blues - regular dom7 blues vs minor blues

[gawdrawk]

 

What's the quickest way to know if it's a regular blues, or a minor blues? The only minor blues I can think of at the moment is Footprints...Cmin?

 

Do the chord progressions differ a lot? Are there certain notes to highlight on a minor blues as opposed to a regular dom7 blues? Dorian vs. Mixolydian?

 

Any song examples of both? (blues or jazz)

[1001gear]

Back up and learn the difference between major keys / triads, and minor keys / triads.

[BydoEmpire]

 

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gawdrawk wrote:

 

 

What's the quickest way to know if it's a regular blues, or a minor blues? The only minor blues I can think of at the moment is Footprints...Cmin?

 

 

 

Do the chord progressions differ a lot? Are there certain notes to highlight on a minor blues as opposed to a regular dom7 blues? Dorian vs. Mixolydian?

 

 

 

Any song examples of both? (blues or jazz)

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Well the big note to highlight is the 3rd of the root - obviously flatted in a minor blues, which makes it minor (In C, the E is natural for major, or flat for minor).  Now, you have to be careful because if you have a "major blues" the IV chord is usually a 7th or 9th or some variaiton thereof - in C, the IV chord is usually F7 or F9.  If that's the case, then there's an Eb.  That 3 -> b3 movement is what gives a lot of blues that sound, and why so much blues mixes and matches natural and flatted 3rds.  They both work a lot of times.

A tune like the Allman Brothers' "Get On With Your Life" has root chord of  C Major, and the IV is F9, but the main "riff" is C Eb (flat 3) Ab G.  Overall the tune "sounds" minor to me due to the heavy use of the Eb and Ab, even though the root chord is C major.

BB King's "Thrill is Gone" is a classic minor blues

SRV's "Tell Me" is a classic major shuffle w/ dominant IV.

 

[JonR]

Minor blues are actually quite rare. Here's a few more I know of:

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKy0pcnJocw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRdlvzIEz-g

Notice in the last one they substitute the iv chord for the bVI7.  This is a rare sub in what is already a fairly rare type of tune.

Hopefully it's obvious you wouldn't use mixolydian in a minor blues (because it has a major 3rd ). Dorian is the most likely modal scale (possibly aeolian but certainly not phrygian), but ordinary blues scale should work fine (1-b3-4-b5-5-b7).  The main scale difference from major key blues is you don't bend the b3, and you might use the b5 more.

If the minor blues has a minor iv chord (as it usually does), then that implies the natural minor key scale (aeolian mode).  But that may not mean that full scale sounds right on the tonic chord.

Eg, in a blues in A minor, the iv chord (Dm) has an F in it.  Try using the F as a passing note on the Am chord to judge whether you think it sounds right - or whether a dorian F# is better, or it's best to simply avoid any kind of F.

A common difference with a minor blues is that bars 9-10 are often bVI-V instead of V-IV.

Ie, in A major you'll usually have E7-D7; in A minor you'll probably have F7-E7. (F7 contains Eb, the b5 of the key.)  It's not always the case; sometimes it will be Fmaj7 or plain F; sometimes it might just be Em-Dm - a straight translation of the 3 major key chords into 3 minor ones.

 

[BenTunessence]

Here's some general guidelines for the two:

 

Major (Dominant) blues:

Chords: Dominant 7th

Scales: Blues, Mixolydian, Dorian

 

Minor blues:

Chords: All minor 7th, except V might be dominant 7th

Scales: Blues, Dorian, (maybe a touch of Aeolian)

[halfwhole]

 

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1001gear wrote:

 

 

Back up and learn the difference between major keys / triads, and minor keys / triads.

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this. your ears should be able to tell you straight away.

 

a couple other minor blues that I like are Mr. PC and Stolen Moments