Is there more than one blues scale?

Here is a transcript of the video: Good morning, this Duane, and today I’d like to answer the question of a very intelligent young fellow about the blues scale. He was watching one of my You-Tube videos on the theory behind the Blues. If you haven’t watched that video, you’d probably be wise to watch it. It’s important that you know the form behind the Blues, and the theory that goes into it.

Once you know that than his question was, when I’m playing the Blues in the right hand playing the melody, do I play just the Blues scale of the tonic chord, or can I use a Blues scale in the 4-chord and the 4-chord as well? First of all let’s define a Blues scale. Let’s say we’re playing in the key of F. When you’re playing in the key of F we’re basing our playing in the scale of F which goes like this. There’s just one flat in the key of F, so you’re basing you’re playing on the scale of F.

The Blues scale is a little different. The Blues scale is an imitation of the human voice sagging down a bit. In other words, “I woke up this morning …” Okay, that sound is somewhere between a flat third, I mean a third and a flat third, a piano player can’t play it. A singer can sing it. He can sing in the quarter steps. He or she can sing in the quarter steps. A trombone player can do it, and certain other instruments can sag down a quarter of a step, but a piano player can’t.

What he has to do is simulate that note that lies between there and there, by playing both at the same time, or off setting them some. Sometimes they can do it like that, by glancing off one and then to the other. By playing them close together, see you get that … You get that quarter tone. It’s not really a quarter tone, but it’s an implication of a quarter tone. Another way to do it is to play the flat 3rd and the major 3rd at the same time, with a seventh in between it, like so.

You’ve heard that kind of … That kind of thing. A Blues scale in F then would be the root, the 2nd, the flat 3rd, and the 3rd, the 4th of course, and the flat 5th, and the 5th. Again, you’re imitating the Blues is a sad … You know, if I lost my dog and my girl went away, then I’ve got to be a little sad about it, so I’m imitating that quarter step there. Then the flat 7th and the root. All those [inaudible 00:02:32] notes are part of the Blues.

His question was if I’m playing in the key of F, and that’s the F chord, I know I can use that scale, but when I change to the 4-chord, the b-flat chord, do I keep using that scale, or do I go to the Blues scale in the key of b-flat? When I change to the C-chord, do I use the F Blues scale or do I use the C Blues scale, which goes like that? The answer is, yes. You can do both, you can do both. There’s a very famous jazz tune that goes something like this … (Music playing) : And so on.

That’s the 12-Bar Blues. It goes by fast but that’s 12 bars, and the theme, the tune went like this … That’s obviously the Blues scale in F. I use that when I play the F chord, but I use it when I’m playing the b-flat chord, and when I play the C-chord … And it fit fine okay, but am I limited to that? The answer is no. The answer is no. You can use the Blues scale of the other chords as well. For example, when you go to b-flat, the b-flat-seven chord, you can use a b-flat scale, the b-flat Blues scale like that … Certainly. Back to the f-scale … Then when I go to C see I’m playing the C Blues scale there … B-flat Blues scale, and then back to F.

The answer is you can use both. Hope that helps and thanks for being with me. If you enjoy these little short videos, these are all free. They’re video tips. Come on over to play piano and sign up for our series of free piano tips. If you watch these most every day, you’re going to learn a lot about a lot of stuff relative to piano playing and music. Hope you do that and we’ll see you tomorrow with another free video. Bye, bye for now.

Here is the YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfjpewgBLsA&feature=youtu.be
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