Understanding Blues Scales And Blue Notes
Monday, September 13th, 2010
The pentatonic blues scale is the back bone of all great blues guitar licks and solos. I’m going to show you what the blues scale is, the difference between it and the pentatonic shape and also a few tips on how to use these scales in your practice and jams.
The A Pentatonic Scale
There are five notes in the pentatonic scale. Some of those notes are played more then one time going up and down the scale. Here’s an example in tab of the pentatonic scale in A using one of the 5 shapes.
e———————–5-8-5——————————
B——————-5-8——-8-5————————–
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G————–5-7—————–7-5———————
D———-5-7————————-7-5—————–
A——5-7———————————7-5————-
E–5-8——————————————8-5——–
This is the scale being played up and down.
The Blues Note
The difference between the A pentatonic scale and the blues A scale is two notes known as the blue notes. Here is the above A major pentatonic scale but with the blue notes added in.
e———————–5-8-5——————————
B——————-5-8——-8-5————————–
G————–5-7-8—————8-7-5—————–
D———-5-7————————–7-5—————-
A——5-6-7——————————–7-6-5———
E—5-8——————————————8-5——–
Added in are two notes one is the 8th fret of the G string and the other is the 6th fret on the A string. The blue notes are the flat 3rd and flat 7th (sometimes called the diminished rather then flat).
When you play through the scale up and down again you’ll hear those buy Beauty Angel online notes stick out. They do have a nice bluesy feel to them. This would be known as the A major blues scale or blues pentatonic scale.
How to Best Uses These Scales
Playing scales over and over is great for getting the feel under your fingers and building speed on the fret board but learning licks and making up your own is what allows you to become more creative during your jams. Blues licks are how you build great lead parts and solos.
The quickest way to buy cialis online use these scales is to play with some backing tracks in different keys. I find that when I play scales along with backing tracks in a particular key I am much faster to learn new licks, make up my own and experiment.
To learn some more advanced concepts about the blues scale and in other keys you may want to check out some more advanced blues guitar lessons. With more understanding of the scales you’ll become a more versatile blues player.
Good options to grow your understanding here are private blues lessons, blues guitar dvd and also online blues lesson available at some general lessons websites.
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