Six note blues scale piano pdf

They provide a pool of notes for you to choose from when improvising and set the foundations for further modal scale study. These notes create a pentatonic 5note scale that is easy to see, and can be accompanied effectively by just one or two chords. The longest musical phrase begins with a single note. Music has two kinds of steps half steps and whole steps which are the building blocks of scales. Download our free pdf versions of each scale with fingering.

The pentatonics are fun 5 note scales that are essential to blues and country music. Free piano sheet music pdf, pop, rock, movie soundtrack, musical, christmas, jazz. I have also included the 5 box patterns you need to learn in. Move up the scale finger by finger until you hit the e sharp with your fourth finger. You can easily see them as 7 white keys, and 5 black. The blues definitely has a harmonic and melodic language, and even a scale named after it.

Gordon is he feels, one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used to improvise in many styles of contemporary music. If you have tried transcribing blues in the past you may have found it difficult because you were only aware of the minor blues scale. We know that every major scale has a relative minor scale. Apr 14, 2020 there are three basic approaches to blues rhythm guitar. The solution below shows the e blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef since the key of e appears on the circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key the 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at lesson 3 the 2nd construction, using the minor. You can throw those two notes in as passing tones too, so you can effectively play any note you want over blues. At its most basic, a single version of this blues scale is commonly used over all changes or chords in a twelve bar blues progression. Essentially, the blues is a specific progression that uses the c7, f7, and g7 chords. Jazz scale applications the preceding scales are here roughly arranged from most consonant to most dissonant in relation to the following chord types. Every scale determines a key,that is an harmonic combunation of tones based on that scale. These individual notes are called degrees of the scale. Often, in jazz music, a seventh chord will be added to the chord progression to give it a jazzy, improvisational sound. King style lead thats played with just 6 notes 4 fretted notes and 2 bends. Now we will add one note to the minor pentatonic scale and turn it into the sixnote blues scale.

If music is described as bluesy, it usually means that the melody borrows or enlists notes from the blues scale nicknamed blue notes rather than the standard major and minor scales that make up other, nonblues styles. For right hand fingering, start on the a with your thumb. Adding a blue note to the regular pentatonic scale result in the pentatonic blues scale. I have quite a few students who are fans of playing the blues. Another note to bend into is for example a note from the major scale while playing in a minor scale. This note is known as blue note and it is the flattened fifth in the case of the minor pentatonic, or the flattened third in the case of the major pentatonic. The best way to get used to playing the blues is to have a go at improvising over the top of a 12 bar blues chord progression. C blues scale 6 notes c,eb,f,gb,g,bb 1,b3,4,b5,5,b7 v. The 12 minor scales, however, come in 3 variations the harmonic minor scale uses the same keys as the parallel major scale same starting note, but major, but lowers the 3rd and the 6th the melodic minor scale uses the same keys as the parallel major scale, but lowers the 3rd when ascending going up. The blues scale is simply a pentatonic minor scale that has been embellished with a single, additional note. The most common scales when playing the piano, are major and minor scales. There are plenty of arrangements, based on chord progressions, to use.

There are a total of 430 finger exercises in this book. These scales are for obvious reasons perfect when playing blues on the piano. This new note is a great starting point for string bending, in blues music a note is often bend into a blue note. The major part of c major means the third note of the scale is a major third interval above the tonic. Jan 31, 2014 free minor pentatonic blues scale chart. Combining the blues scale with the major scale gives you the entire chromatic scale except for flat two and flat six. Many times its just the best choice for solo improvisation, and, as long as you play the right notes, theres really no wrong way to. The chord progression is easy for beginners because it only uses three chords, the root, the fourth, and the fifth. These are the four most common scales in pop and rock music. In blues, these include the flatted 5thaugmented 4th, the minor 3rd in a major or dominant context, and the minor 7th. The blues scale fits well with all of these chords because it contains the defining root note and flat seventh note of each one of them. We could number them 18, but this would get confusing when we start to talk about other numbers such as beats in a bar, chord numbers and fingering for instruments such as piano or guitar.

The hexatonic six note blues scale is basically a minor pentatonic scale with the addition of a blue note between the fourth and the fifth degrees. Heres a little something that ive been working with in the studio this week. When we combine all three scales, we get a scale that looks like this. This is the scale you see in the guitar scale chart on this page. So for if we take the c major scale, and then play the same notes starting a minor 3rd below the root, we then have the a natural minor scale. This is a very commonly played area on the neck and is often used by the great b. To derive the minor blues pentatonic scale from the natural minor scale, use. Almost all music genres being born in the last hundred years come from blues above all in notclassical music. The more popular of the blues scales is a six note scale.

This music theory piano lesson explains how to determine the notes in any major blues scale, and the scales relationship to major and major pentatonic scales. For the sake of brevity, ill only look at playing blues in the key of c. Piano chord progressions chord arrangements for songwriters. In general it can be used on every chord but above all on min7 th and dominant 7th chord. Free pdf downloads of c major, c harmonic minor, and more. The solution below shows the e blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef.

And most importantly, have fun doing so in the next lesson we are going to look at the circle of fifths. Gospel piano scales 6 different scales that can work now. The 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at lesson 3. We will begin by improvising melodies using only the black notes of the piano. A note either a half step or whole step below a principal tone. A collection of scales for piano starting on the root c. The term blues scale is used to describe a few scales with differing number of pitches and related characteristics. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c eb f gb g bb c. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale, and therefore we start with minor and you will find the major by scrolling down. In this weeks guitar lesson, youll learn about phrasing by learning a simple b.

Free minor pentatonic blues scale chart saras music studio. There is also a major blues scale see modes of the minor blues scale below, and both are commonly used by guitar players in several different musical genres. This scale is much used above all in blues,pop,jazz,soul,funk,rhythm and blues,rock. These would include the 2nd or 9th, 4th or 11th, and 6th or th degrees of the scale. My interactive pentatonic scales chart for piano shows fingering diagrams for both pentatonic major and pentatonic minor scales. Accompany yourself or another on any type of tune ballad, swing, latin. To derive the minor pentatonic scale from the natural minor scale, use the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th notes of the minor scale. Armed with your knowledge of the major and extended blues scales, listen and transcribe from your favourite players. Since it contains a flatted third and a natural fifth, the minor blues scale is, by definition a minor scale. Easy blues guitar lesson lead with just 6 notes phrasing.

Learn how to play the a blues scale on piano free video. The six note blues scale is one of the most commonly used scales in soloing. Consequently, learning how to play the blues scale on bass guitar is essential. A nice combination are the chords am7, dm7 and e7 together with the a pentatonic blues scale. Starting from any key on the piano you can play a scale. A scale is a series of notes pitches arranged from lowest to highest. A major feature of the blues scale is the use of blue notes flattened 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes.

Sixnote or hexatonic sales are a really interesting area because theyre less complex than our normal 7note ones, but theyre not quite as smooth as pentatonics either. Your index finger plays the root on the e string, so to play c blues, put your index on the eighth fret. In this exercise, you will be playing a penta scale first, then, broken 3 note tonic chord, and at last, you will be playing a blocked 3 note tonic chord to end each exercise. The 12 bar blues is a chord progression used in blues and rock music that lasts for 12 bars. This means that a fourth note is linked onto every chord. Evangelistic runs these are the octave runs and fillers used by the great gospel pianists of past and present such as rudy atwood and other evangelistic piano players. You can combine the blues scale with other scales for a richer assortment of tones. Six months to jazz piano international association for jazz education conference january 12, 2008 michele weir, clinician. Since ive covered the blues scale, pentatonic scale, and minor pentatonic scale extensively in the past see above links, ill just cover the ones i havent written about here. When you feel like you can comfortably grab the boxes for the major and minor sounds based around the 1st string root, try the 2nd its the same concept.

These notes create a pentatonic 5 note scale that is easy to see, and can be accompanied effectively by just one or two chords. Dont put it off until tomorrow or until you have the scale under better control. Rests 5 a major scale 6 ab major scale 7 a blues scale 8 ab blues scale 9 counting 8th notes 10 counting 8th note triplets 11. Blues minor blues scale guitar patterns chart, key of a. How to play the blues on the piano or keyboard dummies. See that the note that was added is the same in both scales. The 12bar is an extremely common structure when playing blues. When you have the chord progression memorized, try playing the chords with the left hand while your right hand plays a simple melody, riff, or blues scale.

Pattern 1st 2nd flattened 3rd 3rd 4th 5th 6th flattened 7th 7th. When it comes to gospel piano scales, the whole tone scale is a great tool to have in your arsenal and pretty simple to. Blues scales are used in many musical kinds for example in blues, jazz, rock and roll, funk, soul rhythm and blues, dance, pop. Since our weather has been so blue up here, i thought it might be fun to work on our improv skills with minor pentatonic blues scales. Blues music scales chart for jazz improvisation jazz theory. Blues scales are the most famous sounds of the xx century music. A blues scale consists of 6 different notes, namely the root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 5th and flat 7th of the major scale. Since blue notes are alternate inflections, strictly speaking there can be no one blues scale, but the scale most commonly called the blues scale comprises a flatted seventh blue note, a flatted third blue note, and a flatted fifth blue note along with other pitches derived from the minor pentatonic scale. Try using each of the 4 different scales in turn picking out different notes each time. Just the blues scale can be considered a basis for a particular key blues. Many times its just the best choice for solo improvisation, and, as long as you play the right notes, theres really no wrong way to do it. This pattern of whole and half steps is what creates the sound of major. Here are pictures and notes of the major pentatonic blues scales. You can get more charts in with custom tunings using my interactive scale generator here.

Played by boogiewoogie piano players and later appropriated by robert johnson, the shuffle pattern is in its most basic form a series of alternating 5ths and 6ths. For example, a song in the c blues scale would mainly use the chords c7, f7 and g7, and the notes of these are shown below. Blues scales, as the name suggests, have a bluesy sound. The eb blues scale is exceptionally easy to play on piano just play the black keys and add the note a. This is the flattened fifth degree of the scale, a note that is also known as the flat 5, or blues note. This pdf contains the scale charts for the blues scale in all keys for guitar in standard tuning. The mixodorian blues scale for blues soloing learn jazz. Make sure you can play the minor sound either by playing box 2 using the 3rd finger, or box 3 using the 1st finger. Piano jazz piano music music theory piano sheet music music radio piano classes music lessons for kids music education lessons piano lessons for beginners blues group piano class for kids. The scale is made up of the notes a, c, d, e sharp, e, g, and a. Doing this adds complexity to a piece and will spark the interest of your. Blues scale is the pentatonic scale with one more note added in the scale. The exercises in this book use the major scale, pentatonic scale, blues scale, and chromatic scale.

Nov 01, 20 6 note major pentatonic scale blues guitar lesson ep025 active melody. Piano pentatonic blues scales overview with pictures. Free sheet music pdf for piano download and print sheet music pdf. The only 3 chords you need to master the blues on piano. Since the key of a appears on the circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key. Hexatonic scale, also called six note scale or six tone scale, musical scale containing six different tones within an octave. For 20 years we provide a free and legal service for free sheet music. Be able to open any fake book or sheet music with chord symbols and play a tune.

Jazz is a musical genre that hinges on a distinctive tone. The scales are used often for composing melodies and for improvisation. A 12bar blues is performed, as the name implies, by playing twelve bars in a given arrangement that are repeated through a song. I have also included the 5 box patterns you need to learn in order to memorize the blues scales in all keys. Penta scales are in a way more important than the full scale because to know the full scale, you still need to know the first 5 notes of the full scale. Lets learn the blues scales on piano and keyboard in every key.

Overview of major and minor pentatonic piano scales. By the way you can play this scale also 12 frets higher using the same fingering pattern, its still in e. The major blues scale for jazz piano georgia on my mind. The solution below shows the a blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef. How to play the blues scale on bass guitar dummies. Since the key of e appears on the circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key. Free sheet music piano blues by the most likes by the most well noted by the most commented by new releases by the most downloaded by the most listened by the most listened human original instrumentation first by works titles by composers by oldest additions with video first level. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c eb f gb g.