[Harp-L] Re: the flat third



)I guess i think notes rather than scales or position, if that
makes sense.

Quote John
" AGAINST the chord changes (which is why some musicians claim there is
no harmony in blues)."

I am not sure in musical terms what this means?But i
am sure it would be useful to know .(hint ;-) )


Rick,

Thinking/hearing in terms of notes is the best way to do it. i learned theory to help me play right notes because my ear was not well developed. I'm self taught and play no other instruments. but I've had the good fortune to play with a number of really good musicians over the years and from them I've picked up a sort of practical working knowledge of music theory.

So, to answer your question: As i understand it, in non-blues music, harmony means, among other things, that the melody or lead tones have a relationship to the chords. often this means the lead/melody player plays tones from the scale of the chord that's being played.

In blues, it's not necessary to play WITH the chords in this way. Generally speaking, you can play the blues scale of the key you are in AGAINST all of the chord changes. There is a sort of dissonance in the blues which is part of the idiom. You are playing minor blue notes over major chords. Whether, when and how far to flatten or bend the blue notes is part of the emotion of the blues. that's why it's ok to play major 3 occasionally if you feel like it.

Now, generally speaking, when bending, it can be very cool to hit the blue note bent and then release it up. When you do that, you create tension by playing the minor blue note against the major chord tone, and then when you release the bend, you resolve the tension as the bent note resolves up into the major chord tone. That is a big part of the emotion of the blues.

I'm not suggesting that you ignore the chord changes. For example, when you play a "blue third" (a quarter tone flat third) it sounds good on the I chord but that note sounds better played a full half step flat on the IV chord since it's the 7th of the IV chord and in blues 7ths are usually played at least a half step flat or a little flatter (example: Little Walter putting a quarter tone bend on draw 5). But , there's no hard and fast rules since a certain imprecision is also part of the aesthetic of the blues. Like i said above, whether, when and how far you flatten a blue note is a big part of the expression of the blues. The 5th can be played major, minor, quarter tone bent or flatter than flat and so can the 3rd.

On the V chord, the flat 7th of the key you are in is the flat 3d of that chord, so you can fool around with bending the draw 2 in second position on the V and it works pretty well. Also, in second position you can bend the 6 draw on the V chord and it will sound ok since it will be the flat 5th of the V chord. The flat 5th is a restless note, though, and not a note of resolution, so you need to be a little careful how you use it. However, since the draw 6 bend is the flat 9th of the key you are in, it can sound pretty bad if you use the 6 draw bend on any other chord change.

So, I'm not suggesting that a blues player should ignore the chord changes. Arpeggios can be very cool (learning arpeggios has been on my to do list for a while). I'm just saying that you can and for the most part should play the blues scale of the key you are in when playing blues instead of trying to play the blues scale of the particular chord. BUT, you don't have to play only notes that are from the blues scale--just don't worry about what the blues scales are for each of the chords. Generally speaking, the blues scale of the key you are in is the all purpose blues scale to be played AGAINST all of the chord changes.

There are a lot of others on harp-l with better music theory training than i have, so if my understanding of any of this stuff is incorrect, they should feel free to straighten me out by correcting whatever might be misinformation.

Best regards,

JP




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