[Harp-L] Re: the flat third

["John F. Potts" <hvyj@xxxxxxx>]

> )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