Tired of the same old blues licks in the pentatonic scale? In this series of lessons, I will try to broaden your horizons by introducing you to some elements from "exotic" territories like Middle Eastern, East European and Far Eastern music.
Is it D# or Eb?
As you might know, the minor blues scale has that unique note that distinguishes it from the pentatonic scale (the augmented 4th or diminished 5th).
In A minor blues, for example, it’s Eb or D# (They are enharmonic tones, same pitch, different names).
But when should we call it the first or the latter—and what’s the difference? Well, there are a few answers. One of them relates to their different functionality: While Eb can be an alternative to the 5th (E) by flattening it, D# can function as a leading-tone to the 5th.
In the first phrase (bars 1-2), I used Eb, which replaces E in a pull-off descending effect of a blue note (a well-known musical sigh). In the second phrase (bars 3-4), I used D# as a stepping stone toward E, which emphasizes the 5th in the Am chord. While these are still bluesy, the third phrase (bars 5-6) has a bit more spice and sounds more exotic by using D# with an augmented 2nd interval (C-D#). By adding B from the natural minor scale and drizzling some "HP sauce" on top of them (HP = hammer-on, pull-off), we're starting to get somewhere else.
If this is not enough, you can enrich the last phrase by adding more outsider notes like G# (taken from the harmonic minor scale). While the first phrase in EXAMPLE 2 still keeps some of the blues rhythm, the last phrase is a lively take on that idea and has a Balkan feel:
Hungarian