(Cross post) Blues in all major and minor keys

[Phil W]

Apologies for cross-posting, (this post is also up on the bass and guitar forums), I wanted to access the widest possible knowledge base:

 

My good friend Mike, who is a fabulous guitarist, had a great idea for a blogpost on his website. I wish I'd thought of it. As a practice tool, or just for the fun of it, Mike collected examples of tunes (mostly jazz tunes) using blues form in all 12 major and all 12 minor keys. He got stuck on Bb minor but I thought of Mingus' Boogie Stop Shuffle.

 

However, two keys remain undiscovered: E minor and F#/Gb minor.

You'd think there'd be loads of blues in E minor but they are surprisingly hard to find.

 

So, a request, have a read through Mike's list and if you can think of a recorded example of a minor blues in E minor or F# minor please let me (or Mike) know.

 

http://www.mikeoutram.com/wordpress/2009/12/blues-in-all-major-and-minor-keys.html

 

The other plus of Mike's post is that in the UK, the Spotify links allow us to hear the recordings for free as a playlist and play along.

 

[Phil W]

Update: Apparentlty Nina Simone did I put a Spell on You in F# minor

[Phil W]

Still struggling. You'd think with the guitar practically tuned in E minor!

[Dave Ferris]

Blues in F# Minor---"Delilha" on one of those Cifford Brown/Max Roach records from the 50's.

 

Can't remember if the composer is Harold Land or Clifford Brown. I worked on the solo ages ago with Charlie Shoemake. Great tune!

[Phil W]

Ooh neat! Thanks Dave!

[Phil W]

Can you think of anything in E minor, Dave?

[Dave Ferris]

At one time I had "Confirmation" under my fingers in all 12 keys with Parallel octaves and RH + LH voicing.

 

At one time....years ago. No more.

 

E minor? Not off hand but I'll think about it.

[Gismo Recording]

I can think of plenty of songs in Em. Unfortunately none of them are blues songs.

[augerinn]

Blues in F# minor ?

 

You mean, someone out there can actually play blues in F#, min ?

 

*scratches head*

 

 

[clpete]

Not really blues, but R & B. Williams De Vaughn's "Be Thankful for What You Got". It's in F# minor.

 

BE THANKFUL

[Jeff_D_in_MD]

Death Don't Have No Mercy (Rev Gary B Davis, Grateful Dead) is in Em and blues-like, though not a straight blues progression. http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/dead-death.htm

[Phil W]

That's neat!

 

Turns out Riders On The Storm is an (adapted) E minor blues so that'll do for now.

 

The circle is complete - see the full list of tunes at:

 

http://www.mikeoutram.com/wordpress/2009/12/blues-in-all-major-and-minor-keys.html

[B3bluesman59]

Sometimes when you hear a song in a strange key like F# the song may have been recorded in F or G but for production reasons the recording has either been sped up or slowed down which of course changes the key...mostly the songs were sped up because they tended to sound brighter, especialy on the radio.

[Reverend Rhythm]

Sometimes when you hear a song in a strange key like F# the song may have been recorded in F or G but for production reasons the recording has either been sped up or slowed down which of course changes the key...mostly the songs were sped up because they tended to sound brighter, especialy on the radio.

SRVaughn tuned his guitar down a half step. So when he played in G or D, the rest of the band played in F# or C# (I guess that literally would be G flat and D flat.).

[Phil W]

Yes, I've played with guitarists like that. In the situation B3Bluesman59 describes though the recording usually ends up between the keys - e.g. halfway between Eb and E. In these examples the keys are purposely chosen - e.g. Coltrane's selection of C# minor for Equinox.