Learning how to play all the scales on the piano is a great way to improve your overall piano playing. In relation to the major scale the notes of the blues scale are. The scales are used often for composing melodies and for improvisation. There are a total of 430 finger exercises in this book. The mixolydian scales are very easy to learn as you can see by comparing them with the major scales. Minor scales cheat sheet harmonic minor raise the 7 th scale degree melodic minor raise the 6 th and 7 th scale degree ascending, revert to. Is there something similar for the minor and major blues scales. First it is important to realize that we can only use the major pentatonic scale when soloing over a major blues which means we are. Performance tips for this blues scale position there is no correct way to finger this scale pattern, but experimental guitarists might want to play with combinations of the third and fourth frets of the 5th string and the open 4th string to come up with some interesting riffs. Since the key of g appears on the circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key. Major and natural minor scales are the building blocks of learning to play the piano.
Blues scales blues is an irresistible tonality for a guitar player. Make sure you click on each sound file to hear the lick played. This will help you learn how to play melodies and build chords on a piano within the key of g blues. E this chart highlights the keys of g blues scale on piano. At this point in our study of the blues, now its time to introduce the blues scale. Download our free pdf versions of each scale with fingering. Play the g major scale on the piano by comparing to the c major scale how to. How to play a g minor pentatonic scale on piano youtube. Key signature designates f major key signature, but it is f minor blues. Combining minor and major pentatonic scales guitarhabits. The pentatonic scale is a great scale for improvising and soloing. Print and download in pdf or midi stairway to heaven ole. When playing a twelve bar blues in the key of bb, use the bb blues scale anywhere in the chord. Because of this, if you search for diatonic scale fingerings, 99% of the time youll find the exact same fingerings everywhere.
There are other types of scales that advanced piano students may wish to study, including harmonic and melodic in harmonic minor scales, the seventh scale degree note is raised by just a. The major pentatonic scale is the easiest and most effective scale to play over a major key and delivers an uplifting blues country sound. If you hear someone mention that a piano sonata by the composer and pianist franz schubert is played in a major, it means that it depends on the a scale. This is the hardest part about learning to use the major blues scale. The solution below shows the gb blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef since the key of gb appears on the circle of fifths diagram as a major key, lesson 3 explains how to construct the blues scale based on the major scale, for this key for a quick summary of this topic, have a look at blues scale. Lets learn the blues scales on piano and keyboard in every key. For many students, when starting out with blues improvisation, its very easy to get locked inside the notes of the blues scale and never deviate away from 6 tones. These charts highlight the notes and chords of g blues scale. Each scale is provided as a separate pdf download with finger numbers above each note. And it is not hard to discover the reason why everybody uses and abuses of this scale.
This sassy scale will enable you to riff, solo and improvise as you play your favorite rock or blues songs. The harmony of blues music is not usually sophisticated. What fingerings are used for the minor and major blues scales. A blues notes and chord tabs diagrams music motivated. The pentatonics are fun 5 note scales that are essential to blues and country music. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c eb f gb g bb c. G major scale is the 2nd scale of all 12 major scales. The difference between c major and c mixolydian is only one note, the seventh. G major blues scale banjo banjo, pentatonic scale, blues. A blues scale consists of 6 different notes, namely the root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 5th and flat 7th of the major scale. To play the blues is a fascinating undertaking because it can be both simplistic and yet intangibly tricky to. The exercises in this book use the major scale, pentatonic scale, blues scale, and chromatic scale. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale and therefore we start with minor and you find the major by scrolling down. Playing the blues often comes down to a straight forward chord progression, which anyone can learn and play on the piano within minutes.
Learn all 5 patterns of the g pentatonic blues scale and learnitar. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale, and. Eight blues exercises in f minor explores various uses of the f minor blues scale. These make great handouts for piano teachers to use with students. That means first make sure you can play the g minor sound either using box 1 with the 1st finger or box 5 with the 3rd finger. These scales are for obvious reason perfect when playing blues on the piano. G pentatonic blues scale free pentatonic blues scales. The scale is made up of the notes a, c, d, e sharp, e, g, and a. Watch the free video lesson, then download the printable pdf sheet music to playalong with at your piano. The chords used are basically major triads and dominant seventh chords and although minor, extended, and.
Adding a blue note to the regular pentatonic scale result in the pentatonic blues scale. You may also notice that g mixolydian relates to the scale c major scale. When you play the minor pentatonic scale, you may notice that it sounds a bit bluesy. If youre new to the 12 bar blues piano chord progression then check out this video. The pentatonic blues scale is a great tool for blues guitar and rock guitar soloing and improvising. The slow blues in g jam track for solo 4 is a good one to practice on because its slow and the changes dont happen that fast. Kathryn carpenter blues exercises piano blues exercises in c position focus on c,f,g minor blues blues scales starting on c, f, and g. Some decades before, some musicians use to earn millions just playing this scale. Often new players are drawn to the instrument because of a desire to play the blues. Blues scale lesson, blues scale in all keys by michael. The scale is widely used in pop, classic rock, blues, country and other styles of music. The 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at lesson 3. The pentatonic scale pentatonic scales have only five notes penta means five.
This step assigns note names to the major scale note positions identified in the previous step. Of course, just playing over the 3 basic blues chords is just scratching the. The solution below shows the g blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef. This video shows a musicians hands as he explains and demonstrates how to play the c minor blues scale. Here were talking specifically about over what chords we could use this scale. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c. For right hand fingering, start on the a with your thumb. Then make sure you can play the g major blues sound. My interactive pentatonic scales chart for piano shows fingering diagrams for both pentatonic major and pentatonic minor scales.
These are the four most common scales in pop and rock music. Piano pentatonic blues scales overview with pictures. Use this piano lesson to learn how to play the g blues scale. If you dont want notes, here are picture scales with all the major scales plus fingering for each hand. Learn how to play the g blues scale on the piano piano scale. This is because this scale is really the blues scale with one note missing. The fingerings of the major blues scale resemble fingerings that you may already know for the minor blues scale but starting on different notes. The guitar major scale is happy upbeat and useful in a variety of styles of music. Blues piano scales, chords, and chord progressions for. How to play the c minor blues scale on the piano piano. If you want to learn how to play the the blues scale on piano youve come to the. Now lets combine the notes of the minor pentatonic and major pentatonic scale and create some soloing ideas. Play diatonic circle chord progressions on the piano with i will survive. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale, and therefore we start with minor and you will find the major by scrolling down.
These scales are for obvious reasons perfect when playing blues on the piano. Heres a free sheet i give to all my students after they learn their major scales. Below are diagrams of a blues notes mapped out on a piano, guitar, bass, ukulele, banjo, mandolin, tres, violin, viola, cello and upright bass. The flat third, flat fifth and flat seventh notes of the scale are the blue notes of the. To hear each pattern check out the g pentatonic blues scale tab page coming soon. On this page there are easy to follow tabs along with audio at three different speeds. The major blues scale is some less common than the minor blues scale, and therefore we start. Tim wrote the well known exploring jazz piano and improvising blues piano books and has several others to his name. Watch the free video lesson, then download the printable pdf sheet music to playalong with at. For example, in an a minor blues scale, the added note would be d sharp. Some of the most famous blues, boogie and rock n roll songs use this simple chord technique artists like jerry lee lewis, little richard, ray charles and fats domino would use these chords in a lot of their legendary songs. Its just a sheet with all the 12 blues scales on it.
You can also play a 1 octave g major scale starting from the open g string, as shown in the tab below. We provide downloads for common scales including major, the three minor scales natural, harmonic, and melodic, the blues scale, and others. Sep 25, 2014 easy way to learn to play g blues scale on a banjo using our fretboard charts. You could play these licks over a iivv blues progression where a7 is the i. G major blues scale charts for piano music motivated. The blues scale is so important for anyone who wants to play the blues. The 14 most common and usable guitar scales printable and ready to use 1.