Try to not spend more than about 20% of your practice time for scale practice. There are a total of 430 finger exercises in this book. After the pentatonic minor scale and major scale, the blues scale is probably the most widelyused scale in guitar improvisation. The complete book of scales, chords, arpeggios and. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c. Each scale has proper fingering, the triads, the cadences and the arpeggios in three positions as well as the dominant 7th arpeggios in 4 positions. Adding a blue note to the regular pentatonic scale result in the pentatonic blues scale. Then begin improvising on a major or minor blues structure, just using blues scale notes. The scales are used often for composing melodies and for improvisation. Jazz music midi files for exercises, jazz songs and blues. A nice combination are the chords am7, dm7 and e7 together with the a pentatonic blues scale. Blues music originated in the american deep south during the 1870s.
This sassy scale will enable you to riff, solo and improvise as you play. The music library contains playalong midi files for exercises and songs in my 4 current music books. Playing through the chords with rhythm now that we understand the three triad shapes per each chord, we want to practice playing them in time with the blues form. To finish, we will show the drawings of the blues scale in the whole guitar fretboard. Here are pictures and notes of the major pentatonic blues scales. Though it takes you longer to use this scale in your solos, the payoff is well worth it. The blues scale is introduced in sections 8 and 9 tonic and relative minor. Blues piano improvisation advice and tips play blues. Pentatonic scales are killer scales to play over blues and over iivv changes.
The only 3 chords you need to master the blues on piano. The blues scale is arguably the most essential touchstone of popular music. Starting with middle c on the pianos keyboard, a scale is eight notes, otherwise known as an octave. Despite its name, the blues scale is not only used in blues music. I got up to grade 45 and this is where my problem beings. Link to free printable guitar scales pdf file with all 5 positions of the guitar harmonic minor scale.
For example g flat majorf sharp major have the same notes played. Practice now your solos using the e blues scale in this backing track download the file. The idea is the same as we mentioned before to the. Gordon is he feels, one of his most important books because of the nature of the blues scale and how it is used to improvise in many styles of contemporary music. Ive met plenty of people whove told me that they cant improvise or play jazz, and while i know that some people have natural gifts, i also know that the. All the scales here are in one octave, but you can of course practice each piano scale in as many octaves and in any tempo you like. First published in 1873, the virtuoso pianist by charles louis. A model scale and its exercises are first presented, then the remaining scales are presented in counterclockwise circle of fifths order, so that you can practice transposing easily for all the exercises. Hanon piano exercises have been meticulously constructed to provide the optimum level of practice for pianists of all levels and abilities. My first book and my website have many examples of blues patterns to practice. The more that you practice these essential scales for jazz and blues piano players, the more comfortable that youll feel playing them and the more sounds that youll create. It might be called the easiest scale, as it contains no sharps or flats it consists of all white, otherwise known as natural, keys. This way, you can practice all the way around the circle of 5ths either in sharps order or flats order. This scale is a real rebel, practically throwing the rules of scale building out the window.
Lets learn the blues scales on piano and keyboard in every key. The mixodorian blues scale for blues soloing learn. Move up the scale finger by finger until you hit the e sharp with your fourth finger. Scale, chord, arpeggio and cadence studies in all major and minor keys presented in a convenient twopage format.
And it also gives the student numerous playalong tracks to practice with. You can, for example, combine c blues scale with c7, f7 and g7 chords. The musical genre has its roots in african and africanamerican musical traditions, as characterized by work songs, folk music, and. No matter what type of music you favor when you play the piano, youre likely to play the blues scale at some point.
Practice sessions give you stepbystep practice instructions and tips from mr. The blues scale, whether its major or minor, is one of the most widely used scales in modern music. Every scale determines a key,that is an harmonic combunation of tones based on that scale. Blues piano for beginners kindle edition by harrison, mark. This is a resource with free piano lessons and printable scale charts for beginners.
Link to page dedicated to the guitar harmonic minor scale. Easy blues piano practice play blues piano with willie. 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. A minor pentatonic scale 1st position 5th fret the pentatonic scale is about as straightforward a scale as you can get. Just the blues scale can be considered a basis for a particular key blues. The best way to get used to playing the blues is to have a go at improvising over the top of a 12 bar blues chord progression. For the last 8 months ive been focusing on playing different classical piano pieces.
During the past 43 years, many private teachers as well as high school and college teachers have made the. Hanon exercises 240 piano finger exercises in all keys. For the new chords basics book 1 1998 edition there. Because theyre probably the first scales you learned, you might have studied them for a bit, got the shapes under your fingers, and. The blues scale is so important for anyone who wants to play the blues. A model scale and its exercises are first presented, then the remaining scales are presented in counterclockwise circle of fifths order. What is the best piano scale book from beginner to advanced. A blues scale consists of 6 different notes, namely the root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 5th and flat 7th of the major scale.
Playing the blues scale on a piano no matter what type of music you favor when you play the piano, youre likely to play the blues scale at some point. Easy blues piano practice play blues piano with willie myette. Hoffman, plus access to sheet music, worksheets, and audio practice tracks corresponding to each video lesson. No portion of this book may be reproduced in any way wo express written permission.
In addition, you should of course practice scales with your left hand, but in that case, you use some other fingerings. Usually, we begin improvising on songs like blues in bb or f, satin doll, maiden voyage. These scales are for obvious reasons perfect when playing blues on the piano. This video illustrates a blues scale box pattern a fingerboard pattern and shows how you can move box patterns around the neck of the guitar. Many professionals use these recordings to warmup, keep in shape, practice new patterns or licks, or to learn new songs and improvise on the chord scale progressions. The solution below shows the c blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef since the key of c 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 the 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at lesson 3 the 2nd construction, using the minor pentatonic scale. When we combine all three scales, we get a scale that looks like this. On this page youll find blues scale guitar tab, patterns and notation that will allow you to play blues scales all over the guitar neck. For right hand fingering, start on the a with your thumb. You must learn and be able to play the blues scale if youre going to be a blues piano player. For the new chords basics book 1 1998 edition there is a special web page. In general it can be used on every chord but above all on min7 th and dominant 7th chord. A tip is to use the left hand for a chord and play notes from the scale with the right. Remember, to turn this combination of notes into a blues progression, simply play the same combination in the chords of c, f, and g.
Pianopig is an online platform for piano lessons in hd, covering scales, chords, soloing and more. It only includes five notes rather than the usual seven, so the construction or pattern of a pentatonic scale on your fret board is a lot simpler but with the pentatonic scale its not so much about the notes youre playingwell, of course, you still have. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c eb f gb g. Youve probably heard us say this many times before. This is the hardest part about learning to use the major blues scale. Minor and major blues scales are also the first scales that guitarists learn when exploring lead guitar. For instance, in the c blues scale the notes are c eb f gb g bb c.
Oct 19, 2016 blues piano improvisation the blues scale ok, ok one scale, then no more theory. Teachers can use this book as a textbook for teaching practice methods. Or, in the same way, the g blues scale with the chords g7, c7 and d7. Printable piano music scales in all major and harmonic minor keys.
Whenever you come across a scale and you want to know if you can use this scale over a certain chord or series of chords, its a great idea to compare the notes in the scale with the notes that are in the chords that are being played in the rhythm parts. Its such an essential tool of blues playing that you. Piano scales exercises practice scales with both hands. Piano pentatonic blues scales overview with pictures. The full series of exercises have a proven track record in improving technical skill, speed and precision stretching back well over a century. C major scale g major scale d major scale a major scale e major scale b major scale f major scale bb major scale eb major scale ab major scale db major scale gb major scale. What is the best piano scale book from beginner to. Free printable guitar scales 14 most commonly used scales.
Some players and musicologists argue that the blues scale has 6 notes. The complete book of scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences. Includes an indepth 12 page explanation that leads to complete understanding of the fundamentals of major and minor scales, chords, arpeggios and cadences plus a clear explanation of scale degrees and a twopage guide to fingering the scales and arpeggios. It can save you a lot of time, allowing you to concentrate on teaching music. I have no ambitionsreasons to do piano grades so my teacher is focusing on teaching me technique. Pattern 1st 2nd flattened 3rd 3rd 4th 5th 6th flattened 7th 7th. Blues music scales chart for jazz improvisation jazz theory. Practice isolating one chord change at a time, working with a simple rhythm like the one below. To get a quick taste of the blues buffet, a onebar example of an arpeggiated c major notes c, e, and g chord is shown below. Why learning more than one scale pattern is beneficial. Oct 07, 2019 the blues scale is a popular scale based on various scales and numbers of pitches. Read on for a complete blues scale guitar lesson the basic blues scale guitar pattern. Although its a good idea to practice playing scales every day as a warm up and technique routine, dont overdo it. These are the four most common scales in pop and rock music.
If you want to play jazz or blues on the guitar, you need to learn how to play the 6note blues scale. If you want to learn proper theory and technique then this is the piano book to get. The blues scale for guitar digital sheet music downloads. As one of the most widelyplayed scales in music, the blues scale has evolved to include multiple expressions.
Print and learn to play piano scales in major and minor as well as in other interesting modes, in the lessons below. It only includes five notes rather than the usual seven, so the construction or pattern of a pentatonic scale on your fret board is a lot simpler. Jazz music midi files for exercises, jazz songs and. Aug 12, 2019 on this page youll find blues scale guitar tab, patterns and notation that will allow you to play blues scales all over the guitar neck. The scale is made up of the notes a, c, d, e sharp, e, g, and a. Major and minor blues scales guitar tab and essential licks.
Obviously, just learning scales will not make you a great pianist. The exercises in this book use the major scale, pentatonic scale, blues scale, and chromatic scale. The c major scale is the scale that most who have studied the piano traditionally learn first. To analyze this were going to spell out the notes in the a minor. They just ooze that minor bluesy vibe or sweet major vibe. This book does give you all the scales in the circle of fifths, as well as the relative minor scale for each key as well. As well, major and minor blues scales are used in different ways in a lead guitar situation. If it is for technique, you dont need a book, you need a knowledgeable teacher to show you how to move properly. The complete book goes more into detail about how to build a scale and is much more indepth than this book. Many musicians especially keyboard and guitar players say that they have spent more time practicing. If you make a purchase via a link on this site, i may receive a small commission on the transaction at no added cost to you. This scale is much used above all in blues,pop,jazz,soul,funk,rhythm and blues,rock. The cool, swing, chicken picken, jump blues sound that this scale produces makes a solid addition to the repertoire of any modern guitarist.
The blues scale is one of the most exciting scales to practice. Link to guitar pro file of tab for the guitar harmonic minor scale. Download our free pdf versions of each scale with fingering. You can hear it in rock, country, jazz, and of course. Jun 22, 2016 a minor pentatonic scale 1st position 5th fret the pentatonic scale is about as straightforward a scale as you can get. Discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1, 2, or 3 months new customers receive 15% off your. A big jazz musician wrote a sentence in his book and he was particularly struck by it when i was eighteen and it simply said that blues is the soul of jazz. Blues piano improvisation the blues scale ok, ok one scale, then no more theory. Watch this free video piano lesson and youll learn how to play the blues scale easily in any key. Learn how to play the a blues scale on piano free video. It covers modal scales and exercises from brightest to darkest, melodic minor modal scales,whole tone scale, diminished scales, pentatonic and blues scales. The fingerings of the major blues scale resemble fingerings that you may already know for the minor blues scale but starting on different notes.