About playing blues...

[EriktheRed]

Okay, I know the blues scale for soloing, but when figuring out notes for a blues progression, is that also the scale used?

[ducknturtle]

the rules for blues are as rigid as many people think.

[Johnny Crab]

There are a few and then there is "Rule Breaking"(playing notes not in the official scale). The best you can do is know what notes fit the underlying chords and go from there. IMO, feel(how you play it) is just as or more important.
Listen to and figure out as much as you can from as many blues songs as you can.
There's a story about Tommy Shannon "learning" blues where he was given a stack of records by Johnny Winter and stuck in a room for a long period of time with them and his bass. The story goes that when he emerged, he knew what the blues are(feeling and notes).
http://www.daveonbass.com/nl4.htm
http://www.tommyshannon.com/

[mambo4]

-1 to scales.
+1 to chord tones &feel.

[bassandbeyond]

This question comes up a lot around here. May I once again humbly recommend the introductory free blues lesson on my site.

[bassybeenz]

massive plus one to the Tommy Shannon info, that's what it takes.

[ThomasG]

The chord progressions in the blues are the I,IV,V of the major scale (based on a key). The I and IV chords are normally played as a Dominant 7 chord like the (V chord). The notes played per chord generally are the root,3rd,5th,6th (and 7th).

[tlr1293]

OK - I know what the I, IV, V is (or maybe not?) - but what does this mean:

"The I and IV chords are normally played as a Dominant 7 chord..."

I see this '7 chord' stuff everywhere, but nothing is ever explained.
I feel so, how do you say? under-informed.

[ThomasG]

The I and IV chords are Major chords, in the blues they change them to Dominant 7 chords. So in the key of C, the I chord is C Maj7 and the IV chord is F maj7, in blues they become C7 and F7 (called dominant 7).

Chords are built off of scale degrees. So in the key of C, the scale degrees (or notes) are C,D,E,F,G,A,B

So the chord built off the C (scale degree) is C Maj, the chord built off the D is D minor. Each scale degree represents the type of chord it will be I (major) II (minor) etc. the V (dominant). So in every key, the V chord is a dominant chord (C7,G7, Bb7,etc) on every key the I chord is a major chord etc..... Build them off of the major scales.

To play the blues you need to be able to recognize these chords, because the bass is the foundation.

[MalcolmAmos]

Originally Posted by tlr1293

OK - I know what the I, IV, V is (or maybe not?) - but what does this mean:"The I and IV chords are normally played as a Dominant 7 chord..."
I see this '7 chord' stuff everywhere, but nothing is ever explained.I feel so, how do you say? under-informed.

OK I IV V is the backbone of pop, rock, country and blues. Why, well for the song to have harmony - which you do want to happen - the melody line and the chord progression should share some of the same notes at the same time. The I IV and V chord contain every note in the tonic I's scale. So If we were playing in the key of C the I IV or V chords (C, F & G) will harmonize the C scale melody notes - sooner or later one of those three will harmonize your melody. Or put another way you only need the I IV and V chords to harmonize your melody.

Song in a major scale/key and pop, rock, country and blues normally are played in a major scale/key - so will be using primarily major chords, and the I IV and V just happen to be all major chords. If the song is in a minor scale/key the primary chords would be the minor chords, i.e. Am, Dm, Em.

OK Why dominant seventh. Adding a flat 7th interval to a chord (1-3-5-b7) makes it a dominant seventh chord, C7, F7, G7 etc. The dominant seventh adds tension. Which you normally find with the V or fifth chord, but, in the blues all dominant sevenths are often used. Why? No idea, the old guys decided it was the thing to do. LOL The thing to do, like jazz will use maj7 chords, mix major and minor at will and add extensions (9, 11, 13, sus, etc.) to get the harmonizing melody note into the chord - the old guys decided that was the thing to do -- so we do.

Another thing those old blues guys did was to use all major dominant sevenths chords in their chord progression and then use the tonic chord's minor pentatonic scale with a #4 or b5 blue note added - for their melody notes. Why? No idea......... but, it sounds good.

Hope that helps.

[JTE]

It's not scales at all. It' BASIC elementary harmony and there's no secret. The only "secret" is that too many people have jumped into "scales are the answer".

So figure out what basic chord tones are, find 'em on the bass, and play them. But the most important is LISTEN to blues players. Dig into real blues artists so you can find where the "blooze-rock" people are coming from. So dig into Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The King Family (Albert, B. B., and Freddie), Buddy Guy, Bobby Bland, Willie Dixon, Johnny Copeland, Z. Z. Hill, etc.

Thing is, it's much more about feel than anything else.

John

[62Jazzbass]

Originally Posted by JTE

It's not scales at all. It' BASIC elementary harmony and there's no secret. The only "secret" is that too many people have jumped into "scales are the answer".

So figure out what basic chord tones are, find 'em on the bass, and play them. But the most important is LISTEN to blues players. Dig into real blues artists so you can find where the "blooze-rock" people are coming from. So dig into Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The King Family (Albert, B. B., and Freddie), Buddy Guy, Bobby Bland, Willie Dixon, Johnny Copeland, Z. Z. Hill, etc.

Thing is, it's much more about feel than anything else.

John

+1 to all of this.

Been at this blues thing for about three years now, having come from a "garage pop" background.

I have used all the guys above, and others (well, their bass players....), to learn from. I just listen, play - repeat. And just when I think I have begun to understand what I am doing, I listen some more and realize I still got a lot to learn.

The longer I am at it though, the more I am getting into note duration, muting, note attack.....all that "feel" stuff.

It also helps to be out there gigging the material, which I do about 3-5 times a month.