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The Blues Scale

Let's look now at one more very useful scale. The Blues scale, like the pentatonics, is prevalent in many popular songs, particularly of the blues and rock genre's. If you look closely you will notice a similarity to the minor pentatonic scale patterns. The blues scale patterns are basically the minor pentatonic with the fifth scale degree added, giving the scale a minor sound with a little added tension. This scale sounds good over seventh and ninth chords, and often works over a minor sounding triadic chord progression. You will also find that you can often use this scale interchangeably with the minor pentatonic scale patterns, so that you have two patterns to work from within one song, for a little variety without much additional effort. Let your ears be the judge.

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