Blues collections and flexible pitch

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Scale families and changes

A common six-note minor blues collection adds a passing pitch to minor pentatonic. Blues performance extends beyond a fixed list through pitch inflection, timing, bends and characteristic phrasing.

Start with C minor pentatonic and try G-flat as a brief passing tone. Listen to the harmony and build short calls and responses instead of running one shape. Standard notation cannot capture every inflection.

Example

C–E♭–F–G♭–G–B♭ is a common minor blues collection.

Try it

Which pitch was added to minor pentatonic in this example?

Related topics

References

Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom

Subject-expert review pending.