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Blues Patterns? How many?

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(@metallifan)
Estimable Member
Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 70
Topic starter  

Using the intervals how many bass formats are there i.e. I-V-VII

how many different blues types are there?

Also, if you take the major scale on bass and then play a walking bass pattern using R, 3, 5, 6, 7b, R and then play it back on its self. Is this a blues riff or would it be classes asa boogie riff?

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(@steve-0)
Noble Member
Joined: 20 years ago
Posts: 1162
 

To be completely honest I don't know what you are trying to ask. The Blues scale is a major scale with added flatted 3rds, 5ths and 7ths. Some blues scales can only have extra flatted 7ths, sometimes they have only extra 7ths and extra 3rds, etc. Therefor a C major scale with all those flatted notes would look like this: C D Eb E F Gb G A Bb B C. Generally a "blues scale" is played on the relative minor, since blues is generally all about mixing a minor key solo over a major progression.

To answer your last question, since the riff was a walking riff over a major key riff, also considering that the walking riff contains a flatted 7th, I would say that it is a blues riff. I can't guarantee it though because i don't know alot about boogie riffs.

Steve-0


   
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(@noteboat)
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Joined: 21 years ago
Posts: 4921
 

Steve-o, you might be confusing 'blue notes' with the blues scale. The blues scale is a six note scale, rather than the ten you show - the pattern is 1-b3-4-b5-5-b7, so it's basically a pentatonic minor scale with the b5 added.

Metallifan, there are LOTS of types of blues, depending on how you break down the evolution of the style. The common denominators are: I-IV-V chord progression, the use of the blues scale, and the use of 'swing eighths' or 'broken triplets' as a rhythm to give it a 12/8 feel.

With that as a starting point, you can divide the blues a bunch of different ways.

By type of key: Major blues / Minor blues

By region of origin:

Delta Blues (Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Sonny Boy Williamson, etc.), originating in the Mississippi delta region

Chicago Blues (Buddy Guy, Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Willie Dixon, etc.), originating on the South side of Chicago

Texas Blues (Albert Collins, Freddie King, T-Bone Walker, etc.)

By fusion with other styles:

Country Blues (Carl Perkins, Doc Watson, some Merle Haggard and Hank Williams tunes, etc)

Rock Blues (Carlos Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Winter, Mike Bloomfield, Roy Buchannan, etc.)

Jazz Blues (Kenny Burrell, George Benson, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, etc.)

Swing Blues (Brian Setzer, Erskine Hawkins, etc.)

You can keep on going along these main lines, and subdivide things as you wish. Each style has some slight differences to others - use of I-IV-I instead of just the I chord in the first four bars, use of extended chords, the types of motions used in the turnarounds, and son on - but styles borrow from each other a great deal. It's easier to talk about similarities than differences; virtually all styles are closely related.

"Boogie" is a style (originally a style of piano playing) that came about in the early 1900s, and probably takes its name from the tune "Pinetop's Boogie-Woogie" by Pinetop Smith. It's characterized by a repeating bass pattern in eighth notes at a quick tempo, rather than a particular scale or progression, so you'll find boogie tunes in rock, swing, blues, and jazz. So... your pattern could be boogie, or it might not be - it depends on how you play it.

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