Blue notes add tension and contrast with major chord progressions. There are several heptatonic and nonatonic blues scales; we will focus on six-note E minor blues scale for this article.
To play this scale correctly, special fingering must be employed. Start with the thumb on E and move through until reaching B with your ring finger.
Fingering
The Blues Scale is an excellent way to add soulful sounds and styles of music into your piano playing. Used globally in different styles such as traditional twelve-bar blues, Boogie-Woogie, Reggae, R&B and Jazz music – this scale’s foundation comes from minor pentatonic scale with one notable difference: an additional flat fifth scale degree has been added for its distinctive soulful sound!
To play the blues scale effectively, it’s essential to learn its correct fingering technique. Unlike major scale notes that are organized according to whole tones and half tones, blues scale notes do not fit this pattern as seamlessly; additionally, blues uses its own distinct fingering style for its first note, making it extremely challenging to play as expected with traditional major scale fingering techniques and necessitating an additional method for learning it.
To achieve accurate fingering for this scale, it is recommended to start from your right hand and work your way down. Start with your second finger on E flat and play until reaching A natural with your thumb – then shift over and hit B with your thumb before continuing down using all other fingers in your right hand.
Once you have the appropriate fingering for a scale, it is time to put it into practice. Try practicing quarter notes so you become comfortable and build endurance in this form of the scale. When ready, experiment playing it in C key before expanding out into other keys until it feels ready for use in your musical repertoire.
Understanding the scale degrees of the blues scale can also be useful when placing your fingers on a keyboard, to know where they belong. Simply look at the diagram below and note where the tonic note (the starting point) lies relative to other scale degrees – note also that Eb keys have one additional scale degree between fourth and fifth scale degrees which isn’t shown here.
Counting
To play a blues scale on piano, it is necessary to count notes correctly. This allows you to pinpoint which finger should be on each note at what moment in time. Blues is a special variation on minor pentatonic scale that adds an additional flat scale degree that gives its sound its unique qualities.
As we play scales, we tend to become focused on finger placement. While this is acceptable, it would also be wise to practice counting out and understanding how the scale works – this will make improvising easier when playing around the keyboard with it.
Step one should be to build the E major scale as this will provide a solid basis for learning blues scale. Use W-H-W-H note counting rule to identify note positions within this scale; in order to count up one whole tone you must go up two physical piano keys (white or black), while counting up half-tones requires going up only one physical piano key (white or black).
Subsequently, try playing the scale using quarter notes before trying it with syncopation (playing offbeats). Rhythm is key to blues music and can make all the difference when it comes to soloing a great solo. Add additional triplets or hold out notes and see how this impacts how your solo sounds.
Use the scale to improvise on blues chords, but be sure to give the music its signature blues feel – this means using lots of chromaticism and playing your scale with many bends to achieve tension-relax in your solo performance.
The E Blues Scale is composed of a minor pentatonic scale (6 notes) plus an added Diminished 5th note interval based on its tonic note – E-dim-5th. This scale stands out as it allows users to bend up or down its flat fifth scale degree for expressive purposes in certain vocal styles; however, on instruments that utilize unbending intonation this note cannot be altered in any way.
Rhythm
Blues music relies heavily on rhythm. While it may be tempting to focus solely on notes, professional-level blues scale piano playing requires practicing various rhythms of playing your scale; one way of doing so would be playing quarter notes first and then eighth notes for instance. Doing this will allow for greater musical flexibility when performing blues music scale piano pieces.
Blues chord rhythm is also vitally important. To create the desired feel in each part of your song, switching from different chords requires skillful manipulation; for example, try switching to V7 in measure 12 from IV7 chord in measure 2, thus creating the sense of a turnaround. Another aspect of blues rhythm that is essential to its success is swinging – this element gives your soloing an unforgettable jazzy sound and ensures it stands out among its competitors. To add some swing to your playing, try adding triplets or holding out whole notes – these additions will give your soloing an added jazzy feel which really stands out against its competition!
The blues scale has its own distinctive sound that sets it apart from other musical genres. Based on a minor pentatonic scale with an additional flat fifth scale degree, this six-note scale can be found across a variety of musical genres such as traditional 12-bar blues, Boogie-Woogie and soul music genres.
To create the blues scale, start by finding its tonic note – this serves as its beginning. Next, count up to identify other notes in the scale; to count one whole tone up you must move two piano keys (white or black), while for every semitone up one scale note must move by itself.
Once you know your tonic note, the rest of the scale can be composed. The formula for blues scale is 1 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – Eb, which indicates that minor blues scale contains an Eb note known as the blue note.
Scales
Scales on the piano are created from basic notes that can be combined in various combinations to form any scale we desire, provided we use appropriate finger patterns when doing so. Scales may also be moved around on the keyboard to change key of songs we are playing.
To build these scales, we first must understand their fundamental workings. A scale consists of keys played together in an ordered fashion with steps between each pair of notes determining its major or minor status (determined by how far apart their first and second notes are played) with an added flat note added into its fifth position if minor scale.
There are a variety of scales used to play blues music. One that stands out among them is the E minor blues scale; a variation on minor pentatonic scale with an extra flat note added at fifth scale degree, it provides an inimitable sound heard in numerous styles.
E Major Blues Scale. This scale serves as the foundation of most blues songs and can be used to compose numerous styles of blues music. Understanding it on piano will allow you to start learning how to play blues music as well as provide a starting point for other forms of musical exploration.
There is a straightforward formula for building the E blues scale. This begins by finding its tonic note – in this instance E – before counting whole tones and half-tones up by two physical piano keys, either white or black, before moving back down again at half-tone intervals until reaching another note in succession. This approach will enable you to learn it quickly!