The Blues Scale
With
Ollie WestonOllie Weston introduces the blues scale, building it up from the root note and explaining how each note relates to it numerically.
What's in the course
51 lessons (2h 9m) · 1 free
01. Introduction + leaving town demonstration
Free lesson3:02
02. The Blues Scale
You are here2:48
03. Swing Quavers
1:42
04. Combing the Blues Scale and Swing Quavers
3:57
05. Playing through the Blues form using root notes
1:18
06. Writes Your Own Blues
0:59
07. Leaving Town Blues - Improvise
4:13
08. Improvisation recap
0:49
01. Introduction to Minor 7th Chords
3:32
02. Dorian Scale Workout
1:40
03. Minor 7th Chord Lick
2:22
04. Minor Pentatonic Patterns
3:51
05. Minor Pentatonic Workout
1:52
06. Pentatonic vs Blues Scale
1:59
07. So Far so Good - Introduction
1:09
08. So Far so Good - Head
1:37
09. Minor Chord Extensions
2:45
10. Rhythmic Ideas
2:13
11. So Far so Good - Performance with Solo
3:50
01. Introduction to Modes
6:09
02. Diatonic Modes Exercise
4:04
03. Modes with a Static Root
1:58
04. Modes with Static Root Exercise
1:06
05. Modes with Static Root Recap
0:34
06. Phrase Exercise for Modes
1:07
07. Phrase Exercise for Modes (Demonstration)
1:29
08. Song Examples
1:56
09. First Impresssions - Chords and Harmony
4:06
10. First Impresssions - Performance
4:06
11. First Impresssions - Introduction and Analysis
3:30
Lesson transcript
Introduction to the Blues Scale
In this lesson, I'm going to introduce the blues scale, work out how to construct it from a root note, and discuss the relationships of notes to the root numerically.
Constructing the Blues Scale
I've played a blues in D, so I'm going to call D number one. The degrees of the D scale are as follows:
- First Degree: D (Root)
- Second Degree: E
- Third Degree: F# (Major Third)
- Fourth Degree: G
- Fifth Degree: A
- Sixth Degree: B
- Seventh Degree: C#
Then we're back to the octave, which is the root.
Changing the Interval
I'll be talking a lot about these numbers and pointing at my fingers as we go.
The first interval I want to change in the blues is the third. I want to create a minor sound because the blues is essentially sad music.
Flattening the Third
- Instead of this major third starting our tune, "Leaving Town," I want it to be minor.
- Already, it starts to sound a little bit more clashy, dissonant, and gritty, which is what we want.
Scale Modifications
- I'm not going to play the second in my blues scale. I'm going to jump straight to the third.
- Then I'm going to play the fourth, which remains as is: G.
- The next note is a really clashy, interesting sound: a flattened fifth.
This note is between G and A, and in this key, it is G#. Hopefully, already you're capturing some of that blues sound.
- I'm then going to correct the G# and it's going to go back to a normal fifth: A.
- Lastly, I'm going to omit the sixth as well and jump straight to the seventh.
Instead of it being a C# as per a D major scale, it's going to be a C natural, again, a flattening process to create a more minor, crunchy sound.
Practice
I like to take some time to play those notes and try to capture the spirit of the blues as we met in "Leaving Town."
51 lessons
2h 9m of structured video lessons
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Meet your guru
Meet your guru
Since graduating from the Leeds College of Music (BA Hons) and the Guildhall School of Music (Post Graduate Diploma in Performance), Ollie has built a busy and varied career in music. As a saxophonist he has performed in live and studio settings with artists as diverse as Amy Winehouse, Tim Minchin, Bonobo, Frank Turner, the London Jazz Orchestra, the Hackney Colliery Band, the Ambient Jazz Ensemble and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. He is also the co-leader of the jazz quartet 'Time Is Of The Essence', and composes and arranges material for this and other ensembles.
Ollie is active in music education, currently as course leader for the jazz department at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (junior school), where he runs jazz ensembles, big band and theory classes. He has written a series of 'Exploring Jazz' books for Schott Music that are published worldwide and feature on exam syllabuses in the UK. Ollie has also run workshops for Oxford University, Pro Corda Strings and BABSWE, as well as the Guildhall School of Music summer schools.
In his Exploring Jazz Saxophone courses, Ollie takes you from getting started right through to soloing confidently over songs and chord sequences, building the improvising skills that put a real jazz player's vocabulary at your fingertips.
