Description
Using the Blues Scale-Part 1. I always tell my students that all they need to know to get a gig is their blues scales. They always think I’m joking and that there is no way it can be that easy but the truth is that 90-95% of today’s songs are in one key. The band vamps and plays the same groove and key for the whole song. The person that can stand up and play an authortative solo using the blues scale is the one who will get the gig.  Unfortunately, most of the young players today don’t really know their blues scales like they should. Sure, they all say that they do but then when I have them play a solo using one it is usually dead, lifeless and uncreative. The problem is that most young people today are given advice to use a blues scale on this solo or that solo but then no one ever shows them how to use it. They are just given the scale and told to improvise.
In this lesson I take on the job of showing you exactly how to use each note of the blues scale over major,minor and dominant grooves. In Part 1, I talk in depth about how to use the blues scale over dominant chords and major 7th chords.  I teach about each individual note of the scale and how it relates to the chord behind it. I also talk in depth about what I feel are the tendencies of each note and tactics that I use when playing the blues scale over static backgrounds and chords. Part 1 is mainly focused on using the A blues scale over a C7 chord as well as the added notes of Bb and F. I demonstrate all of these sounds on the tenor sax with a background track playing behind me so you can hear how these ideas sound to the music. Listen to these 3 lesson on the blues scale, practice like crazy and I’ll see you out there on a gig one of these days! Enjoy! (31 minute video lesson)
Sam K (verified owner) –
I really enjoyed your lesson on the blues. I have never heard of using the 6th degree blues over the 1st degree blues. Ex: E over G blues. It is smoother sounding and when using the combination of both blues scales, it has given me so much more flexibility, ideas, and options while soloing over the blues changes. Over time I would like to purchase your entire collection!
Thanks a million!!
Anar (verified owner) –
This single lesson has improved my playing more than anything I have ever learned. I feel like I’ve had a revelation. I was shown the blues scale years ago but now I feel like I can actually hear it and know how to use it in soloing. Steve does a fantastic job of breaking down every note of the blues scale and explaining the character of each tone and based on this how to use each tone to good effect in solos. To my amazement, all of a sudden I can play lines which sound good! I have had several teachers, but none have taken this approach to explaining the blues, and I cannot understand why. I fully recommend this lesson to anyone who’d like to learn to play the blues!
James (verified owner) –
I am trying to broaden my blues vocabulary so that I have more ideas to draw from on jazz blues and r&b tunes. This lesson, the first video lesson I bought, was extremely clear and helpful, and will forever change the way I play music. Steve dissects the scale note by note, and provides a handy cheat sheet with blues scales written out in every key. After this lesson I spent the next two hours digging into All Blues, Blue Monk, and Cousin Mary and could feel all kinds of new melodic paths through the scale.