free jam tracks - brought to you by nick cresswell

Play Bass Blues 04

01 F# Chiller Chill Chill mp3 wma
Time/size: 7 mins 16 secs/10mb
Blues jam track: Blues vamp in F# (82 beats per minute/bpm)
Backing track instruments: electric guitar and drums
Suggestions: Centered around an F#7 chord using the Root, 5th and 7th of the chord.
Use an F#, the 5th (C#) and the b7 (the E) and get some funk happening with the guitar riff.
Have a listen to some R.L. Burnside for similar blues vamps.

02 E Shake That Thang No Bass mp3 wma
Time/size: 4 mins 19 secs/5.93mb
Blues jam track: Mid tempo shuffle progression in E (130 beats per minute/bpm)
Backing track instruments: electric guitar & drums
Progression: standard blues 12 bar: E7 x 4 bars, A7 x 2 bars, E7 x 2 bars, B7 x 1 bar, A7 x 1 bar, E7 x 1 bar, B7 x 1 bar.
Suggestion(s): Play a Root to Octave to b7 to 5th shuffle groove over each chord in the progression and work in some fills using the notes of the E Blues scale. So you could play the 1st bar as a straight riff using the notes above and then work in some fills as a kind of answer in the 2nd bar. Work our some phrasing using that 2 bar grouping.

Music Theory - The Blues Scales

Any blues scale is the Root, flat 3rd, 4th, flat 5th, 5th and flat 7th of the Major scale with the same Root note. So to work out the notes of the E Blues scale you take those 6 notes from the E Major scale.

The E Major scale is: E, F#, G#, A, B, C#, D#. We can number the notes of any Major scale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. (where 1 is the Root note, in this case E)

The Root of the E Major scale is E. So E is the first note of the E Blues scale.
The 3rd of the E Major scale is G#, thus the flat 3rd (or b3rd) of the E Major scale is G. So G is the second note of the E blues scale.
The 4th of the E Major scale is A. So A is the third note of the E blues scale.
The 5th of the E Major scale is B, thus the b5th of the E Major scale is Bb. So Bb is the fourth note of the E blues scale.
The 5th of the E Major scale is B. So B is the fifth note of the E blues scale.
The 7th of the E Major scale is D#, thus the b7th of the E Major scale is D. So D is the sixth and final note of the E blues scale.

And that's how you can work out the notes of any Blues scale. ie:
1. Take the Major Scale for the Key you want to work out the Blues scale (in the example above, E).
2. Then work out the six notes of the Blues scale which are the Root, b3rd, 4th, b5th, 5th and b7th of the Major scale.

So if you are going to jam with a blues progression in E, you work out the notes for the E blues scale. All of those six notes will sound good over the 3 chords of the E Blues Progression. If you are going to jam with a D blues progression (like with the next jam track), then you work out the notes for the D blues scale.

One of the great things about playing the bass though is that you don't actually need to work out the Blues scale for each key. No matter what key you are in the pattern(s) of the notes of the Blues scale on the neck is the same. So you can get away with learning the Blues scale pattern(s) in one key and then just moving the pattern(s) up & down the neck to play in any other key. I'll put more info on this in the Music Theory section soon.

If you played piano - you'd have to learn the Blues scale in 12 different keys, each with a different pattern. (You'd also need a large van and some very strong friends)! On bass, you can get away with just learning the one pattern for all 12 keys (and owning a small car or even just a bike, well depending on how big your bass rig is)!

It's one of the great things about playing the bass/guitar - the blues scale is a great sounding scale that you can get great sounds out of. Regardless of if you are Tommy Shannon or if you are just beginning to learn to improvise. But it can also be a bit of a trap - a lot of guitar and bass players become 'pattern' players. ie they play the same licks no matter what Key they are playing in because they just rely on knowing the patterns on the bass neck and don't think about the actual notes they are playing. You can get your fingers and your ear in a rutt if you just rely on the patterns.

If you want to get the most out of playing, you really want to pay attention to both knowing the patterns on the bass AND the notes you are playing. But most importantly, don't forget that music is about actual sounds. It's about feel, groove and soul. Notes, scales, patterns etc are just how I can explain music to you - you need to use that information to make it into something that goes beyond words.