Hey Tater, I have to admit, in all my years surrounded by blues folks I have never heard any of them talk about scales. :) I've studied it but I haven't heard of the scales referred to as "country" and "city" so I am curious to learn more. I think the "country" scale is a five note, or pentatonic. Yank Rachell used to noodle on a minor pentatonic scale when he was warming up. In G: G, Bb, C, D, F natural. Superimposing this minor pentatonic over the G major scale creates the tension of "blue notes:" the flatted third (Bb) and the flatted seventh (F natural). These notes aren't played exclusively and often alternate with the true scale notes. Sometimes the blue note is "smeared," or played simultaneously, with the true note. These techniques create the tension of the blues. It's the sound in Monroe's music that gives it the force and tension you don't find in old timey music.
I believe the "city" blues scale adds the flatted fifth. In G: G, Bb, C, Db, D, F natural, G. Most of the "old stuff" I listen to has the flat-five played in transitions but jazz players use it more frequently with emphasis. Hope this helps. Rich -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of mistertaterbug Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 4:31 PM To: Taterbugmando Subject: Re: Monroe Camp 2009 Rich, I hear that there are two different blues scales, sort of a shorter "country" one and a more elaborate "city" scale. Do you care to elaborate on this, or am I just being too gullible, that there really is no such thing? Seems like I saw an old film clip on television some time back where a few blues guys showed the scale they were using, and best I recall it was the 5 note scale you mentioned. I'm not sure what the notes were in the scale. But I have a book here that has a 7 note scale. How about some info from the boss? Tater On Jan 29, 10:10 am, "Rich DelGrosso" <[email protected]> wrote: > Great ideas. Consider this...the pentatonic scale is the blues. The "Blues" > in Bluegrass. > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > > On Behalf Of 14strings > Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 10:02 AM > To: Taterbugmando > Subject: Re: Monroe Camp 2009 > > John great suggestions and titles... > > I especially like the "double stop" class idea....maybe just some > generic double stop connectors over chord changes > > True Life & Tall Tales:..... tales of song origins and maybe some tall > tales about Big Mon's mythical powers > (students can leave mando in case for this one) > > "Monroe and the Pentatonic Scale: The Winter of His Life" > love it.....sounds like we should get college credits for this one :) --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Taterbugmando" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/taterbugmando?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
