Welcome To the Bible of Arrangement
Today Subject is:
Blues, Harmonies, Scales, Grids... Suit 1
So Chord Progression in E is good. But what about A B C D F G? and we don't talk about #... There's a way to play blues in every key, is to use Romanian Numbers System. In a Key, you name the first note of the Key I (the first note is the one who give the name of the Key, for exemple in Key of C we take C). You name all the other notes of the key by II III IV V VI VII. For Exemple, in C Major, C=I, D=II, E=III, F=IV, G=V, A=VI, B=VII. You will see this system many and many times, it's very used in the music.
So, the Essence of the Blues is: /I/I/I/I/ //IV/IV/I/I/ /V/IV/I/V/ With this, you just need to "transfer" the tonality and congratulations, you can basicly compose/play every simple blues. Now we will see on what scales the blues is played.
Blues is played in majority on the Minor Pentatonic "blues" scale, that's a basic pentatonic scale with a Blue note added. You can see it on this Image: (link is only visible to registered users), that's usually for guitar. You need to know that the Black dot is what we call the fundamental, that's the note who give the name of the key (fundamental of C key is... C). You can see that the blues note is played between the 3rd Dot and the 4th Dot, it's the blue dot on the picture. I don't find this vey easy to explain where is the blues note you don't you think ? there is a system who name all notes simply. There is exactly 11 notes, they all have a name, here is a picture: (link is only visible to registered users) (it's french but near of the english, I don't found a english equivalent. You can see that every note have a name, THIS IS ESSENTIAL if you can know that per heart, you can compose nearly EVERYTHING you want, that's basic.
So now let's recap. Minor Blues Pentatonic Scale is used in Blues, it's a scale composed of 6 notes: Fundamental, Minor Third, Fourth, Fifth, Minor 7th. The Last note is the Diminished Fifth, Between the Fouth and the Fifth. We call the scale Penta tonic, because this scale without the blues notes have 5 notes. 5 = Penta. Now you have all the basis of composition and blues, I hope my english isn't to bad and I hope That have help you, ask in comment is you have questions. Next time, we will see Rock'n'roll and what is the Major Minor pentatonic Mix. See you!
Create an account or Login to write a comment.
-
-
I wasn't knowing that the turn aorund can be changed, thanks for that ;)
-
Oh darn, the boards don't support markdown formatting.
-
Really, the core of Blues is simpler even than that. The heart of the Blues is in the move from I to IV, and back again. The last four bars are really just a turnaround to get you back to I, but these can change significantly. For example, the "default" jazz blues would be the following:
# Default Jazz Blues
I7 / IV7 / I7 / I7 / <-Establish the tonal base
IV7 / IV7 / I7 / VI7 / <-Move to the IV, then move back
ii7 / V7 / I7 / ii7 | V7 / <-This is just a fancy version of I7
That last bar has two chords, each two beats long. Notice that even though a few things change in the progression compared to the template given, the move to the IV and back again stays. This even stays in a 16 bar Blues:
#16 Bar Blues (Extended beginning version)
I7 / I7 / I7 / I7 /
I7 / I7 / I7 / I7 / <- We make the beginning longer
IV7 / IV7 / I7 / VI7 / <- This is the move to the IV
ii7 / V7 / I7 / ii7 | V7 / <-The turnaraound is the same
#16 Bar Blues (Extended Ending Version)
I7 / IV7 / I7 / I7 /
IV7 / IV7 / I7 / VI7 / <- This is the move to the IV
V7 / IV7 / V7 / IV7 / <- This time we tag the turnaraound
ii7 / V7 / I7 / ii7 | V7 /
But the most important part of *playing* the Blues is to **say something, say it again, then say how that makes you feel**. Listen to the lyrics in Everyday I Have the Blues. In the first four bars, he says one phrase. In the next four bars, he says the same phrase. Then, in the last four bars, he says something different, that wraps up what was said previously. Pay attention to the melodies as well. Surprisingly enough, they follow this same pattern! The melody is established in the first four bars, then the next four bars are very similar, and finally, the last four bars feature something melodically different that wraps up the phrase!
-
I just invert Major and Minor LMAO,
But Major Blues exist, the proof is the Dominant 7th progression, a Dominant 7th chord is basically a major with a 7th minor ;)
But blues in Major7th.... I think it exist because for me, the definition of the blues is in the Chord progression. So a Major 7th blues is possible if we take a modal view on the chords (because a blues with only major 7th is not correct in one key)
-
NVM, of course this is minor chords, I was tired I haha, you're right ;)
-
Actually "The Thrill is Gone" by BB King is a minor blues, so it's build out of minor 7th chords, not major seventh chords. In fact, that song has the same chords and turnaround as many minor jazz blues including Mr PC by coltrane and even to some extent isotope by Joe Henderson. I still do believe that the vast majority of blueses are built with dominant seventh chords, or otherwise minor seventh chords. I don't think I've ever encountered a major blues
-
In fact, we can find blues made of everything, for exemple the thrill is gone of bb king is composed with Major 7th instead of Dominant 7th ;)
-
Warning, Not each blues are Dominant 7th, Some blues are, like some blues are done with power chords (make the blues poor but they're some blues with power chords haha)
-
Also keep in mind that each chord in a blues progression is a dominant seventh chord. The intervals in that type of chord is
Root - Major Third (4 semitones) - Perfect Fifth (7 semitones) - Minor Seventh (10 semitones)
pleas give me prodaction