Blue Notes
Up to this point, all of the sounds you have learned have come from the major scale. There are several other sounds used in Country music to add interest to the sound. The most common additional notes are the b3, b5 and b7 of the key. These notes are often called blue notes. All three of these notes can be found in the Blues scale which is shown here.
It is worth comparing the notes of the Blues scale with those of the major scale. Here are the notes of both scales.
Notice that the Blues scale contains both the flat 5 and the natural 5. It does not contain the degrees 2 or 6. Altogether the Blues scale contains six different notes, whereas the major scale contains seven different notes. The major scale used by itself does not sound very bluesy. However, in many styles of music, melodies often contain notes from both of these scales. Listen carefully as you play the following example to hear the difference between them.
