I realized I have a doubt....

[Simone]

So, I was viewing latest Griff daily video and adoubt came to my mind.....
Let's say we have a blues i G (like the example in video) I, IV, V chords are G7, C7 and D7 respectively. NOtes in G7 chords are G, B, D and F and one of the first things that we all learned about blues is that in some way is "based" on the clash of the minor an major third and that's why I can use the G Minor pentatonic scale....my G minor pentatonic contains a flat third, a bB which collides with the third but that is caracteristic of the blues sound.

Up until now all fine.......Now comes the problem.....As we know on the I chord I can also use the G Major pentatonic which among others contain a major thid and that is fine because is one of the chord tones but be careful never use the major pentatonic on the IV chord.
Why? Because IV chord is C7 which contains a C an E a G and a bB and this clash with the major third of the G Major pentatonic scale.

But wait, the major third is a B so again we have a clash between B (major third contained in the G Major pentatonic) and the minor third (which is the flatted 7 of the C7 chord), and that....should be the caracteristic sound that define the blues.........why is it not working then?

I'm sure I'm missing something and I ended up confuing myself, but where is the mistake?

Cheers everybody

 

[Paleo]

Try changing your perspective to that of the chord rather than the scale you play over it.

The chord establishes the tonality. Each note you play over it either doubles a chord tone or "extends" it.

In the I chord, the M3, B, establishes a Major tonality and playing a Bb over it is the sound of the blues.

However, in the IV chord the Bb (b7) establishes a Dominant 7 tonality.

In terms of the IV chord, G Maj pent (G A B D E) over a C7 (C E G Bb), the G and E double chord tones, D=9, A=13, but B would be playing a Major 7 over an already established b7.

It's a clash of 7's rather than 3rds.

Bb has different functions,

In G min pent scale it's the b3 over the already established 3.

In the C7 chord it's the already established b7.

Think about how each individual note you play harmonizes with the chord regardless of what scale it's in.

Minor over Major is "bluesy".

Major over minor.......?????

Again, think in relation to the chord that's going on.

 

[Griff]

@Paleo is correct... the clash comes from chord tones, and the B vs Bb is the 7th of the C chord, not the 3rd where "the blues" happens.