Guitar Blues Technique

Minor Pentatonic Scales

A pentatonic scale is a scale that contains only five notes, and are quite popular in western music.

You could say they derive from major or minor scales. If you have a major (or minor) scale that have seven notes, and take out two notes, you'll get a five-note scale.

Let's take a look at minor pentatonics:

Let's say we have the A minor (aeolyan) scale, which is: A - B - C - D - E - F - G.

E|--------------------------------------------------------------7---8--10--|

B|--------------------------------------------------6--8--10---------------|

G|--------------------------------------5--7--9----------------------------|

D|-------------------------5---7---9---------------------------------------|

A|---------------5---7--8--------------------------------------------------|

e|--5----7---8-------------------------------------------------------------|

If we take out the second and sixth notes, we get:

A - C - D - E - G, which happens to be the A minor pentatonic scale.

E|-------------------------------------------------------5-----8-----------|

B|---------------------------------------------5----8----------------------|

G|----------------------------------5----7---------------------------------|

D|-----------------------5----7--------------------------------------------|

A|------------5----7-------------------------------------------------------|

e|--5----8-----------------------------------------------------------------|

Go up and down A minor scale, and then move on to A minor pentatonic scale? Hear the difference? 

As an exercice, play both A minor and A minor pentatonic scale across the fretboard (you already know the notes!)

Once you've done this, let's move forwards.

Da blue note: this is nothing more than the flattened fifth degree. Play now A minor pentatonic scale, but add bE now (Let's not say d#, so as not to repeat note's names. A minor pentatonic with the bluw note added - or 'A Blue Scale' - is: A - C - D - Eb - E - G).

E|---------------------------------------------------------5-----8-----------|

B|-----------------------------------------------5----8----------------------|

G|----------------------------------5----7---8-------------------------------|

D|------------------------5----7---------------------------------------------|

A|------------5---6---7------------------------------------------------------|

e|--5----8-------------------------------------------------------------------|

 Improvise blues.

I want you to take your time and listen to great bluesman guitar players, like B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Blues is all about playing very brief but emotional-filled phrases, and then stop. It's about playing and stops. Say what you have to say and shut up. Silence is a key part in a blues motive.

I highly recommend to record yourself playing a twelve-bar blues progressions. Blues progressions are basically made from seventh chords in a shuffle feel: I7 - IV7 - V7 is an easy sequence. I'm sorry, but you are on your own here, I'm going to supose you know what a twelve-bar blues progression, since you can find examples without any difficulty on the web.

Above your recordings, play this licks and use them on your improvisations.

Pattern n1

E|------------------------------------|

B|---------------------5-------5------|

G|-----------5----7b9----7b9----------|

D|------7-----------------------------|

A|------------------------------------|

e|------------------------------------|

Pattern n2

E|--8---5--------8---------------------------------------------------------|

B|----------8--------8-----5--------8-----5--------5-----------------------|

G|--------------------------------------------7---------7-----5------------|

D|-----------------------------------------------------------------7h5h7---|

A|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

e|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Pattern n9

E|--8-----------------8------------------|

B|--------8h5---------------8h5----------|

G|-------------7b8----------------7b8----|

D|---------------------------------------|

A|---------------------------------------|

e|---------------------------------------|

B.B. king uses this minor 'little scale' a lot (this one is in A position):

[10] is the root note here, A note.

E|-------------------------10---12-------|

B|--------------[10]--12-----------------|

G|----9---11-----------------------------|

D|---------------------------------------|

A|---------------------------------------|

e|---------------------------------------|

Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. It generally derives from observation of how musicians and composers make music, but includes hypothetical speculation. Most commonly, the term describes the academic study and analysis of fundamental elements of music such as pitch, rhythm, harmony, and form, but also refers to descriptions, concepts, or beliefs related to music. Because of the ever-expanding conception of what constitutes music (see Definition of music), a more inclusive definition could be that music theory is the consideration of any sonic phenomena, including silence, as it relates to music.

Music theory is a subfield of musicology, which is itself a subfield within the overarching field of the arts and humanities. Etymologically, music theory is an act of contemplation of music, from the Greek θεωρία, a looking at, viewing, contemplation, speculation, theory, also a sight, a spectacle.[1] As such, it is often concerned with abstract musical aspects such as tuning and tonal systems, scales, consonance and dissonace, and rhythmic relationships, but there is also a body of theory concerning such practical aspects as the creation or the performance of music, orchestration, ornamentation, improvisation, and electronic sound production. A person working in music theory is a music theorist. Methods of analysis include mathematics, graphic analysis, and, especially, analysis enabled by Western music notation. Comparative, descriptive, statistical, and other methods are also used.

The development, preservation, and transmission of music theory may be found in oral and practical music-making traditions, musical instruments, and other artifacts. For example, ancient instruments from Mesopotamia, China, and prehistoric sites around the world reveal details about the music they produced and, potentially, something of the musical theory that might have been used by their makers (see History of music and Musical instrument). In ancient and living cultures around the world, the deep and long roots of music theory are clearly visible in instruments, oral traditions, and current music making. Many cultures, at least as far back as ancient Mesopotamia, Pharoanic Egypt, and ancient China have also considered music theory in more formal ways such as written treatises and music notation.Pitch is the lowness or highness of a tone, for example the difference between middle C and a higher C. The frequency of the sound waves producing a pitch can be measured precisely, but the perception of pitch is more complex because we rarely hear a single frequency or pure pitch. In music, tones, even those sounded by solo instruments or voices, are usually a complex combination of frequencies, and therefore a mix of pitches. Accordingly, theorists often describe pitch as a subjective sensation.

Most people appear to possess relative pitch, which means they perceive each note relative to some reference pitch, or as some interval from the previous pitch. Significantly fewer people demonstrate absolute pitch (or perfect pitch), the ability to identify pitches without comparison to another pitch. Human perception of pitch can be comprehensively fooled to create auditory illusions. Despite these perceptual oddities, perceived pitch is nearly always closely connected with the fundamental frequency of a note, with a lesser connection to sound pressure level, harmonic content (complexity) of the sound, and to the immediately preceding history of notes heard. In general, the higher the frequency of vibration, the higher the perceived pitch. The lower the frequency, the lower the pitch. However, even for tones of equal intensity, perceived pitch and measured frequency do not stand in a simple linear relationship.

Intensity (loudness) can change perception of pitch. Below about 1000 Hz, perceived pitch gets lower as intensity increases. Between 1000 and 2000 Hz, pitch remains fairly constant. Above 2000 Hz, pitch rises with intensity. This is due to the ear's natural sensitivity to higher pitched sound, as well as the ear's particular sensitivity to sound around the 2000–5000 Hz interval, the frequency range most of the human voice occupies.

The difference in frequency between two pitches is called an interval. The most basic interval is the unison, which is simply two notes of the same pitch, followed by the slightly more complex octave: pitches that are either double or half the frequency of the other. The unique characteristics of octaves gave rise to the concept of what is called pitch class, an important aspect of music theory. Pitches of the same letter name that occur in different octaves may be grouped into a single "class" by ignoring the difference in octave. For example, a high C and a low C are members of the same pitch class—the class that contains all C's. The concept of pitch class greatly aids aspects of analysis and composition.

Although pitch can be identified by specific frequency, the letter names assigned to pitches are somewhat arbitrary. For example, today most orchestras assign Concert A (the A above middle C on the piano) to the specific frequency of 440 Hz, rather than, for instance, 435HZ as it was in France in 1859. In England, that A varied between 439 and 452. These differences can have a noticeable effect on the timbre of instruments and other phenomena. Many cultures do not attempt to standardize pitch, often considering that it should be allowed to vary depending on genre, style, mood, etc. In historically informed performance of older music, tuning is often set to match the tuning used in the period when it was written. A frequency of 440 Hz was recommended as the standard pitch for Concert A in 1939, and in 1955 the International Organization for Standardization affirmed the choice. A440 is now widely, though not exclusively, the standard for music around the world.

Pitch is also an important consideration in tuning systems, or temperament, used to determine the intervallic distance between tones, as within a scale. Tuning systems vary widely within and between world cultures. In Western culture, there have long been several competing tuning systems, all with different qualities. Internationally, the system known as equal temperament is most commonly used today because it is considered the most satisfactory compromise that allows instruments of fixed tuning (e.g. the piano) to sound acceptably in tune in all keys.