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what is the blue note in music

by Blair Lang Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.

Full Answer

What is meant by the term "Blue Note"?

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that-for expressive purposes-is sung or played at a slightly different pitch than standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies among performers and genres.

What term describes how a Blue Note is produced?

Most blue notes come from the vocal practice (later imitated by horn players and guitarists) of "sliding" into notes from either a half step above or below rather than landing right on them, which produces a "dirty" or "bluesy" sound which most often resloves to the "correct" note from within the tonality.

What does Blue Note mean in music?

Note sung or played at a slightly different pitch than standard. In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.

What note lasts for 1 beat in music?

  • A semibreve lasts for four crotchet beats.
  • A minim lasts for two crotchet beats.
  • A quaver lasts for half a crotchet beat - so there are two to the time of a crotchet.
  • A semiquaver lasts for a quarter of a crotchet beat - so there are four to the time of a crotchet.

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What note is the blue note?

b5The Blue note is the Flat 5 (b5) Scale degree which sounds great in the blues, especially when mixed in with the Minor Pentatonic Scale.

What is a blue note example?

For example, a melody in C major might be sung with a note that is halfway between E and E-flat. As the term suggests, blue notes are thought to be particularly characteristic of the blues.

What kind of music is a blue note?

jazzHistorically, Blue Note has principally been associated with the "hard bop" style of jazz (mixing bebop with other forms of music including soul, blues, rhythm and blues and gospel), but also recorded essential albums in the avant-garde and free styles of jazz.

Where are the Blue Notes?

These “true blue notes” are located in between the b3rd and major 3rd, and between the b7th and major 7th, respectively, and help to produce the profound sound of the blues.

How do you sing blue notes?

3:256:19HOW TO SING BLUES NOTES (Singing Blues Notes Over Major ...YouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipSo the rebreather blues note the reason. I show you did you hear them the reed. That's one reason.MoreSo the rebreather blues note the reason. I show you did you hear them the reed. That's one reason. I I to show that's three you that's four well that's the same. That's the same blues notes okay.

How do you play a blue note?

0:552:12How to Use the Blue Note in a Solo | Keyboard Lessons - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipGets a little bit more interesting another way that you can use the Blue Note is to slide intoMoreGets a little bit more interesting another way that you can use the Blue Note is to slide into another note and that can really really up the sound.

What interval is the Blue Note?

In jazz and blues, a blue note is a note that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different pitch from standard. Typically the alteration is between a quartertone and a semitone, but this varies depending on the musical context.

Who owns the Blue Note?

founder Danny BensusanOwner and founder Danny Bensusan had a vision to create a jazz club in Greenwich Village that would treat deserving artists with respect, while allowing patrons to see the world's finest jazz musicians in a close, comfortable setting.

Where was the original blue note?

Blue Note Jazz Club is a jazz club and restaurant located at 131 West 3rd Street in Greenwich Village, New York City. The club was opened on September 30, 1981, by owner and founder Danny Bensusan, with the Nat Adderley Quintet being the featured performers for the night.

How do you play blue notes on the piano?

3:094:46How To Use "Blue Notes" In Your Piano Playing - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipYou just slide off the usually the third the fifth. Sometimes in seventh but not not. So much aMoreYou just slide off the usually the third the fifth. Sometimes in seventh but not not. So much a seventh because the Sabbath is usually flatted. So you wouldn't use it that very often. But.

How do you know if a song is blues?

The main features of blues include: specific chord progressions, a walking bass, call and response, dissonant harmonies, syncopation, melisma and flattened 'blue' notes. Blues is known for being microtonal, using pitches between the semitones defined by a piano keyboard.

Why is the blue note called the blues scale?

The term “ blue note ” is usually translated as “ outside note “, due to the fact that this note does not belong to the natural scale. The name “pentablues” came about because this scale is ...

Is it worth practicing the blue note?

It is worthwhile to practice this scale, as the blue note gives a special flavor to any song when properly placed! Don’t stick to this scale as if it were the only scale in the world, since it is very common for musicians to use it to exhaust their ideas and limit themselves to nothing else.

Is the blues scale the same as the pentatonic scale?

So, the use of the blues scale is the same as the pentatonic scale. We can apply it anywhere we would apply the traditional pentatonic, just watching out for the fact that the blue note is a passing note, that is, it should appear only in the middle of other notes, and not as a resting note.

What is the blue note in music?

September 1, 2019. The "Blue" Note. Tyler Larson. September 1, 2019. The “blue” note is a note outside the Pentatonic Scale that allows for the most authentic tension and release available in the blues sound.

What is the blue note in the pentatonic scale?

The blue note, in between the fourth and fifth interval of the Pentatonic Scale, is technically referred to as the flat 5 note, as it’s found by flattening the fifth of the scale. By including this note in the Pentatonic Scale, you end up forming a new scale known as the Blues Scale.

What genre of music is the most expressive?

The most expressive sounds typically come from the blues genre, and you’ll learn how to bend, caress, wail, and everything in between. From the legends of the past to modern greats, we’ll go deep into technique, iconic licks, gear, and channeling your inner blues–we all have it!

What are blue notes?

The blue notes are chromatic. They are not like the regular tones of the scale that can easily be identified. It takes a knowledge of the 3rd, 5th, and 7th tones of the scale to know the b3, b5, and b7 tones of the scale.

Why do blues musicians sound out of tune?

The practitioners of the blues because of their African descent sometimes used notes [based on the African scale and tuning system] that practically sounded out-of-tune because they sound slightly lower than the normal pitches on instruments like the piano and guitar.

Where did blues music originate?

Although the cultural background of blues music is traceable to the Afro-Americans in the southern part of the United States of America, nobody can say precisely when blues music started.

How to get used to playing the blues?

The best way to get used to playing the blues is to have a go at improvising over the top of a 12 bar blues chord progression. Try using each of the 4 different scales in turn picking out different notes each time. And most importantly, have fun doing so!!

How many blues scales are there?

They think that learning the “blues scale” will help them to write and perform blues style music – and they are correct! However, there are actually 4 different “blues scales” that can be used when you are improvising/composing blues style music.

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Overview

Origins and meaning

Like the blues in general, the blue notes can mean many things. One quality that they all have in common, however, is that they are lower than one would expect, classically speaking. But this flatness may take several forms. On the one hand, it may be a microtonal affair of a quarter-tone or so. Here one may speak of neutral intervals, neither major nor minor. On the other hand, the lowering may …

Theory and measurement

Music theorists have long speculated that blue notes are intervals of just intonation not derived from European twelve-tone equal temperament tuning. Just intonation musical intervals derive directly from the harmonic series. Humans naturally learn the harmonic series as infants. This is essential for many auditory activities such as understanding speech (see formant) and perceiving tonal music. In the harmonic series, overtones of a fundamental tonic tone occur as integer mult…

See also

• Altered chord
• Harmonic seventh
• Major and minor
• Twelve-bar blues

Further reading

• Schuller, Gunther. Early Jazz: Its Roots and Musical Development (New York: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 46–52). Cited in Benward & Saker (2003), p. 39.

1.Videos of What Is the Blue Note in Music

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7 hours ago  · According to Merriam Webster, a blue note is “a variable microtonal lowering of the third, seventh, and occasionally fifth degrees of the major scale.” Unless you know your music theory, that is probably meaningless to you, so let me explain with an example. Paul McCartney Sings Blue Notes

2.Blue note - Wikipedia

Url:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_note

27 hours ago  · The “blue” note is a note outside the Pentatonic Scale that allows for the most authentic tension and release available in the blues sound. The blue note, in between the fourth and fifth interval of the Pentatonic Scale, is technically referred to as the flat 5 note, as it’s found by flattening the fifth of the scale. By including this note in the Pentatonic Scale, you end up …

3.Learning the Blues Scale and the Blue Note | Simplifying …

Url:https://www.simplifyingtheory.com/blues-scale-blue-note/

10 hours ago  · FREE - SFS Fretboard Secrets: https://string.systems/sfs-fretboard-secrets-2.0"What's a Blue Note?"-----If you like soloing with...

4.The "Blue" Note — Music is Win

Url:https://musiciswin.com/blues-lessons//the-blue-note

22 hours ago In jazz: West Africa in the American South: gathering the musical elements of jazz …blues scale, with its “blue notes”—the flatted third and seventh degrees. This scale is neither particularly African nor particularly European but acquired its peculiar modality from pitch inflections common to any number of West African languages and musical forms.

5.What's a Blue Note? (Guitar Lessons) …

Url:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF-JU0SgdRU

10 hours ago  · Definition of blue note. : a variable microtonal lowering of the third, seventh, and occasionally fifth degrees of the major scale.

6.blue note | music | Britannica

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