That blues modal scale is wild - consisting of 9 notes.
Interesting approach to explain music, but seems complicated to me...trying to fit both minor 3rd/maj 3rd and dominant 7/major 7 all in the same scale.
The omission of that flat 5 also seems odd, as that note is an important aspect of the blues scale.
The author obviously spent a bit of time trying to fit some type of new rule or scale around this newer contemporary song writing - which bolsters my comment that sometimes folk (or this new) music exists outside of traditional harmonica rules and they need to be really stretched and bent in an attempt to fit the theory to the music.
First there was the music. Then came the rules to try to explain how come it works. ---------- The Iceman
@Iceman 'First there was the music... " So true! That's why it feels like the Church of the Blues Mode. My belief system (music theory) must match my worldview (I love blues).
"That's really a blues scale? It reads more like a pentatonic scale with a passing tone."
So does the more common blues scale.
The Major Blues Scale is described and demonstrated in Dan Greenblatt's book "Blues Scales: Essential Tools for Jazz Improvising". Greenblatt is part of the Jazz faculty at the New School in New York. Amoung other things, Greenblatt recommends playing the Major Blues Scale over the I chord and reserving the minor blues for the rest of the form.
Actually the Blues Scale and the Major Blues Scale are the same scale. Play the scale starting on the 6 of the Major Blues Scale and use that note as 1 and you generate the traditional blues scale in the relative minor key. Use the minor third of the traditional blues scale as 1 and you generate the major blues scale in the relative major key. But, surprisingly, this relationship is never mentioned in Greenblatt's book. I learned this from the guitar player in my duo who also has a Masters in Music.
But this is not arcane stuff. It's mainstream music theory. Some pickers refer to the Major Blues Scale as the "country scale" since it is widely used in country music. It's not as much of a "one scale fits all chords" as the traditional blues scale, since the major third can present problems played over a dominant 7th IV chord. Miles uses both of these scales and alternates between them as explained in Greenblatt's book.
"But, surprisingly, this relationship is never mentioned in Greenblatt's book."
From pages 35-36 of Greenblatt's book "Blues Scales: Essential Tools for Jazz Improvising". Greenblatt
Finally, please note that each Major Blues Scale contains the same notes as the Minor Blues Scale starting down a minor 3rd. For example, the G Major Blues Scale consists of the same notes as the E Minor Blues Scale. The only difference (and it is a big difference!) is what is heard as the tonic note.
This is the same as the relationship between major and their relative minor keys, by the way; e.g., the D major scale has the same notes as the B natural minor scale.
For reference, here are the correspondences between the 12 sets of Major and Minor Blues Scales:
Bb Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the G Minor Blues Scale Eb Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the C Minor Blues Scale Ab Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the F Minor Blues Scale Db Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the Bb Minor Blues Scale Gb Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the Eb Minor Blues Scale B Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the G# Minor Blues Scale E Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the C# Minor Blues Scale A Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the F# Minor Blues Scale D Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the B Minor Blues Scale G Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the E Minor Blues Scale C Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the A Minor Blues Scale F Major Blues Scale has the same notes as the D Minor Blues Scale
Last Edited by timeistight on Jun 15, 2017 4:36 PM
I posted too soon in regards to pentatonic w/passing tone.
The original blues scale that I know and love is ALSO that major blues scale from a different starting point - the 2nd note of the original blues scale.
Which one is Robert? At what point do you hear a tritone? (Clapton seems to be noodling all over the place - the soloist following him is picking and choosing his notes more effectively, IMO - is that Robert?) ---------- The Iceman
ha ha.. i thought the same thing about clapton. the 2 nd guitarist is robert cray and i also agree.
i was referring to the pedal steel player robert randolf. he comes in and dominates. look at robert crays face just be fore he comes in. pretty intense.
sounds like he plays a flat 7th and vacillates between that and the flat 5. momentarily.
the crowd goes wild, but it is just as more guitar players come out. they should have played help me. lol
Last Edited by 1847 on Jun 23, 2017 6:12 AM
oh. excellent steel pedal solo - really made it sing like human voice. please give me time stamp for that section you are curious about.
Too bad the interest turned away from this solo towards the high fiving glad handing gaggle of "stars" pouring on the stage, though.
Clapton, IMO, has very little deep blues soul inside. I don't fault him for his love of blues, but what he plays sounds too "white" for me most of the time. Occasionally, he does spin an excellent solo, but can't really seem to sustain it for very long. ---------- The Iceman
