Out In The Blues

Hello there! This time I will give you tips to add extra "color" and personalize one of our passions: the blues.

Let`s say we have a 12 bar blues progression like this:

|  Bb7  |  Eb7  |  Bb7  |  Bb7  |  Eb7  |  Eb7 |
|  Bb7  |  Bb7  |   F7  |  Eb7  |  Bb7  |  F7  | 

Where Bb7 - I7; Eb7 - IV7; F7 - V7

Now we will take a look at some great options to help you out.

For the I7 (Bb7) you can use:

1. Bb minor blues / Bb major blues scales
2. Bb Mixolydian
3. Bb7 Lydian or F melodic minor (F, G, Ab, Bb, C, D, E)
4. Bb diminished (Bb, B, Db, D, E, F, G, Ab)

For the IV7 (Eb7) use:

1. Eb7 Mixolydian or Bbm7 (Dorian)
2. This is always a good tip: Dominant 7 Chord can be V (fifth degree) of the harmonic minor scale or IV7 and V7 of the melodic minor scale. So in this case use: Ab harmonic/melodic minor and/or Bb melodic minor scales.
3. Another useful tip - you can substitute a Dominant 7 chord for the 3 (major third), 5 (perfect fifth), 7 (minor seventh) and b9 (flat ninth) diminished chords; in this case use: G dim / Bb dim / Db dim / E dim.

Finally, for the V7 (F7) use:

1. F Mixolydian
2. F minor blues / F major blues scales
3. F# melodic minor (F altered)
4. F diminished
5. Bb melodic minor / harmonic minor scales
6. C melodic minor / C Dorian / Cm6 pentatonic

As you can see, there are a lot of great options, but do not try to study or apply all of them at the same time. Be judicious. Get a nice blues backing track or just record yourself playing the chords and listen carefully at how different each scale sounds over the chord changes.

I would like to remind you that these are options, and surely you will not like the sound of all of them, so give each scale a try and stick with the ones you like.

These concepts were used on the concept, harmonization, melodic construction and Improvisation of my new CD release "Coastline". That`s all for now, and do not forget to visit my web page at www.miguelmega.com.br.