Blue Notes
In many styles of 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 Beginner Piano) Here once again are the notes of the C major scale.
The most common alterations used in Funk 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 is Eb in the key of C
Notice how the alternation between the E natural (3) and the Eb (b3) immediately makes the music sound more "bluesy". Notice the use of the same finger on consecutive notes in this example. This type of fingering is important to develop even though it may seem strange at first. This is preparation for sliding a finger off a black key onto a white key, which becomes essential for many bluesy effects. In many cases, the fingering will change depending on the context.
Here is a full 12 Bar Blues making use of the b3 note. Notice once again the use of the second finger on both the E flat and the E natural. The other two Blues notes (b5 and b7) occur in the left hand part of this example.
