[Harp-L] blues scale

["Steve York" <bandbase2@xxxxxxxxx>]

<< 2. Listing the flat 3rd as a part of the blues scale is just an
attempt to describe that scale with terms of the european notation
system. In fact it's not the flat 3rd (or minor 3rd) thats part of
the blues scale though, but it's the blue 3rd. The blue 3rd doesn't
have a specific pitch, but can vary in pitch and alter the character
of the tune. Since it's somewhere between minor and major 3rd the
blue 3rd to some point covers both notes and works with both played
in accompaniment.
While we lack a possibility to notate a blue 3rd using the european
notation system we notate it as flat 3rd, but the the major 3rd is
actually part of it, too.>>

I like this explanation.  I am a bass player. I like to to call this the
"ambiguous third". I tell my students to play both thirds or no thirds when
the music calls for the "ambiguous third".
Steve York.