The blues scale is one of the first guitar scales we explore on the guitar when learning how to solo. The scale is used in many different styles of music, such as rock, blues, and jazz. There are 2 kinds of blues scales: the minor blues scale and the major blues scale.
The blues scale can be heard in legendary solos from players such as Wes Montgomery, Kenny Burrell, George Benson, and many more.
Because of this, this scale is essential learning for anyone studying jazz guitar and jazz guitar improvisation.
Both the minor and major blues scale are hexatonic, which means they contain 6 notes.
THE MINOR BLUES SCALE
The minor blues scale is one of the most versatile scales that you can use in your guitar solos. It is fairly easy to finger on the guitar, fun to solo with and a great way to begin playing in a jazz guitar setting.
1. Minor Blues Scale Construction
To begin, let’s look at the interval structure of the minor blues scale.
The minor blues scale is related to the natural minor scale and the minor pentatonic scale.
The natural minor scale (aka Aeolian scale) has 7 notes. The minor pentatonic scale consists of 5 of these notes (1, b3, 4, 5 and b7).
You can also think of the minor blues scale as a minor pentatonic scale with an added b5 note. This added note is often referred to as the blue note. This blue note characterizes the minor blues scale and sounds very bluesy when applied to your jazz guitar soloing lines.
Minor blues scale = minor pentatonic scale + blue note b5
2. How to Use the Minor Blues Scale?
Since the minor blues scale is built by adding one note to the minor pentatonic scale, you can use this scale to solo over similar harmonies as the minor pentatonic scale.
Here is a list of chords that you can apply the minor blues scale to:
Major triads
Major 7th chords
Dominant 7th chords
Minor triads
Minor 7th chords
As you can see, the minor blues scale is a very versatile scale.
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Source : https://www.jazzguitar.be/