Where can i find some great blues scales.

Young Angus

Kometose Tonologist
I want to get more into blues improv, perhaps to start some sort of blues band or something simple like that.

Where can i find some really good bluesy scales online (if there is good stuff online)?
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

The blues scale is based on the pentonic Major/minor scale. Also called
the Blues box. Should be plenty of info on these scale's (check the vault)
Gunner posted some guitar theory there. Most important in playing
blues is work on your phraseing and vibroto. :)
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Young Angus said:
I want to get more into blues improv, perhaps to start some sort of blues band or something simple like that.

Where can i find some really good bluesy scales online (if there is good stuff online)?
Hey Young angus, PM me, I've got a scale program that it great, even prints them out for you, in multiple tunings, and positions ... Later.
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Go to used bookstore or do online search for book Blues guitar Bible that should get you started just fine.
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

No way can you learn to play the blues by practicing scales! Instead, just pick up Live At the Regal by BB King and Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King...and some best of BB King, Albert King and Freddie King albums or CD's. Just play along with those recordings until you cop the feel and the notes.

The Blues is not about scales....trust me. It's about phrasing, taste and feel. Robben Ford has a couple of good videos if you want to get into some jazzy/blues stuff...but I guarantee you Robben learned from listening to those CD's I recommended. And a healthy dose of Mike Bloomfield on Paul Butterfield's first two albums...also rcommended.

Lew
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Here's a decent place to start: http://www.12bar.de/soloscal.htm

There's good stuff here, too: http://www.richardlloyd.com/lessons/

Good luck and have fun! Once you see where your fingers need to go to play the basic boxes, you will be able to pick stuff up from records pretty easily. Then you'll be amazed at how the really great, unique players make so much magic with so few notes. Have fun!
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Old seventies dude said:
Go to used bookstore or do online search for book Blues guitar Bible that should get you started just fine.
If that's the one by *Ratso*, I've got it, nice book ... nice approach; very clear cut, and a good span of knowledge,exercises, and application ... :fing2:
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Oh i can already improv to blues reasonably well and i think i have a good bit of the feeling of blues down, i just wanted to expand this a bit with some bluesy chord progressions i could also incorporate into my improv (because at the moment its just notes and licks, not many chords and triads and stuff)...but im learning ;)

Thanks guys for that :D
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Lewguitar said:
No way can you learn to play the blues by practicing scales! Instead, just pick up Live At the Regal by BB King and Born Under A Bad Sign by Albert King...and some best of BB King, Albert King and Freddie King albums or CD's.
The Blues is not about scales....trust me. It's about phrasing, taste and feel.
Lew

The blues is also about soul, what you're feeling inside and getting it out through your music. It's like a testamonial you're giving to the world about what's right or wrong about what's going on in your life, or in the world around you.
At least that's how I feel about The Blues. I love 'em.
I never read a book on how to play 'em, I just listened a lot of the classics, took some of those influences, and ran with it.

-Bob
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Young Angus said:
i just wanted to expand this a bit with some bluesy chord progressions i could also incorporate into my improv (because at the moment its just notes and licks, not many chords and triads and stuff)...

Get the Blues Bible by Ratso ...it's covers exactly what you are looking for, it starts off simple, but don't let that through you.
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Learn the dorian mode, that works awsome with blues. kind of like a richmans blues scale. adds some extra notes in to. Gives you more of a complex sound
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

And remember to practise at the fullmoon...and HOWL!!
Hehe and make painful expressions...
Yeah as most suggested, get some good records with some classic blues on, nick the licks and the feel.
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Get Divorced 3 times. Makes ya a HELL of a Blues Player. :cool2:
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

59paul said:
Get Divorced 3 times. Makes ya a HELL of a Blues Player. :cool2:

Man - ONE divorce was enough to give me the blues on and off for the rest of my life!

Thanks to everybody with the links & book references. It's a big help.

Chip
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Thanks guys for all that :D

And yeah, getting divorced sure sounds like a pretty horrible thing to happen, i ended a nearly 3 year relationship not long ago and that was bad enough, i feel for you guys who have been unlucky enough to go through something like that :(

But heres to music guys! Music is always there for us :)
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

Turn yourself on to 9th chords. Like regular B7 but cover the first 3 strings with your 3rd finger. Then move it to I - IV - V .....you can hit the chord, do a few licks, hit the next chord change, do a couple riffs until you have a full progression. Here's another:
A6 (slide down and back 2 frets) to D9, back to A6 A#6 A6, D9, A6, Bm7, E9, A, C9, B9, Bb9 and start over....hope this helps and there's more here:
http://www.authorhouse.com/BookStore/ItemDetail.aspx?bookid=18065
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

I have a laminated sheet called the scale master. It's got all the types and forms of scales I will ever need, including blues. I picked it up at a local shop for $3.00
 
Re: Where can i find some great blues scales.

I agree with the 'just practice' theory. Pick a super easy blues scale, like the Am Pentatonic, and then begin the scale on each scale step. That will give you 5 "scale positions" to work from. For example, in Am, you have A-C-D-E-G. Then play the scale C-D-E-G-A, etc. This will open new ideas and you will be flying around in no time .... er, I mean, making all those slow, well-thought out blues solos really COOK! :)

"The Blues ... that's black music played mainly by whites" (Eric Idle, The Rutles)
 
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