The E Blues Scale is a fantastic scale to master and use when improvising music, constructed using the same formula as major scale but with flattened notes.
To play this scale, begin with your thumb on E and move through each finger of your right hand until reaching B; cross your thumb over for that note before playing it again with another one.
Fingering
The blues scale is a six note scale used in various musical genres such as traditional 12-bar blues, boogie woogie, soul music, R&B and jazz. Its powerful, often melancholic tone is essential to many styles of music such as twelve-bar blues. You’ll find this scale both major and minor keys, and can even be played differently to achieve different sounds by adding extra notes such as major 6th or flat 5th to create more complex modal variations.
As part of your efforts in learning the e blues scale, it is crucial that you become acquainted with playing all key shapes up and down the neck of the guitar. Doing this will enable you to get familiar with it quickly so that when necessary you will be able to use it in any key. Practicing in various positions will also help develop fluid and expressive playing techniques.
One of the key points about playing blues scale music is its distinct structure compared to major and minor scales. Instead, this musical form uses an altered version of minor pentatonic scale whose fifth degree has been flattened out to create its unique notes – known as flat blues notes – instead.
To play an E blues scale, start with your thumb on E and use each finger individually on one fret: index for notes on the first fret; middle for second fret notes; ring finger for third fret notes and finally pinky on fourth fret notes until reaching Bb at the top of your scale.
Once you have mastered fingering, try it out with different scales and chord progressions. Make sure to practice both major and minor blues scales so you can get used to their differences, eventually progressing on to more advanced modal variations like hexatonic and octatonic blues scales which add two additional notes for a jazzier sound in your music.
Notes
The E Blues Scale is a six note hexatonic scale constructed upon the minor pentatonic scale, adding a flat fifth blue note for a unique blues sound. This scale can be created in any key using the formula of whole steps and half steps, and notes on a piano keyboard are displayed along with their intervals used to construct this scale. E is its tonic note while B serves as its final stop on this musical journey.
First step in building an E Blues scale on piano is finding the starting note or tonic, typically an E chord or F minor chord, that will serve as the starting point. From here, other notes can be built based on their proximity to this starting note or chord.
Academic studies of early blues pitch have discovered that its major hexatonic scale contains three microtonal “blue notes”, not found in standard 12-tone equal temperament intonation (Evans 1982; Titon 1977). Together these notes and the tonic form what’s known as the “blue note tritone”, an indicator of blues key signature.
Recent analysis of fifteen recorded classic blues performances by early masters attempted to quantitatively characterize these microtonal “blue notes”, in relation to standard 12-tone equal temperament intonation using computerized methods of empirical note pitch measurement and statistical characterization. This involved recording notes from each performance using cluster analysis algorithms for identification. Results demonstrated that perfect fourth and fifth perfect intervals are part of blues scale in all 15 samples examined.
The fifth note’s distribution skews slightly leftwards, suggesting it may have been flattened by approximately a semitone. Meanwhile, its threerd was less clear-cut but probably represented a true major third rather than being simply flattened into fifth position. Furthermore, there was evidence of natural sixth notes within the blues scale, although these weren’t often played and may have been an artifact of recording techniques.
Keys
Blues scale is a set of six notes found within blues music that has since found widespread application across genres. A variation on the minor pentatonic scale, it includes a flat fifth degree which gives its unique sound. Furthermore, unlike major and minor scales which only contain whole notes due to half-step/semistone closeness between some notes in this scale, this scale contains sharps and flats due to sharp half-steps/semistone closeness between some notes in its scale.
Blues scale in E major is created from its minor pentatonic scale of that key, as detailed below. A blue note flattened from B to Bb is added before the fourth scale note in this minor pentatonic scale; its key signature has four sharps which is unusual compared to more typical musical scales that use only flats and naturals as notes of its key signature.
As is true with any music form, when performing blues scales it is crucial that they are played over chords rather than alone. This ensures your melodies match the underlying harmony – for instance when playing minor blues over an A7 chord it would be best to use an A hexatonic blues scale which includes the 13th note – F# in your melodies for a jazzier effect.
Rhythm is of equal importance when playing blues piano solos. A swinging rhythm can transform an average solo into something truly outstanding – try adding syncopated runs or triplets into your scales, as well as changing up the beat a little!
To practice this scale, begin at the tonic note of E and build up from there with your left hand. On your right hand, use your index finger to play E, followed by middle and ring fingers as you progress down until reaching Bb whereupon thumb can play it for further progression of scales with remaining fingers.
Audio
The blues scale is one of the most widely utilized musical scales. Based on a pentatonic scale with one note added for added personality, it makes this scale perfect for blues music or any genre where soulful emotionalism is desired. Learn this scale on any instrument to add soulful sound!
The E Blues Scale is an easy way to play blues on piano. This pentatonic scale with an extra blues note is accessible across any piano model and uses all white keys – perfect for beginners learning the blues!
There are various methods for creating this scale. One way is using the basic formula for minor pentatonic scale construction; another utilizes whole steps and half steps instead, giving more complicated but ultimately better sounding scales.
To play this scale you will require special fingering on your right hand. Beginning with your thumb on E and moving it with middle finger to D with middle finger, tuck under your ring finger before playing B and finishing up on E with index finger – this fingering may differ slightly from traditional chromatic scale fingering but should still work effectively in most situations.
As soon as you can play this scale without strain, try practicing it until it comes naturally to you. After this point, experiment improvising over some blues chord progressions. Additionally, it would be beneficial to practice both major and minor blues scales so you are ready for anything that might arise.
Major and minor blues scales can be played together to produce beautiful harmony, or you can just use one alone as tension builder in your music. When improvising over 12-bar blues songs, remember to use proper rhythmic timing when improvising over them as well as changing scale with chord changes.