Blues scale facts for kids
The blues scale is a special musical scale. It is often used in blues music. This scale has six notes, which makes it a hexatonic scale. It is very similar to the minor pentatonic scale, which has five notes.
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What Makes the Blues Scale Special?
The blues scale is unique because of "blue notes." These are notes that are played a little differently. They give blues music its special, soulful sound. Because of these unique notes, there is not just one exact blues scale. It can change slightly.
How the Blues Scale is Built
A musical scale is a series of notes. The blues scale has a specific pattern of steps between its notes. These steps are called "semitones." A semitone is the smallest distance between two notes on a piano.
For example, if you start a blues scale on the note C, the notes would be:
- C
- E-flat (Eb)
- F
- F-sharp (F#)
- G
- B-flat (Bb)
- C (this note completes the scale)
So, the pattern of semitone steps between these notes is 3-2-1-1-3-2. This pattern helps musicians create the blues sound.
Where the Blues Scale is Used
The blues scale is very important in jazz music. In modern jazz, how you use the blues scale depends on the main musical key of the song. It does not depend on each individual chord being played. This is different from how some other jazz scales are used.
Images for kids
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The first known published version of the blues scale, from Jamey Aebersold's revised 1970 book How to Play Jazz and Improvise.
See also
In Spanish: Escala de blues para niños
