The blues scale is a standard part of the vocabulary in jazz and rock music, as well as the blues. Its distinctive sound makes it instantly recognisable and idiomatic but it can also get boring very quickly if it's overused. However, used in conjunction with other approaches, it is hugely effective and should be in every aspiring jazz musicians' vocabulary. Here is a basic blues scale in C.
The notes of the scale that do not belong in the key of C major scale (i.e. the b3, #4/b5 and b7) are often called 'blue notes' and it's these dissonances that give the scale its distinctive sound.
We'll look at this scale in more detail in a future article, but as a quick tip, you should learn this scale in all keys - you will use it a lot!
