|
Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! >
Blues scale and scale degrees
Blues scale and scale degrees
Page:
1
Tweed
37 posts
May 12, 2009
5:40 PM
|
In several past posts members described the I, IV, and V blues scales. I'm quite familiar with the standard I chord blues scale but the posters described scales that coulnd be played over the IV and V cords as well. I can play the standard I- 2 draw, IV- 4 blow, V- 1draw or 4draw blues but it gets old fast. Could anyone help me out here.
Also I'm working through some David Barrett Chorus Forms and he talks a lot about scale degrees. I half understand the concept but not enough to factor into my playing. Need some help on this one too.
BTW different Chorus Forms really helped me understand more about what could be played in a 12 bar format.
Tweed
|
Preston
340 posts
May 12, 2009
8:03 PM
|
Well it looks like you are a little confused, and it may be some of our faults for not talking about it and/or wording it correctly. Let me see if I can help you out.
There isn't a IV or V blues scale, but I think I understand where you've gotten off track. If you look at how the blues scale is built in terms of scale degrees, the 2 draw is the I. (I'll use a C harp in 2nd position, key of G for my examples) I'm going to try and use scale degrees to help you understand.
Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do equates to G A B C D E F# G, also known as the major G scale. If you give the G the "I" designation, you can start counting up the major scale to get all of your scale degrees.
Start at G as I and count up...A is II, B is III and C is IV. Next is D, which is V.
Now, although a typical 12 bar blues itself STAYS in the key of "G" through-out the I-IV-V progression, you can sneak in in notes from C scale during the IV chord, as well as sneak in notes from the D scale during the V chord, and it won't sound "wrong".
How do you get the C and D scales? Well, that's from the circle of fifths, so study up on that. Lot's of free stuff on the net if you just search long enough.
Now, I'm NOT trying to really throw you for a loop, but I hope you noticed that I said we would use the C harp for our example. So that means the IV chord's root note is.......C!! So you could play a few first position riffs over the IV chord and get away with it.
Same with the V chord...its root is "D" so third position riffs wouldn't necessarily sound out of place over this chord.
So to sum it up, there isn't a "IV scale" or a "V scale", but familarizing yourself with 1st and 3rd positions will give you a little more freedom when playing in the cross harp IV and V chords.
If that doesn't make sense, let me know and I'll try again. If anybody else has any input feel free to jump in.
|
Tweed
38 posts
May 12, 2009
8:25 PM
|
Preston
Thanks for your feedback. You were right I was really confused but now I understand (what was previously posted) was since the IV chord is C and the V chord is D you can play 1st and 3rd position riffs, not blues scales, during these chords.
Also thanks for the quick learn on scale degrees. I now understand.
I also searched the forum archive rather than forum search for the first time and found some relevant threads there. the forum archive is a great resource.
Thanks again
Tweed
|
mr_so&so
95 posts
May 13, 2009
9:24 AM
|
I agree with Preston, for the most part. But I'd suggest that you can more than "get away with" a few first and third position riffs (over the IV and V chords, respectively). You could indeed play blues scale notes, or whatever riffs you like in those positions, over those chords, and it would sound good. This is a very good way to expand your horizons beyond playing second position right through the song, and to add some interest. I'm just about comfortable enough in all those positions now to start working on this myself.
I've found www.howmusicworks.org to be a very useful site for explaining theory simply and clearly.
|
Post a Message
|
