Hexatonic The
hexatonic, or six-note, blues scale consists of the
minor pentatonic scale plus the 5th
degree of the original
heptatonic scale. This added note can be spelled as either a 5 or a 4. The first known published instance of this scale is
Jamey Aebersold's
How to Play Jazz and Improvise Volume 1 (1970 revision, p. 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. : { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 6/4 c4 es f ges g bes c2 } } A 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. However, since blue notes are considered alternative inflections, a blues scale may be considered to not fit the traditional definition of a scale. 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. Likewise, in contemporary
jazz theory, its use is commonly based upon the
key rather than the individual chord. The latter is the same as the hexatonic scale described above. In the
Movable do solfège, the hexatonic major blues scale is
solmized as "do-re-me-mi-sol-la"; In the
La-based minor movable do solfège, the hexatonic minor blues scale is solmized as "la-do-re-me-mi-sol".
Heptatonic One
heptatonic, or seven-note, conception of the blues scale is as a
diatonic scale (a
major scale) with lowered third, fifth, and seventh degrees, which is equivalent to the dorian 5 scale, the second mode of the
harmonic major scale. Blues practice is derived from the "conjunction of 'African scales' and the diatonic western scales". : { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 7/4 c4 d es f ges a bes c2 } } Steven Smith argues that, "to assign blue notes to a 'blues scale' is a momentous mistake, then, after all, unless we alter the meaning of 'scale'".
Nonatonic An essentially nine-note blues scale is defined by Benward and Saker as a
chromatic variation of the major scale featuring a flat third and seventh degrees (in effect substitutions from
Dorian mode) which, "alternating with the normal third and seventh scale degrees are used to create the blues inflection. These 'blue notes' represent the influence of African scales on this music." : { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \clef treble \time 9/4 c4 d es( e) f g a bes( b) c2 } } A different and non-formal way of playing the scale is by the use of
quarter tones, added to the 3rd and 7th degrees of the minor blues scale. For example, the A minor blues scale with quarter tones is A–B–C–D–E–F–G, where is a
half sharp. Also, the note D can be used as an additional note. Guitar players can raise a given note by a quarter tone through bending. ==Usage==