1.5 Improvisation – Start

It's Time to Play Some Blues

This 5 note minor blues scale is used to create a variety of traditional Blues vocabulary.

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1. Click and listen to the trumpet play up and down the 5 note minor blues scale.

2. Now, you play the 5 note scale up and down (with the trumpet or on your own), until you have it under your fingers.

Blues Harmonies

Blues harmonies are called dominant 7th chords. Three of these are used in the basic blues form. The diagram shows these chords formed on the 1st (I), 4th (IV) and 5th (V) scale steps of a major scale.

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3. Click and listen to the trumpet play the blues scale with the 3 dominate 7th chords.

4. Now, you click and play the blues scale with the dominant 7th chords.

Blues Form

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5. Click and listen to the trumpet play the blues scale over the dominant 7th chords in the blues form. Then, click again and play along with the trumpet.

6. Now it’s your turn to play some blues melodies with the blues form harmonies.