Re: [Harp-L] head shake music theory

[Chesper Nevins <chespernevins@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't know if I can add anything to Winslow's post, but maybe I can say it
in a little different way:

>So am I playing the right notes?

Yes, of course.  This is an example of how the ears know something is right
long before theory can describe it.

>Why would
a blues musician use a Bb note in the key of A? Or a B for that matter.


A melody over "the blues" is often what can be called a "horizontal" melody.
This term horizontal means that a melody played in a certain mode, or scale,
leads toward a resolution of sorts.  And it can do so regardless of the
harmony accompanying that melody along the way – just so long as it ends
well.



It's a common concept that we are all familiar with, but we don't usually
extend it to its logical extreme.


That's why an A blues scale works over a D7 chord in the blues.  A
listener's ears are not measuring the relation of an Eb, E and G (from the A
blues scale), for example, to the D7 (IV) chord as much as they are to the
overall tonality of the tune in general. You suspend the need for the A
blues notes to work with the D7 chord because you feel that the A blues
scale is going to match up with the sound of an A tonality in the upcoming
measures.  You're hearing melodically (horizontally) instead of harmonically
(vertically).

Come to think of it, that's why the highly accepted A blues scale works over
an A7 chord. By what logic does A C D Eb E G go well with A C# E G?  Only
that those blues scale notes resolve so strongly to A, E, and C#.



(BTW, as an aside, think about an A blues scale over a D7 IV chord.  So
common.  It's the same relationship as an E blues scale to an A7
chord.  Perhaps it transfers well to the I chord because we are used to the
sound on the IV chord?)



But back to the main point:



A blues, popular song or jazz melody is usually constructed from a mode or
scale.



Some modes, such as the major scale, have a built in tendency to resolve to
itself.  The whole history of western music is built on the feeling that
certain parts of the major scale (and minor, as well as others) resolve to
other parts of itself. Tension built in. You can go round and round forever
in this scale.



Other modes don't have that tension built in as much, like the lydian scale.
It just kinda sits there without much forward motion built in.



The blues scale also has a resolving tendency built in.  So you could play
an E blues scale over the whole A blues, and if you are convincing with it,
it works because you can eventually resolve the notes of E and G,
especially, and maybe B, to the ending chord of A.  It doesn't matter so
much that you passed by a Bb.  Bb was sold as part of the package.  It added
to the strength of the E and G as resolution points.



Try an F# blues scale over an A blues.  Not that weird.



If you wanted to make it sound a little weirder, you could play a C blues
scale over an A blues – you could resolve to a C or G, perhaps – the other
notes are just sounds that lead to the C or G.



I am just thinking of these scales off the top of my head here, if I were at
the piano I could come up with more or maybe better examples.



But if we're playing in cross harp on a diatonic, the melody is most likely
functioning in a horizontal fashion.  The mixolydian mode and the blues
scale that is available in cross harp pretty much guarantees that.  And if
the blues scale on the V degree shows up too (because of the layout of the
harp), all the more interesting. It works the same way.



BTW, playing an E min, or E min6 chord or scale on top of an A7 chord is a
very common thing for a jazz player to do – since the 1920s or maybe
earlier.  The E blues scale is not very far-fetched at all.