blues magic

Minor blues / major blues, what's up with that? Well, thinking back a bit, one unique property discussed with the pentatonic group was the idea that they're were no real "wrong notes" in this group when creating lines over the major / relative minor harmonies. The minor blues group has a similar magic. No wrong notes when used in either the major or minor tonalities. Is it the inherent strength of the pentatonic component that gives the blues scale this property? The addition of the tritone simply redefines the pentatonic color into blues.

Although this sounds simple enough, please realize that minor pentatonic theoretically implies minor tonal environment. With the minor blues scale, the tonality can be either the major or the minor environments, and the same group of pitches is used to create blues lines in either tonality. Really? Yep, seems weird I know, but this is surely the case. Historically, this pairing of the minor blues scale and the major triad / dominant seventh harmony color of the major tonality is way common, everyone does it. The theory is a bit unconventional, theorists tend to like to have things neat and tidy. In this situation we use minor thirds over major thirds, the tritone over the perfect fifth, it's crazy! Ah but the sound, the sound is unmistakably blues, and originally American blues. There's only one way to get it and this possibly non theoretically correct pairing of scales and chords is how it's done. Example 1, exact same melodic line, two tonalities, major then minor. Do you have a preference?

major	minor

Which do you like best? Are you sort of drawn to one over the other? The aural difference between the two possibilities is subtle at times, but I don't think the overall emotional effect is. Although both are dramatic environments, the minor blues is much darker emotionally by my ears while the major blues can often be a very joyous, raucous and uplifting experience. Same group of pitches, i.e., melodic resource, two different colors. 

So, what's the theoretical difference between the major and minor blues tonal environments? Well, both mostly rely on seventh chords, but the triad used to create these seventh chords are different. Is it the "clash" of the melodic pitches against the chords that creates the coolness? The following example simply places one blues line over the two different types of harmonies, major then minor. Example 2.

Sound about right? There is a intellectual concept in music and it's performance called "common practice", which possibly translates in today's 00's as to being "politically correct." Common practice is simply the way things are done based on how they have been done in the past. Common practice gradually evolves as the spirituality and consciousness of the peoples evolve. This "odd" combination of colors comes under this heading of common practice, and it has been this way for at least a hundred years, probably a lot longer but who knows for certain.

The "other" blues is not quite so malleable. What is termed the major blues scale is not so cool over the minor tonality. We can see the basic theoretical problem of using the major third in the melody over the minor third in the chord. Minor then major. Example 3.

Hear the difference? So why one way and not the other? Why does the minor third in the melody work over the major third in the chord but not the major third in the melody over the minor third of the chord?  Well, there must be something about the strength of the environments and the bias of our ears after hearing things a certain way for so long. Again, the idea of "common practice" comes to mind or what I call the blues magic. What are your ideas? Comments? Here is the theory of the above ideas.

Major key blues is simply a blues tune in the major tonality. We can adapt our original blues scale to a "major blues scale" (as opposed to minor) by adding the major third scale degree from the major scale, Ionian mode group of pitches. Nothing very heavy here, just gradually expanding our melodic resource by the simple addition of one pitch to our core blues scale. Using our initial blues group as the starting point, we will borrow the major third from the major scale. Example 4, C blues scale.

Lets extract the major third from the C major scale. Example 2, diatonic numerical scale degrees followed by the C major scale grouping of pitches. Example 4a.

Cool with the numbers? Compare the sounds of the two groups. Note a slight but important distinction between the two groups. Example 5.

Here the distinction? The important ability acquired here is in being able to diatonically create a tonic major triad as the One chord in the music we create, compare the minor and major triads. Example 6.

Hear this distinction? If not, try again. So what do it mean? Well, although the original group of blues pitches is in essence a minor color, common practice among players is to work this group of pitches over major triads. The addition of the major third into the scale grouping helps create the tonic major chord and expands our lines to allow for the alternation between the minor and major third. In this next idea, we simply alternate the major to minor third over the One / Four / Five major triads in a 12 bar blues form. This alternation between major and minor third is very common in blues and jazz music. Example 7.

Jam along with the above 12 bar blues experimenting with the major and minor third. Once comfortable with the colors under your fingers, jam along with the following practice loop comprised of the above blues chords.

Jam loop of 10 choruses of C blues.   

Perhaps learn the 12 bar blues tune "Tenor Madness" by jazz legend Sonny Rollins.

Where to next?

review new ideas

"Is talking about music like dancing about architecture?" But one must try n'est pas?