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Blues Lesson 2 SWING QUAVERS Swing Quavers When to Play Swing Quavers Swing Quaver Blues Improvisation 1 Keyboard Chord Voicings The Major Pentatonic scale Improvisation 2 Quiz - Quiz Answers Exercises Lesson Material Library - Keyboard Comping

There are two rhythmic devices that are essential in Jazz and Blues playing. They are swing quavers, and syncopation. The use of swing quavers is explained in this lesson. (Syncopation is discussed in Lesson 3.)

Each beat can be divided into a downbeat (beat number) and an upbeat or offbeat ('+' sign).
Like tapping your foot. The toes are down on the floor on a downbeat, raised up off the floor on an offbeat.

In most music the downbeat and an offbeat are equal in length, each of half a beat duration. But in Jazz and Blues this is usually not so.

Most Jazz and Blues are played in swing style, where each beat is played with an inherent underlying triplet feel.
The quavers reflect this triplet feel and are played unequal in lengths.

• Downbeat quavers are played for the first 2/3 of the beat.

• Offbeat quavers are played for the last 1/3 of the beat.

Straight quavers - Swing quavers

In some sheet music swing quavers are (inaccurately) written as alternating dotted quavers (on downbeats) and semiquavers (on off beats).

Swing quavers are mostly written as normal quavers. Above the first bar of the tune the style 'Swing' is then usually indicated. (In some Jazz scores and Fake books even the word 'Swing' is omitted and the swing feel is understood.)

Playing with a good swing feel is absolutely essential for good Jazz playing. But it takes some practice to get it really going well.   Sing in your mind the underlying triplet feel on each beat, like this :

At higher tempos the underlying triplet feel in swing becomes increasingly distorted.

• Downbeat quavers become shorter, reducing from 66.7% ---> 60%

• Offbeat quavers become longer, increasing from 33.3% ---> 40%

Swing quavers are used in most Jazz standards and Blues songs, even when this is not indicated at the top of the score. However in some slow Jazz ballads ('In a Sentimental Mood' , 'Misty') the quavers are played straight. (Your ear will usually tell you in these cases what is best.)

But there are a few associated music idioms that use straight quavers.
They are :

1. Latin Music : Bossa Novas , Sambas , etc. are always played with straight quavers.

2. In Rock and Roll the blues is played in two different rhythm styles.
   1. in shuffle style, using swing quavers.
   2. in straight eights, where all quavers are equal half beats.
      Herbie Hancock's blues 'Watermelon Man' for example is in Rock style with straight quavers.

3. Pop Ballads are usually in straight quavers, like 'Sailing' for example.

All blues in this Course are in swing style unless otherwise indicated at the top of the song.
Therefore :

• each downbeat represents 2/3 of the beat

• and each upbeat represents 1/3 of the beat.

Swing Quaver Blues is a basic blues in G. Play all the quavers in swing style.

Melody

The primary triads in the key of G are :

Audio 2.3

Here is the chord progression for the Blues in G :

Audio 2.4

Play-a-Long midi files for the Blues in G are :

• C- instruments use bblg.mid (or any other track in G)
• Bb- instruments use bblf.mid (or any other track in F)
• Eb- instruments use bblbb.mid (or any other track in Bb)

Work through the following four exercises.

1.
Play Swing Quaver Blues until you can play the melody from memory.

2.
Play chord root tones for the basic blues in G :

Audio 2.5

3.
Play chord tones for the basic blues in G :

Audio 2.6

4.
Improvise over Swing Quaver Blues using chord tones only.
Use these four rhythm patterns (or patterns 1-4 from Lesson 1).

Audio 2.7

Shown below is an example of smooth chord voicings for the blues in G, but do experiment with some other combinations too.

Audio 2.8

The Major Pentatonic scale is a 5-note scale which consists of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th note of a major scale. (In other words, it leaves out the 4th and 7th note of the major scale).
In C :

The melody of Swing Quavers Blues outlines three pentatonic scales. The G major pentatonic scale over the G chords, the c major pentatonic scale over the C chords and the D major pentatonic scale over the D chords

G pentatonic - C pentatonic - D pentatonic

Improvise over the Blues in G using notes from major pentatonic scales.

Bb- and Eb- instruments can of course also use the same scales as for C instruments, provided you use the correct Play-along midi files.

C- instruments use bblg.mid

Bb- instruments use bblf.mid

Eb- instruments use bblbb.mid

• Take 1 (9 choruses) - : I play the first 2 bars of each 4-bar phrase, you play the following 2 bars.

• Take 2 (9 choruses) - : You play the first 2 bars of each 4-bar phrase, I play the following 2 bars.

• Take 3 (9 choruses) - : I play the first 4 bars, you play the following 4 bars.

• Take 4 (9 choruses) - : You play the first 4 bars, I play the following 4 bars.

Improvise using major pentatonic scale-tones only.     Swing style.

1. What is a semibreve, a minim, a crotchet, a quaver ?

2. What does 'swing style' imply ?

3. How long is a downbeat quaver in swing style ?

4. How long is a offbeat quaver in swing style ?

5. Name some styles of Popular music that do not use swing quavers.

6. How many notes are there in a Major Pentatonic scale, and which are they ?

7. Write down the Major pentatonic scale in the keys of A, D, G, C and F.

8. Which chords can you form with the notes of the C major pentatonic scale ?

9. Write down 5 notes in Circle of 5ths sequence in clockwise direction starting on the note C.
   Then place these five notes in ascending pitch order starting with C.

10. Write down 5 notes in Circle of 5ths sequence in clockwise direction starting on the note D.
    Then place these five notes in ascending pitch order starting with D.

11. What can you conclude from the answers of Questions 9 and 10 ?

12. Write down 5 notes in Circle of 5ths sequence in clockwise direction starting on the note Gb
    Then place these five notes in ascending pitch order starting with Gb.

13. What can you conclude from the answer of Question 12 ?

A.
Practise the Major Pentatonic scale in all 12 keys (but see Note).

B.
Transpose Swing Quavers Blues to the key of C. Play the song and improvise in that key using major pentatonic scales only.

C.
Transpose Swing Quavers Blues to the key of F.
Play the song and improvise in that key using major pentatonic scales only.

D.
Practice the Circle of 5ths in single tones as per Demo.

NOTE (applies to the chords and scales exercises in all lessons)
Ideally you should know all chords and scales in all twelve keys.   However 'Rome was not built in one day !'
Therefore, if you are relatively new to this material start working on those chords and scales which cover the blues progression in the Concert keys of F, C and G.   These are :

• For C instruments the keys of - Bb + F + C + G + D   (keyboard, guitar, flute, trombone, violin)

• For Bb instruments the keys of - C + G + D + A + E   (trumpet, clarinet, tenor and soprano sax)

• For Eb instruments the keys of - G + D + A + E + B   (alto and baritone sax)

When you are proficient with those move on to gradually cover all 12 keys. These are essential for improvisation over Jazz standards and other songs.

Unless otherwise indicated : play-along tracks for chords and scales exercises start on the Concert key of C and follow the Circle of 5ths. This is the key of D for Bb instruments, and the key of A for Eb instruments.