Blue Notes
You may have noticed that although the chord pattern is familiar, the exercises don’t really sound like the Blues yet. This is because in Blues music there are notes used which come from outside the key. The major scale of the key of C contains all of the notes natural to that key.
However, by using accidentals it is possible to alter the notes of the scale. An accidental is a temporary alteration to the pitch of a note. An accidental may be indicated by a sharp, a flat or a natural sign. (See Progressive Keyboard Technique ). Here once again are the notes of the C major scale.
The most common alterations used in Blues are the flattened third ( b3), the flattened fifth ( b5) and the flattened seventh ( b7). These are called Blue notes, or Blues notes. The first Blue note we will examine is the b3 which in the key of C is Eb.
Notice how the alternation between the E natural (3) and the Eb ( b3) immediately makes the music sound more "bluesy".
Here is a full 12 bar Blues making use of the b3 note.
