Blues frets or what determines the mood of the blues

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-02 10:52

History tells that the blues originated among African Americans in the United States and had a great influence on the development of music in the future. The blues was the origin of styles such as jazz and rock and roll, which also served as sources for many other popular genres. In this article, we will analyze how the unique "magic" of the blues is arranged, which makes it recognizable and atmospheric.

A few words about frets

Surely every person who has an idea about the blues noticed that this genre has a special mood that brings sadness. This is due to the fact that to write the blues, musicians use a special scale that differs from the natural major and minor that are familiar to the ear. This scale is called the blues scale.

Japanese and Indian music is an example. The sound is noticeably different, often a person can easily distinguish one from the other. Another example: in the overflow of melodies in the doubly harmonic major mode, people hear shades of "gypsy" music. And the presence of a whole-tone scale with its conflict adds to the composition of anxiety, frightening uncertainty. Therefore, the frets really allow you to give the music a certain flavor. The same principles apply to the blues. Interestingly, the blues is the only genre that a fret is named after.

Usually the harmonic component of the blues is not very complex and varied. It is based on a blues square, which is repeated, as is often the case, throughout the song. The melancholy mood of this genre is given, in turn, by melodic lines.

Major and minor pentatonic scales

Before talking about the blues scales, we should introduce the concept of minor and major pentatonic scales and clearly fix them in practice.

You can say that the minor pentatonic scale is a scale that is built by removing the II and VI steps from the scale of the natural minor (Aeolian mode) or according to the scheme "1.5 tones, tone, tone, 1.5 tones, tone".

For example, the minor pentatonic scale from the note La - A C D E G A (La Do Re Mi Sol La).

Major pentatonic - scale, which is a natural major (Ionian mode) without IV and VII degrees. Scheme - "tone, tone, 1.5 tone, tone, 1.5 tone".

Major Pentatonic from C - C D E G A C (Do Re Mi Sol La Do).

Thus, having learned the structure of the minor and major pentatonic scales, you can already start improvising or playing a lot of songs. Pentatonic scales are especially popular among guitarists. The main genres in which the elements described above are most common are blues and jazz, but even in modern popular music you can find parts with pentatonicgamma. For example, many improvisational sketches and parts in the songs of lead guitarist Kirk Hammett from Metallica contain many pentatonic phrases. Also, the active use of the pentatonic scale is inherent in the Deep Purple group. This type of scales was not spared by pop music, for example, the melodic line of the song Adele - Rolling in the Deep. Pentatonic structures can be found in Japanese or Chinese music, while the composition will have its own "Asian" flavor.

However, the blues is not always limited to one pentatonic scale. Even if this is the case, the characteristic color and mood of the sound will be missing to the extent that they can be given by the blues mode.

Frame structure

Building a blues scale is actually not that difficult. You just need to add a lowered fifth (or raised fourth) degree of a minor scale to the minor pentatonic scale. You can come to the blues mode through the following intervals, tuned from the tonic: minor third, pure fourth, augmented fourth, pure fifth, minor seventh, pure octave (1.5 tones, 2.5 tones, 3 tones, 3.5 tones, 5 tones, 6 tones).

Without departing from the minor pentatonic scale from A, let's build such a mode. It looks like this (notes A C D E_{b E G A - La Do Re E flat Mi Sol La).}

Twelve blues scales

Do you seriously want to be able to improvise in the blues style? Then you need to know how the blues scale is built on the piano, guitar or any other musical instrument from any note. This will help younext material.

The photo shows a blues scale built from each of the twelve notes.

On the guitar

One of the most satisfying things about the blues is improvisational guitar solos. Of course, it is important for a guitarist not only to know the notes, but also to have developed technical parameters. At a minimum, these are neat, accurate bends and vibrato. Without these elements, the solo will seem monotonous and quickly get bored. However, you can take a step towards flawless blues improvisations by learning the positions (boxes) for the guitar.

Knowing the location of the notes on the fretboard and the notes of the desired fret, you can easily build any fret yourself. Here are some examples below.

Position 1 - blues fret from the note La on the fourth string. It looks like this.

Position 2 - blues fret from the note A on the fifth string. Familiar to every guitarist.

Position 3 - blues fret from A on the sixth string.

To get a fret from a different note, simply move the structure by the desired number of semitones. Let's say to get a blues scale from D, transpose position 3 (or any other) 2.5 steps to the right on the fretboard.

Practice improvisation

It's no secret that even improvisation requires preparation. You can record blues square chords and a simple drum part yourself if you have the equipment forrecords and know how to use any sequencer. This is quite enough to hone your skills. Train your skills, strive for excellence. Good luck!