Help with keys in writing music pleasee?

Question

I have to write some music incorporating blues notes. I have written something and I just want to confirm.

Does music with blues notes always have to be major? Because I have written something and it works either as G minor, or as G major with blues notes.. is it right if I have it as major with blues notes (seeings though they want blues notes)??.That is one question...

Also, for my chord symbols above, if I write it in major with blues notes do I still write eg (Gm, because it's G-Bb-D) or do I write eg (just G, and for some reason you can just assume the B is flattened as a blues note because the rest of the music has it as that?

Please help me. THANK YOU SOO MUCH

Answer 1

First question: Blues do not always have to be major, and whether or not you make the key signature major or minor is your discretion. I don't know exactly what your assignment is looking for, but if you're going to be writing a note flat throughout a piece, you might as well put it in the key signature--so if you're going to be writing the Bb throughout the whole song, just throw an accidental in front of it when/if you need it to be natural.

Second question: Chord symbols are always written according to what they are. Ok, that sounds vague...if it's G-Bb-D, it's Gm, no matter what.

Hope that helps, e-mail me through my profile if you need more help, and good luck!

~Scottie

Answer 2

Blues can be written in either major or minor keys. The basic chord progressions are1--4--5^7 for major blues, and 1m--4m--5^7 for minor blues. What gives it the blues sound is the use of the "blues scale" for the melody notes; the use of those flatted 5th and 7th notes, the "blues notes".

When you write chord symbols just write whatever the chord is. Nothing is "understood".

If you play guitar , get a book on blues riffs( there is a good one called the Encyclopedia of Blues Riffs (published by Hal Leonard I think). If you start learning some of the riffs and progressions in such a book you will start to get a good feel for how the "blue" notes sound, and they will become second nature when you are improvising.

Good luck.

Answer 3

um... not sure what the chord symbols are supposed to be, can't see any ^^; by blues notes do you mean music written in the blues style? In blues music, what I've generally seen is that it's written in the major key and the notes have accidentals throughout the entire piece. In any jazz music, what I've seen is that if a chord is minor, it is written as a minor. So if you write it out in the music, you'd write your G minor chord as G, Bb, D, and if you write it using the letters, you'd use Gminor or whatever it is lol This is only what I remember, and I haven't seen blues music in AGES, so I am sorry in advance if any or all of this is wrong >_< I gave it my best shot. Good luck!