blues scales

**Sailor** · 06-06-2009, 08:44 PM

Why does A blues scale work so well over C blues??

Sailor

**Bill_J** · 06-06-2009, 10:03 PM

Hmm, you would have problems with an Amaj blues scale over a Cmaj blues. The 3rd in A is C#. However, if you are playing an Am blues scale over a Cmaj blues progression, it will work fine. The 3rd in A is flatted to C. Am is the relative minor in the key of C. The notes is the Am scale are the same as the C maj scale.

If you are playing an Am pentatonic, and you play the same Am pentatonic starting on the C note rather than the A, you are playing a Cmaj pentatonic.

**Sailor** · 06-06-2009, 11:00 PM

Thanks Bill - I knew that. I just read on some site that A blues scale works over a C blues progression and haven't had time to try it or figure out why??

**Paul J Edwards** · 06-06-2009, 11:47 PM

An Am pentatonic is the same as C major pentatonic.

So the Am pentatonic scale scale will sound like C major.

Sorry don't know how else to describe it except that doing this will not result in a blusey sound. It will result in a Happy major sound.

**princeplanet** · 06-10-2009, 10:25 AM

blues guitarists swap b/n min and maj blues scales all the time. What helps the maj blues sound "bluesy" is the added b3. It's all about how you shift gears. Try maj for the I and min for the IV. It's a very familiar sound....

**mr. beaumont** · 06-10-2009, 11:05 AM

Originally Posted by Sailor

Why does A blues scale work so well over C blues??

Sailor

it does?

**princeplanet** · 06-10-2009, 11:17 AM

some serious min /maj blues confusion goin' n here... the guy's sayin' A min blues works over C blues (well duh- it's C maj blues after all). A major blues over C major blues is a whole other story!

**mr. beaumont** · 06-10-2009, 01:43 PM

i think the thing we're confusing is "blues" scale vs. pentatonic. the blues scale ain't PENTA tonic...it's a minor pentatonic scale with an added flat fifth--six notes. that's the blues scale. ironically, not used that much in the blues.

the common thing to do in the blues is to play the minor pentatonic and throw in the major third. but that isn't, by textbook definition, THE blues scale.

so by the OP, the note set of A blues is A, C, D, Eb, E, G. over a C7 chord (the I in a C blues) that gives you 6(13), 1, 9, m3(#9), 3, and 5. so yeah, that note set has some interesting tensions in it, but playing it like an A blues box over a progression in C will be pretty weak.

i've never heard of a "major blues scale"--sounds confusing. you can argue the whole essence of the blues is the sound of minor over major.

**derek** · 06-10-2009, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

i think the thing we're confusing is "blues" scale vs. pentatonic. the blues scale ain't PENTA tonic...it's a minor pentatonic scale with an added flat fifth--six notes. that's the blues scale. ironically, not used that much in the blues.

the common thing to do in the blues is to play the minor pentatonic and throw in the major third. but that isn't, by textbook definition, THE blues scale.

so by the OP, the note set of A blues is A, C, D, Eb, E, G. over a C7 chord (the I in a C blues) that gives you 6(13), 1, 9, m3(#9), 3, and 5. so yeah, that note set has some interesting tensions in it, but playing it like an A blues box over a progression in C will be pretty weak.

i've never heard of a "major blues scale"--sounds confusing. you can argue the whole essence of the blues is the sound of minor over major.

Yes. I hear guys using the terms minor pentatonic and blues scales as if they were synonymous. They clearly aren't. However, as pointed out above, plenty of guys use major pent, minor pent, mixolydian and other scales in the blues. Heck, Robben Ford uses the diminished scale in blues to great effect, so really anything goes as long as you can make it work.

**Dystonian_Mode** · 06-10-2009, 02:17 PM

I guess it's all in how you resolve it. I've heard George Benson play something that sound like a hybrid C mixolydian/C blues scale over a C major 7th tonality and it sounded pretty damn good.

**princeplanet** · 06-10-2009, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

i think the thing we're confusing is "blues" scale vs. pentatonic. the blues scale ain't PENTA tonic...it's a minor pentatonic scale with an added flat fifth--six notes. that's the blues scale. ironically, not used that much in the blues.

the common thing to do in the blues is to play the minor pentatonic and throw in the major third. but that isn't, by textbook definition, THE blues scale.

so by the OP, the note set of A blues is A, C, D, Eb, E, G. over a C7 chord (the I in a C blues) that gives you 6(13), 1, 9, m3(#9), 3, and 5. so yeah, that note set has some interesting tensions in it, but playing it like an A blues box over a progression in C will be pretty weak.

i've never heard of a "major blues scale"--sounds confusing. you can argue the whole essence of the blues is the sound of minor over major.

Many blues have a maj6 chord as the I chord, so for this the Amin blues scale is the most obvious sound in the world, (listen to very early jazz!). C maj pentatonic with added b3 (same scale as A blues) is called a maj blues scale by some folks, I guess cos it gets used a lot in simpler blues, but also as it contains the b3.... b3 to natural 3 was probably the first blues cliche!....

**mr. beaumont** · 06-10-2009, 03:53 PM

A minor blues scale, or A minor pentatonic (which of course, is the same thing as a C major pentatonic? I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, it's just again, the two are not synonymous for me, and I'm having a hard time digging the Eb in the A blues scale over a Cmaj6 chord...it's too hip for something like a 6 chord...like caviar on a cheeseburger...

**timscarey** · 06-10-2009, 09:06 PM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

A minor blues scale, or A minor pentatonic (which of course, is the same thing as a C major pentatonic? I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, it's just again, the two are not synonymous for me, and I'm having a hard time digging the Eb in the A blues scale over a Cmaj6 chord...it's too hip for something like a 6 chord...like caviar on a cheeseburger...

Just as Aminor pent and Cmajor pent are the same. A minor blues and C major blues are the same, just starting on a different note.

I tend to think in terms of minor and major blues scales together and then add the b6 to get the "Composite blues scale" as I've heard it called.. C-D-Eb-E-F-F#-G-Ab-A-Bb-C.

Then you realize that the scale you are playing doesn't matter at all when you are playing bules... just how well you know how to play the blues.

**mr. beaumont** · 06-10-2009, 10:20 PM

i have never heard of the major blues scale. honestly, i've never even heard it called the minor blues scale--always just "blues scale," which is, minor pentatonic with the added flat fifth...learn something new every day, i guess.

**randalljazz** · 06-11-2009, 02:51 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

i have never heard of the major blues scale. honestly, i've never even heard it called the minor blues scale--always just "blues scale," which is, minor pentatonic with the added flat fifth...learn something new every day, i guess.

straight no chaser

**princeplanet** · 06-11-2009, 03:41 AM

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

i have never heard of the major blues scale. honestly, i've never even heard it called the minor blues scale--always just "blues scale," which is, minor pentatonic with the added flat fifth...learn something new every day, i guess.

Well I've never heard of the Composite Blues scale! You really do learn something new every day on this forum. Cheers!