Lesson video

Hello and welcome today's lesson is titled The Blues Scale.

My name's Mr. Norris, and today we're gonna be honing in on how we can use this very specific set of notes to create really idiomatic melodies in blues music.

So let's get straight into it.

Our outcome for today's lesson is I can play the notes of the C blues scale and a blues scale melody over the 12-bar blues chords.

Our keywords, first is blues scale, and this is a scale typically used in blues music.

It uses blue notes, which gives blues, its very distinctive sound.

Blue notes are our second keyword and these are the lowered or flattened notes in the blues scale, which are typically the third, the fifth and the seventh notes of the scale.

And finally flat, this lowers a note by a semitone.

We can see the symbol there that you might already be familiar with.

The first part of today's lesson is focused on the blues scale.

So I'd like to listen to this piece of music in a second, and I'd like to try and identify what makes it sound like blues music.

You can pause my video and see if you can answer that.

So here's some of the things you might have picked up on.

The blues sound is created in this instance by, instruments that I used, which in this case, vocals, piano, guitar, brass instruments like the trumpet, the trombone, saxophone, the bass and the drum kit.

Those are really typical instruments of blues, the improvised nature of parts, so lots of improvisation going on.

The use of 12-bar blues chord sequence.

Well done, if you picked up on that one.

The singing style and the melancholic lyrics.

So the lyrics that are really quite emotional and on quite melancholic topics.

But one of the key characteristics of blues music that creates this really distinctive sound is the use of the blues scale.

Now a scale is a set of notes that is used as the basis of melodies or musical ideas.

And the word scale comes from the Latin 'scala', which means ladder.

The notes for scale mainly move by step and fall within an octave.

Now there's many different types of scales.

You might have come across some of them before, but the blues scale is a very specific one that's commonly used in blues music as well as other styles as well.

Now, the blues scale uses blue notes and this is a really key feature of the blues scales.

And these blue notes are flattened notes, which give it a really bluesy sound, a really typical sound of the style.

We're gonna listen to two melodies here, and this first one doesn't use blue notes, so just have a listen to this.

(upbeat instrumental music) Now let's listen to one with blue notes, and you should hear that this instantly sounds more bluesy.

(instrumental bluesy music) The notes of the C blues scale are as follows.

We've got C, E flat, F, G flat, G, B flat, and C.

And you'll notice that we've got three flats in there, E flat, G flat and B flat, which are the third, the fifth, and the seven notes above C.

And they've all been flattened.

This scale fits within an octave and we can see the notes there, C, E flat, F, G flat, G, B flat and C.

So that's what a C blues scale is gonna look like.

I'd like to listen to these three clips.

Now try and identify which one of these uses the blues scale.

Here's the first one.

(upbeat piano music) And the second one.

(upbeat music continues) And the third one.

(upbeat bluesy music) So quickly finishing your answer and the correct answer then was example C.

In that one, we can really hear the blue notes, those flattened sort of minor bluesy sounding notes.

Let's just have a quick listen.

(upbeat bluesy music) So, well done if you correctly identified that one.

What gives the blues scale its distinctive bluesy sound? I'll give you a few seconds to come up with an answer.

And the correct answer then is it has blue notes, which are flattened notes in the scale.

Well done if you got that.

Which three black notes are in the C blues scale.

Few seconds left.

And the correct answer is E flat, G flat and B flat.

Well done if you got those three.

Now, we're gonna watch the blues scale being played on the keyboard and in particular focus on which fingers the pianist is using on each key.

Let's have a look.

(piano plays gently) Okay, so you should have seen there that we've got the thumb on most of the white notes apart from the very top C.

And the third finger on the black notes that's on the flats, and using this helps you to move up and down the keyboard comfortably.

So you can see there, we've got thumb on C, F and G, middle finger on the black notes, and then pinky on whatever the top note happens to be.

Finding patterns also helps us to remember the notes.

And what we can do with the C blues scale is divide it into three smaller sections.

So, we've got the first section, which is C and E flat, second section, which is F, G flat and G, and then the third section, which is B flat and C.

So we've got three smaller chunks to remember.

And if you focus on the interval between the notes, you'll notice that there are some bigger intervals between C and E flat and G and B flat and then some smaller intervals as well.

So intervals aren't very evenly spaced in the blues scale.

Now when we're practising the blues scale, use the right hand and we wanna use the thumb on the white notes.

The third finger, the middle finger on the black notes.

And the pinky on the top note.

Try to learn the pattern from memory.

So try and memorise it.

Remember, blues music is generally heard by ear and memorised, it's not normally written down, so try and remember the notes as much as possible.

So you can do it straight off the top of your head.

Play the scale from different starting points to get used to where the notes are.

So you might, for example, go halfway up and then back down.

You might start from the top descend and then go back up or start on different notes and play patterns that include all of the notes.

So try and do as much variety moving around the scale as you can, 'cause that will help you to memorise the notes and to really all learn the scale and get the muscle memory for that scale.

Let's check your understanding.

Which of these shows the C blues scale.

Will give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer then is C.

That is C, E flat, F, G flat, G, B flat and C.

Well done if you've got that one there.

Which fingers do you use for the three notes that are missing? I'll give you a few seconds to fill in the gaps.

And we should have said that thumb number one for the first note, middle finger number three for the second note, which is G flat, and then pinky on number five for the top C.

So for this task, practise the blue scale on the keyboard.

I'd like to use the right hand with a thumb on the white notes, middle finger on the black notes, and pinky on the top note.

Try to learn the pattern from memory and then play the scale from different starting points to get used to where the notes are.

There's some examples there of what you might do going halfway up, then back down, starting the top, descending, going back up or starting on different notes and playing patterns that include all of the notes.

There's our C blues scale, there's our finger in for it.

And you can pause my video now and give this task your best shot.

Now you're gonna reflect on that task.

Did you meet all of the success criteria? So I pause my video, have a think and then we'll discuss.

So hopefully when practising the blues scale, you identified and played the correct notes, including the blue notes.

You played the scale from different starting points to get comfortable with where the notes are on the keyboard and what they sound like.

Used fingers one and three to move comfortably and fluently up and down the keys, and you played from memory, well done if you managed to achieve all of those things.

The second part of today's lesson is gonna focus on playing the blues scale over the 12-bar blues.

Blues musicians commonly improvise with the blues scale, as we know blues has lots of improvisation in it, and this blues scale often the starting point for that improvisation.

It helps to understand the phrases in the 12-bar blues and to know the blue scale well, if you're gonna improvise effectively, we're gonna start by learning to play a blue scale melody over the 12 bar blues pattern.

Let's have a look at this melody here.

This is the one we're gonna attempt to play.

Let's have a look at what sounds like <v Instructor>1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4.

</v> (piano plays gently) 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4.

<v ->Now when you're playing this little melodic idea,</v> remember to notice the counting strategy.

It's important to count the beats at the end of the phrase so that it'll last for four bars and therefore it will fit over the 12-bar blues.

So we've got that really sustained note at the end.

Each phrase of this blues melody, it's gonna last for four bars.

There's the first phrase which lasts for the first four bars, the second phrase, which lasts for five to eight, and then the third phrase which lasts for the final four bars.

Let's have a look at what that might sound like.

(gentle blues piano music) And remember the melody is the same in each phrase, but the chord pattern is slightly different.

So what suggests you do is practise each phrase in isolation.

Practise just the first phrase where it's all C chords.

Then practise the second phrase where what F and C with the same melody over the top, and then practise the third phrase, which is the most complicated one with G, F and C in the chords and the same melody over the top.

Gonna watch it again.

I'd like to try and pick out in this melody, where do the chords all end? Let's have a quick look.

<v Instructor>1, 2, 3, 4.

</v> (gentle piano music) 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2, 3, 4, (gentle piano music) 1, 2, 3, 4.

(gentle piano music) 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, (gentle piano music) and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 1, 2, 3, 4, (gentle piano music) 1, 2, 3, 4.

<v ->So you should have noticed</v> that the chord plays at the start of each bar.

Well done if you picked up on that.

So to play the blues scale over the 12-bar blues chords, practise slowly at first and rehearse each phrase separately.

Play the same melody in each section, but make sure that the chord pattern is different and follows the correct chords in 12-bar blues.

Get used to where the hands do and don't play together.

Remember the chords play on the first beat of each bar, but the melody doesn't fit strictly on beat like that.

Build up to a faster pulse, but always aim for a consistent pulse even if it's slow.

So the most important things that a consistent and steady pulse rather than having it fast and try to play it from memory if you can.

Now, any 12 bar blues accompaniment pattern can work with the blues scale melody.

Once you've grasped where the chords change in the melody, you could actually try this with the boogie-woogie pattern instead of the chords.

It'd be a little bit more complicated, but it'll sound really effective.

Let's see what that will look like.

(gentle piano music) Okay, let's check your understanding.

Which of these is the correct blues melody? Here's option A, <v ->1, 2, 3, 4.

(gentle piano music)</v> <v Mr. Norris>Option B.

</v> <v ->1, 2, 3, 4,</v> (gentle piano music) <v ->And option C.

</v> <v ->1, 2, 3, 4.

(slow piano music)</v> <v Mr. Norris>Hopefully you picked up.

</v> Then the correct answer is option B.

That was this 1.

<v ->1, 2, 3, 4.

</v> (melodious piano music) <v Mr. Norris>Why doesn't this melody work</v> over the blues chords? Let's have a listen.

(gentle piano music) So have a quick think and just finish your answer.

And the correct answer then is because the melodic phrase is too short, it doesn't last for four bars before repeating.

In this case, the melody has three bar phrases, which sounds unusual with the four bar phrases of the chord.

So make sure that the melody lasts four bars in each phrase.

So for task B, you're gonna practise the blue scale melody with the chords as an accompaniment.

Some success criteria, you practise slowly at first and rehearse those three phrases separately.

You play the melody three times over the 12 bar blue sequence.

You start the chords in the melody together on beat 1 of each section.

You play it from memory, you build to a faster tempo but always aim for a consistent pulse.

That's more important.

If you're in a pair, one person plays the chord and one person plays the melody.

Remember to use a count-in to start together.

And then finally, you try the boogie-woogie pattern instead of the block chords.

So if you get to the stage, you're sounding good, you think you've got it, then you can have a go at that boogie-woogie pattern in the accompaniment part.

Here's our blues scale melody and our core sequence.

So without further ado, you can pause my video, give this your best shot.

So move on to the final part of today's lesson.

And here we're gonna watch this performance.

I'd like you to identify how does it meet the success criteria.

Here we go.

(bluey piano music) So just pause my video while you're finishing your answer.

And here are some of the things you might have said then.

The performance is accurate, the melodic phrase is played accurately over the 12-bar blues chords and although the tempo is slow, it is played to a pulse for the most part.

So it's predominantly consistent tempo, even though it's quite slow, there is a slight gap when changing phrases, which interrupts the flow slightly.

So this performer could just practise those transitions between phrases to make sure that they're getting those links really smooth and seamless.

Well done if you picked up on some of those points.

Let's summarise today's lesson then.

The blues scale is a set of notes commonly used in blues.

It includes blue notes, which are flattened notes, which helps to give blues music its distinctive sound.

The C blues scale includes the flats, E flat, G flat, B flat, and we can see them in that diagram there.

And we've performed the C blues scale on the keyboard and played a blues scale melody of the 12-bar blues chords.

So that's the end of today's lesson.

Thanks so much for taking part.

We've really enjoyed getting into those tasks there and learning a bit more about the blues scale.

I look forward to seeing you in another lesson.

Thank you.