Blues scale and top harmony

A Minor Blues and 8-Bar Blues Lesson

We're now going to do A minor blues for the first time and also an 8-bar blues. So far, everything has been 12 bars. An 8-bar blues is very often like a truncated 12-bar.

Relative Minor

Let's talk about the relative minor to start with. Every major key has a relative minor key, which is:

• The minor third down from the major key.

For example, C major shares two notes with an A minor triad. Those two notes are:

• C
• E

Thus, A minor is the relative minor of C major, and they share the same key signature as well.

Chord Progression

This tune uses A minor for four bars.

• I'm going to play it in second inversion triad like this: E on the bottom.
• Then, it's going to go to the V chord, which will be E minor for one bar,
• The IV chord, D minor for one bar,
• And then back to A minor for two bars, adding up to eight.

If I was playing bass as well, I'd do this sort of thing.

Chord Changes

• E minor: Just very briefly, in the second half of the first bar.

These are the chords for the Bill Withers tune "Ain't No Sunshine":

• A minor triad in second inversion
• All the others in root position.

Variation in Playing

Now, normally you'd play that twice, but why play it exactly the same each time? One of the things that would be really effective with this type of tune is to use top harmony.

Adding Top Harmony

Instead of just playing, try adding an E on the top of every single note, or just some of them. Play the whole thing with some top harmony.

Melody and Scales

I should point out that this melody, apart from the note B, is based on a minor pentatonic scale. Some people might call that a blues scale, although the blues scale can also have an E flat in it.

• The E flat, though, is really just a passing note.

So when you're improvising over this tune, you could use that scale for the whole thing without needing to change it. Blues scales are generally used in the key without transposing to fit each chord.

Practicing Improvisation

You can do that as many times as you like. Vary the phrases, but just play those five notes.

The top harmony note can be:

• The root

• The fifth

• Or, in fact, any of the notes of the pentatonic scale can be played on top:

• C on top

• A on top

• G on top

• E on top

• Even D, especially over the D chord.

The key is to experiment with those and decide which you think sounds best!