Join our C BLUES SCALE challenge

[HSS]

7 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The difference between learning a concept and mastering that concept is forgetting everything you learned in the moment of execution. People sometimes ask me online or in person "What scale were you playing during the second chorus of..."  I'm not thinking about scales. I'm trying not to think at all. I'm responding to the moment, expressing what I feel at that given time.

And that's the essence of the blues. The blues is feeling. It isn't about licks or scales or thinking "I need to play this particular sequence of notes here". It's feeling. When you play the blues, become a blues vocalist on your instrument, singing about how lowdown you feel. We've all felt down in the dumps. But music allows us to express those feelings and hopefully feel better. That's the blues.

I offer this to those that are frustrated with their playing. Yes, learn the scales, but then forget all that shit and just play.

 

Jim nailed it.  I really dig the YT video linked below of Otis Spann playing blues. Sorry if I've posted it before at KC.   Otis' playing may be technically imperfect and it may violate lots of "rules" but damn it's got monstrous feel, at least for me.

 

 

 

Edit: Despite my comment above, I went ahead and submitted some noodling to Woody trying to use just the six notes (C, Eb, F, F#, G, Eb) in the C minor pentatonic "blues" scale not as a way to express myself musically but as more of a technical challenge. I failed miserably because I was having to think too much because my fingers wanted to do other things. IMO, just as Jim said, thinking too much is the bane of many musicians when they try to play blues.  

 

[CowboyNQ]

5 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

The difference between learning a concept and mastering that concept is forgetting everything you learned in the moment of execution. People sometimes ask me online or in person "What scale were you playing during the second chorus of..."  I'm not thinking about scales. I'm trying not to think at all. I'm responding to the moment, expressing what I feel at that given time.

And that's the essence of the blues. The blues is feeling. It isn't about licks or scales or thinking "I need to play this particular sequence of notes here". It's feeling. When you play the blues, become a blues vocalist on your instrument, singing about how lowdown you feel. We've all felt down in the dumps. But music allows us to express those feelings and hopefully feel better. That's the blues.

I offer this to those that are frustrated with their playing. Yes, learn the scales, but then forget all that shit and just play.

This idea is 100% applicable to any skill, not just music.  Well put, Jim.

[ElmerJFudd]

On 1/30/2023 at 7:37 AM, Al Quinn said:

 

🤣

 

Folks like Chuck Leavell have created great music playing only those six notes. His solo on Southbound is based almost entirely on those six notes. It can be done! I’ll try to take the challenge soon.

 

 

Not just, Chuck.  But 97% of the guitarists from the blues rock era (I made that number up as a safety - it might be 100%  )If that’s the sound you’re after, that’s the scale they used.  Damn keyboard players always “jazz”ing things up to make up for not being to bend notes like the geetar… until the pitch wheel shows up on the mini Moog.   

[Steve Nathan]

6 hours ago, Jim Alfredson said:

forget all that shit and just play.

This!

[drawback]

 

… and may I add that the whole concept of a “blues scale” leaves me pretty much speechless. I’ll end there. 

[konaboy]

no worries!  some of you might be too good to play a solo using just those 6 notes and that's ok!

 

we all learn scales to help us play chords and melodies and improvise. we've all learned the major and minor scales, pentatonics and blues scales. it must be fantastic to reach the level where you can just forget all the theory and scales and play what you hear and express the emotions in your heart. I'm not quite there yet, and that probably applies to the majority of people on the board.

 

this challenge is more intended as a fun way for those people who are still learning and eager to develop their skills and are up for a collaborative exercise!  this is about playing the blues scale over the 12 bar blues, what's not to love?

 

to the small minority of top-level pro jazz players who are dissing it, you are missing the point and please don't spoil it for the rest of us.

 

Instead, why not upload you performance, show us what can be done, and inspire the group and help us to improve?

 

[konaboy]

another thing. 

we're all really good at talking about playing music! this could be a nice way for us to hear each other actually playing music.

1000 views and 37 posts. 1 guy has played the blues scale.

[CyberGene]

As one who responded in this thread, please ignore my previous comment, it was apparently ironic 😀 I won't (can't) participate in the challenge due to subjective and personal views:

- I don't like blues

- I don't listen to blues

- I can't play blues

- I've experienced something of a catharsis 10 years ago and stopped being interested in jazz and improvisational music since it's totally being exhausted (to me) and doesn't bring me anything but boredom.

 

But that's not a critique and I'd be really interested in seeing many people attempting the challenge 🍻

[Steve Nathan]

7 hours ago, konaboy said:

we all learn scales to help us play chords and melodies and improvise. we've all learned the major and minor scales, pentatonics and blues scales.

Actually, we ALL don't.  I've played Blues for well over 50 years and I can honestly say I never once thought about ANY scales while I did.  I understand that your process is different, perhaps even common, but you shouldn't assume universality. 

[SamuelBLupowitz]

On 1/30/2023 at 7:37 AM, Al Quinn said:

 

🤣

 

Folks like Chuck Leavell have created great music playing only those six notes. His solo on Southbound is based almost entirely on those six notes. It can be done! I’ll try to take the challenge soon.

 

 

Every time I think I need to expand my harmonic vocabulary to make my solos more interesting and engaging, I hear Chuck Leavell take a solo with all these simple pentatonic licks that I play all the time, just ... he does it so much better than I do. And then I have to do some soul searching about what will actually improve my musicianship.

[Outkaster]

1 hour ago, Steve Nathan said:

Actually, we ALL don't.  I've played Blues for well over 50 years and I can honestly say I never once thought about ANY scales while I did.  I understand that your process is different, perhaps even common, but you shouldn't assume universality. 

This

[MathOfInsects]

Making sound is passe. The real greats never play anything. Trick is to get so good that you can play without turning your instrument on or even showing up.

I'm playing three gigs in three different places right now as I sit here and type this!

[Theo Verelst]

Blues idiom isn't created to please a no-band, canned accompaniment setup.

 

It's like James Hetfield complaining about his guitar sound, or the main Rolls Royce designer disagreeing the seat can't be folded all the way backward: it makes sense, but not the kind of sense people want to hear about.

 

A suggestion: the interpretation of this blues scale (which shouldn't really contain the major thirds, but that aside) doesn't suffer too much when changing the soloing key with the accompaniment key, so the same scale in F and G(7) when those chords are in effect, or the expressive power without a fifth in the G7 or even the slight notion of a II anywhere is a bit lacking.

 

T

[Konnector]

Sticking to those 5 or 6 notes is somewhat limiting, but it's a good starting point to those unfamiliar with playing blues.. I've noticed that I'll use all 12 notes over a blues progression at some point. (I'm not a "jazz guy") You can't bend notes on a piano/organ, so I'll try and use what's available to make it a little more interesting. In this case, it's using all the notes.

[Al Quinn]

 

[MathOfInsects]

^^^^ Another sell-out to Big Blues!

 

 

 

 

 

 

(That was great, Al!)

[konaboy]

way to go @Al Quinnthanks for stepping up and playing!

I haven't listened yet, I am saving it for when I make the compilation video.

[Stefan011]

I can not record anything at the moment, but there is one more example of nice blues/penta synth ideas by the late great George Duke. It is a good introduction to pitch bending in bluesy context. And truth to be told, I still struggle with the rapid bend/release lick at the end.

 

 

[KuruPrionz]

It's up, I did a one take and call it good. A booger here and there, oh well. 

I'm running Catalina so I ended up with Wondershare Filmora, who pretend their software is free until you get it and find out they put a watermark on your video until you buy the software. It was easy to figure out how to chop down the video and line up the audio I recorded so I'll give them that. And yes, I'm a bit back focused, so it goes... 😇

I'll continue sussing out DaVinci Resolve, which is great and actually truly free. Bit of a deep dive for a quick and dirty on an afternoon. 

 

Anyway, here's the link - enjoy!

 

[Theo Verelst]

It's a shame when a Duke song is taken apart with only such basic feel for technique and tonal quality, while the example is so full of life and Duke-ism. One could almost think proper Blues playing is simple and without poetic feelings.

 

T

 

[konaboy]

@KuruPrionz

YES, YES, YES!

 

Heard just a few bars at the beginning, will save the rest for when I make the video. Sounding great, thanks!

 

Talking of which, we've got plenty of entries now for a nice collaborative video, lots of different styles and instruments.

 

And don't think you have to be an awesome player to participate. We're all at different stages of the journey., just share with us where you're at

 

Keep 'em coming!

 

[Stefan011]

4 hours ago, Theo Verelst said:

It's a shame when a Duke song is taken apart with only such basic feel for technique and tonal quality, while the example is so full of life and Duke-ism. One could almost think proper Blues playing is simple and without poetic feelings.

 

T

 

You are right that it only scratches the surface. But it demonstrates some possibilities of blues scale and bending in the hands of the master nevertheless. 

[CEB]

We learn theory so we can forget it. 

 

"Do the piano until the piano does you." - Kimo Sensei ... Well actually Kimo Sensei said 'Karate' instead of piano but both are true.

 

All notes are in that 'scale'.  As long as you get the one right EVERYTHING can be a passing tone.  You internalize it then you can just play what is in your head.    But Hell,  I'm just some crazy dude on the internet.

[zoranko]

sorry, it is not easy to not use other tones...☺️

 

[konaboy]

@zoranko

WOWZERS!

Only listened to the start so as not to spoil it later, but that sounded pretty darn legit to me.

Great job and thanks!

[konaboy]

Tony Monaco, B3 legend, teacher, and a good sport has a go at the challenge.

He also shares some fabulous tips for beginners.

Still plenty of time for late entries!

 

 

[TommyRude]

OK - joining the challenge, but with an assist from Chatbot. (Note the advice from Chabot at the end about using emotion... see even artificial intelligence has feelings!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Theo Verelst]

The possible dangers of AI are countless, there's advancement from making two AI "personae" talk to each other and figure out what curve the 'conversation is going to take off in.

 

Nice to see the other contributors, Tony M.'s organ sounds the warmest by far.

 

T

[FXM]

I once did a workshop where one of the exercises was to solo over a 12 bar blues using just three notes. In C, that would be G, Bb and C - just those three in one octave. The point of the exercise was that you can’t rely on flashy runs - instead you have to use feel and dynamics.

[CEB]

On 1/31/2023 at 1:38 PM, stoken6 said:

This is not a snark to the OP but: I'm a little bored of the blues scale sound. It's a rare guitar solo that ventures off that particularly well-beaten track.

…

 

Cheers, Mike.

I play Blues. I’ve gone back to just this genre in 2023.
 

It’s my only gig and can’t use just six notes for solos because we aren’t guitars. You need the neighbor notes to create blues tension. In piano we call it “playing between the cracks”.   You do it with crush notes or with tonal clusters if you want to go full Monk.     Guitars bend strings. We can’t.   I think this is why actual Blues players like Steve, Jim, and myself posted the things we did.  
 

With the Hammond we up it even more with palm smears. LOL.