The Blues Scales
The Second Position Blues Scale
Although the details concerning the origin of the Blues Scale are uncertain, it is derived from the Afro-American musical tradition of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and forms the tonal basis for all Blues music, and much rock and jazz music.
As you already know, Blues Scales are most often played in Second or Cross Position, as discussed in Lesson Eight. This means that our C harmonica will most easily produce a Blues Scale" in the key of G. Playing the sequence of notes described in the section below on any particular key harmonica will always produce a Second Position or cross Blues Scale in the key indicated by the following chart.
Notice the one half step bends on the notes 3i and 4i, which you will probably not be able to obtain until you have read the lessons following this one, and devoted a great deal of practice time to them.
If you cannot bend yet, substitute these notes for a somewhat lack-lustre version of a Blues Scale.
Using Parts of the Blues Scale
The bendless Blues Scale, above, is less than exhilarating. But even without bends, notes chosen from the second position Blues Scale can be used to good effect.
In the following twelve bar rock verse, the 6e 5i 4i notes are used as short "fills", or deviations from the basic rhythm, to enliven the end of each two bar line.
Certain Blues Scale notes can be obtained in the lower end of the harmonica, and a Blues Scale with octave substitutions (see page 97) played. Note the two half step bend on the 2i note. The 2i, 2i bent, and 1i notes can be combined to form many classic blues and rock riffs, as demonstrated in riff 11, below.
As this Blues Scale requires only a single bent note, it may be easier to play at first than the second position Blues Scale, although arguably less versatile, and definitely less often used. If you have been playing the Dorian Scale songs from Lesson Nineteen, you will find this quite familiar. As with the Dorian Scale, it may be easier to play from high end to low, since this allows you to play the 6i without bending, and then the 6i bent note. A lower version is available as well, but requires extremely advanced bending techniques.
The only complete first position Blues Scale can be found in the high reaches of the harmonica, and requires very advanced bending on the exhaled notes. Once again, playing this scale, when you begin to be able to do so after long practice with the high exhaled bends, may be easier from its high end to its low end.
An incomplete but sometimes used lower first position Blues Scale may be played if the note 2e is substituted for the actual note, which would require the 2e bent down one half step, an almost impossible feat. Blues Verse 13 will demonstrate the use of some of these notes, as do Riffs 13 and 17.
