In the Movable do solfège, the hexatonic major blues scale is solmized as 'do-me-fa-fi-sol-te' In the La-based minor movable do solfège, the hexatonic minor blues scale is solmized as 'la-do-re-me-mi-sol'. The latter is the same as the hexatonic scale described above. Greenblatt defines two blues scales, the major and the minor. Likewise, in contemporary jazz theory, its use is commonly based upon the key rather than the individual chord. 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. However, since blue notes are considered alternative inflections, a blues scale may be considered to not fit the traditional definition of a scale. You can download the audio file.Ī major feature of the blues scale is the use of blue notes-notes that are played or sung microtonally, at a slightly higher or lower pitch than standard. Īudio playback is not supported in your browser. 26), and Jerry Coker claims that David Baker may have been the first educator to organise this particular collection of notes pedagogically as a scale to be taught in helping beginners evoke the sound of the blues.

The first known published instance of this scale is Jamey Aebersold's How to Play Jazz and Improvise Volume 1 (1970 revision, p. The first known published version of the blues scale, from Aebersold's revised 1970 Volume 1: How to Play Jazz and Improvise

This added note can be spelled as either a ♭5 or a ♯4. The hexatonic, or six-note, blues scale consists of the minor pentatonic scale plus the ♭5th degree of the original heptatonic scale. However, the heptatonic blues scale can be considered a major scale with altered intervals. A blues scale is often formed by the addition of an out-of-key ' blue note' to an existing scale, notably the flat fifth addition to the minor pentatonic scale. The term blues scale refers to several different scales with differing numbers of pitches and related characteristics.

D flat major pentatonic scale