5D 6B 6D 7D 7B, like this

Recall that the 4B is the root, 5B is the third, 5D is the fourth, 6B is the fifth and the 7B is the root an octave higher. As discussed previously, this is a first position major scale. We have been played blues in second position however, where the 2D, 6B and 9B are root notes. In second position, the 3D and 7D are thirds, the 1B, 4B, 7B and 10B are fourths, and the 1D, 4D and 8D are fifths. We now consider these notes within the blues scale.

First we play it. The notes are 2D 3D' 4B 4D' 4D 5D 6B, and sound like this

Play it a few times, then play the first position major scale again. There is a big difference. Like the major scale, the blues scale has a root (2D), fourth (4B) and fifth (4D). However, the third (3D') is flat, and there is a flat fifth (4D') and a seventh. Play the scale up and down a few times, with a blues backing, like this

Notice how good the scale sounds with blues (notice also that an old valve amplifier has been used to fatten up the harmonica sound).

A subtle but important point is how far to bend the 3D'. The 3D note is a B (on a C harmonica), the 3D' is normally a Bb, and the 3D" is an A. They sound like this

However, for the harmonica, the blues scale (and blues in general) sound better if the 3D' is a little higher, that is, between a Bb and a B. Listen carefully to this blues scale

Can you hear that the 3D' is a little higher than you might at first expect? It takes much practice to gain this precise control over the 3D bend, however your blues playing will improve as a result.

Continuing downwards from the root note (2D), the blues scale notes are 2D, 2D", 1D, 1D' and 1B, sounding like this

Play these notes a few times, down and then back up, with this backing

Now play the blues scale notes, starting from 1B up to 6B, sounding like this

The notes are 1B 1D' 1D 2D" 2D 3D' 4B 4D' 4D 5D 6B. Play these notes up and then down a few times, with this backing

So far we have avoided notes higher than 6D for our second position blues solos. Now we explore the higher notes. Play the scale 6B 6D 7D 7B 8D 8B 9D 9B, like this

The scale has the root, fourth and fifth and seventh. The blues scale also requires a flat third and flat fifth, and no other notes. However, the flat third and flat fifth are not available in the high second position octave. This is perhaps one reason why second position blues avoids the high notes, as they do not have the same blues sound as the lower ones.

There is a solution however, that is to play the flat second and second instead (namely the 6D' and 6D). The resulting scale has the notes 6B 6D' 6D 7B 8D 9D 9B, and sounds like this

This scale has a stronger blues sound than the previous one. Play the scale up, then down, with this backing

We now combine these blues scales. Play the notes

2D 3D' 4B 4D' 4D 5D 6B 6D' 6D 7B 8D 9D 9B

then back down, with

9D 8D 7B 6D 6D' 6B 5D 4D 4D' 4B 3D' 2D

finishing with

2D" 1D 1D' 1B 1D' 1D 2D" 2D

The whole exercise sounds like this

Try it with this metronome at 80 beats per minute

Your aim should be to reach 120 beats per minute, like this

Some of the faster country tunes go at this speed, this will help you to keep up. However, work up to this speed gradually. It may take several months.

The final blues scale exercise fits to a blues shuffle. The notes are

2D 3D' 2D 3D' 4B 3D' 4B 4D' 4B 4D' 4D 4D' 4D 5D 4D 5D

6B 5D 6B 6D' 6B 6D' 6D 6D' 6D 7B 6D 7B 8D 7B 8D 9D 8D 9D 9B

and sound like this

Now try the exercise with this backing

Hopefully you've been able to hear some great blues harmonica players live. You perhaps heard phrases you did not understand, but made you (and everyone else) feel good. A strong command of the blues scale will have you sounding more like these great players.

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