# Blue note

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Note sung or played at a slightly different pitch than standard

For other uses, see [Blue note (disambiguation)](/source/Blue_note_(disambiguation)) and [Blue Notes (disambiguation)](/source/Blue_Notes_(disambiguation)).

"Blue tones" redirects here. For the indie band, see [The Bluetones](/source/The_Bluetones). For colors, see [Shades of blue](/source/Shades_of_blue).

Blue notes (in blue): ♭3, (♯4)/♭5, ♭7

In [jazz](/source/Jazz) and [blues](/source/Blues), a **blue note** (or **worried note**) is a [note](/source/Musical_note) that—for expressive purposes—is sung or played at a slightly different [pitch](/source/Pitch_(music)) from standard. Typically the alteration is between a [quartertone](/source/Quartertone) and a [semitone](/source/Semitone), but this varies depending on the musical context.

## 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](/source/Flat_(music)) than one would expect, classically speaking. But this flatness may take several forms. On the one hand, it may be a [microtonal](/source/Microtonal_music) affair of a [quarter-tone](/source/Quarter_tone) or so. Here one may speak of *neutral* intervals, neither major nor minor. On the other hand, the lowering may be by a full semitone—as it must be, of course, on keyboard instruments. It may involve a [glide](/source/Glissando), either upward or downward. Again, this may be a microtonal, almost imperceptible affair, or it may be a slur between notes a semitone apart, so that there is actually not one blue note but two. A blue note may even be marked by a microtonal [shake](/source/Shake_(music)) of a kind common in [Oriental music](/source/Music_of_Asia). The degrees of the mode treated in this way are, in order of frequency, the third, seventh, fifth, and sixth.

— [Peter van der Merwe](/source/Peter_van_der_Merwe_(musicologist)) (1989), *Origins of the Popular Style*, p. 119

The blue notes are usually said to be the [lowered third](/source/Minor_third), [lowered fifth](/source/Diminished_fifth), and [lowered seventh](/source/Minor_seventh) [scale degrees](/source/Scale_degree).[1][2][3] The lowered fifth is also known as the raised fourth.[4] Though the [blues scale](/source/Blues_scale) has "an inherent minor tonality, it is commonly 'forced' over major-key chord changes, resulting in a distinctively dissonant conflict of tonalities".[4] A similar conflict occurs between the notes of the [minor scale](/source/Minor_scale) and the minor blues scale, as heard in songs such as "[Why Don't You Do Right?](/source/Why_Don't_You_Do_Right%3F)", "[Happy](/source/Happy_(Pharrell_Williams_song))" and "[Sweet About Me](/source/Sweet_About_Me)".

In the case of the lowered third over the root (or the lowered seventh over the dominant), the resulting chord is a neutral [mixed third chord](/source/Added_tone_chord).

Blue notes are used in many [blues](/source/Blues) songs, in jazz, and in conventional [popular songs](/source/Popular_song) with a "blue" feeling, such as [Harold Arlen](/source/Harold_Arlen)'s "[Stormy Weather](/source/Stormy_Weather_(1933_song))". Blue notes are also prevalent in [English folk music](/source/English_folk_music).[5] Bent or "blue notes", called in Ireland "long notes", play a vital part in Irish music.[6]

## Theory and measurement

Music theorists have long speculated that blue notes are intervals of [just intonation](/source/Just_intonation)[7][8][9][10][11][12] not derived from European [12-tone equal temperament tuning](/source/Equal_temperament). Just intonation musical intervals derive directly from the [harmonic series](/source/Harmonic_series_(music)). Humans naturally learn the harmonic series as infants. This is essential for many auditory activities such as understanding speech (see [formant](/source/Formant)) and perceiving tonal music.[13] In the harmonic series, overtones of a fundamental tonic tone occur as integer multiples of the tonic frequency. It is therefore convenient to express musical intervals in this system as integer ratios (e.g. 2⁄1 = octave, 3⁄2 = perfect fifth, etc.). The relationship between just and equal temperament tuning is conveniently expressed using the 12-tone equal temperament cents system. Just intonation is common in music of other cultures such as the [17-tone Arabic scale](/source/17_equal_temperament) and the [22-tone Indian classical music scale](/source/22_equal_temperament).[14] In African cultures, just intonation scales are the norm rather than the exception.[15] As the blues appears to have derived from *a cappella* field hollers of African slaves, it would be expected that its notes would be of just intonation origin closely related to the musical scales of western Africa.[16][7][9]

The blue "lowered third" has been speculated to be from 7⁄6 (267 [cents](/source/Cent_(music)))[9][10] to 350 cents[12] above the [tonic](/source/Tonic_(music)) tone. It has recently been found empirically to center at 6⁄5 (316 cents, a [minor third](/source/Minor_third) in just intonation, or a slightly sharp minor third in equal temperament) based on cluster analysis of a large number of blue notes from early blues recordings.[17] This note is commonly slurred with a [major third](/source/Major_third) justly tuned at 5⁄4 (386 cents)[17] in what Temperley et al.[18] refer to as a "neutral third". This bending or glide between the two tones is an essential characteristic of the blues.[2][3][9][10][11]

The blue "lowered fifth" has been found to be quite separate from the perfect fifth and clusters with the perfect fourth with which it is commonly slurred. This "raised fourth" is most commonly expressed at 7⁄5 (583 cents).[17] The [eleventh harmonic](/source/Eleventh_harmonic) (i.e. 11⁄8 or 551 cents) as put forward by Kubik[9] and Curry[10] is also possible as it is in the middle of the slur between the perfect fourth at 4⁄3 and 7⁄5.

The blue "lowered seventh" appears to have two common locations at 7⁄4 (969 cents) and 9⁄5 (1018 cents).[17] Kubik[9] and Curry[10] proposed 7⁄4 as it is commonly heard in the barbershop quartet [harmonic seventh chord](/source/Harmonic_seventh_chord).[19] The barbershop quartet idiom also appears to have arisen from African American origins.[20][19] It was a surprising finding that 9⁄5 was a much more common tonal location although both were used in the blues, sometimes within the same song.[17]

It should not be surprising that blue notes are not represented accurately in the 12-tone equal temperament system, which is made up of a cycle of very slightly flattened perfect fifths (i.e. 3⁄2). The just intonation blue note intervals identified above all involve prime numbers not equally divisible by 2 or 3. Prime-number harmonics greater than 3 are all perceptually different from 12-tone equal temperament notes.

The blues has likely evolved as a fusion of an African just intonation scale with European 12-tone musical instruments and harmony.[16][7] The result has been a uniquely American music which is still widely practiced in its original form and is at the foundation of another genre, [American jazz](/source/Jazz).

## See also

- [Altered chord](/source/Altered_chord)

- [Harmonic seventh](/source/Harmonic_seventh)

- [Major and minor](/source/Major_and_minor)

- [Twelve-bar blues](/source/Twelve-bar_blues)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-Blue_Notes_1-0)** ["Blue Notes"](https://web.archive.org/web/20081202121511/http://how-to-play-blues-guitar.com/blues-concepts/blue-notes/). How To Play Blues Guitar. 2008-07-06. Archived from [the original](http://how-to-play-blues-guitar.com/blues-concepts/blue-notes/) on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2008-07-06.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:0_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:0_2-1) Evans, David, 1944- (1982). *Big road blues : tradition and creativity in the folk blues*. Berkeley: University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-520-03484-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-520-03484-8). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [6197930](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/6197930).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list)) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:1_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:1_3-1) Titon, Jeff Todd, 1943- (1994). *Early downhome blues : a musical and cultural analysis* (2nd ed.). Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8078-2170-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8078-2170-5). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [29909597](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/29909597).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list)) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Ferguson_4-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Ferguson_4-1) Ferguson, Jim (1999). *All Blues Soloing for Jazz Guitar: Scales, Licks, Concepts & Choruses*, p. 20. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0786642858](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0786642858).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Lloyd, A. L. (1967). *Folk Song in England*, pp. 52–54. London: Lawrence & Wishart. Cited in Middleton, Richard (1990/2002). *Studying Popular Music*. Philadelphia: Open University Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-335-15275-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-335-15275-9).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Epping, Rick. ["Irish Harmonica"](http://www.celticguitarmusic.com/irishharm.htm). www.celticguitarmusic.com. Retrieved 2008-11-04.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:2_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:2_7-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:2_7-2) Kubik, Gerhard, 1934- (1999). *Africa and the blues*. Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-585-20318-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-585-20318-0). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [44959610](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/44959610).{{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_multiple_names:_authors_list)) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Kubik, Gerhard (2005). "The African Matrix in Jazz Harmonic Practices". *Black Music Research Journal*. **25** (1/2): 167–222. [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0276-3605](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0276-3605). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [30039290](https://www.jstor.org/stable/30039290).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:3_9-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:3_9-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:3_9-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:3_9-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:3_9-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-:3_9-5) Kubik, G. (2008). Bourdon, blue notes, and pentatonicism in the blues: An Africanist perspective. In D. Evans (Ed.), *Ramblin’ on my mind: New perspectives on the blues* (pp. 11–48)*.* Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:4_10-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:4_10-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:4_10-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:4_10-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:4_10-4) Curry, Ben (2015). ["Blues music theory and the songs of Robert Johnson: ladder, level and chromatic cycle"](https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/popular-music/article/blues-music-theory-and-the-songs-of-robert-johnson-ladder-level-and-chromatic-cycle/2E4C3BEECE5EF371DBA79A32498BD745). *Popular Music*. **34** (2): 245–273. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/S0261143015000276](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0261143015000276). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0261-1430](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0261-1430). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [145765888](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:145765888).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:5_11-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:5_11-1) Curry, Ben (2017). ["Two Approaches to Tonal Space in the Music of Muddy Waters: Two Approaches to Tonal Space"](http://pure-oai.bham.ac.uk/ws/files/43012584/Curry_two_approaches.pdf) (PDF). *Music Analysis*. **36** (1): 37–58. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1111/musa.12084](https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fmusa.12084). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [126072443](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:126072443).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:6_12-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:6_12-1) Van der Merwe, Peter (1989). *Origins of the popular style : the antecedents of twentieth-century popular music*. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Clarendon Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-19-316121-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-19-316121-4). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [18071070](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/18071070).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** Helmholtz, Hermann von. *On the sensations of tone as a physiological basis for the theory of music*. Ellis, Alexander John, 1814-1890. (Second English edition, translated thoroughly revised and corrected, rendered conformal to the 4th (and last) German ed. of 1877, with numerous additional notes and a new additional appendix bringing down information to 1885, and especially adapted to the use of music students by Alexander J. Ellis ed.). New York. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-486-60753-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-486-60753-4). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [385076](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/385076).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Danielou, Alain (1999). *Introduction to the Study of Musical Scales*. Oriental Book Reprint Corporation. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [8170690986](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/8170690986).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** Kubik, Gerhard (2010). *Theory of African music*. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-226-45690-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-226-45690-4). [OCLC](/source/OCLC_(identifier)) [457769452](https://search.worldcat.org/oclc/457769452).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:7_16-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:7_16-1) Oliver, Paul (1970). *Savannah syncopators: African retentions in the blues*. London: Studio Vista.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:8_17-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:8_17-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-:8_17-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-:8_17-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-:8_17-4) Cutting, Court B (2019-01-17). ["Microtonal Analysis of "Blue Notes" and the Blues Scale"](http://emusicology.org/article/view/6316). *Empirical Musicology Review*. **13** (1–2): 84–99. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.18061/emr.v13i1-2.6316](https://doi.org/10.18061%2Femr.v13i1-2.6316). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [1559-5749](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/1559-5749).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** Temperley, David (2017). ["Mediant mixture and "blue notes" in rock: An exploratory study"](https://mtosmt.org/issues/mto.17.23.1/mto.17.23.1.temperley.html). *Music Theory Online*. **23**. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.30535/mto.23.1.7](https://doi.org/10.30535%2Fmto.23.1.7).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-:9_19-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-:9_19-1) Averill, Gage (2003-02-20). [*Four Parts, No Waiting*](http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116724.001.0001/acprof-9780195116724). Oxford University Press. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195116724.001.0001](https://doi.org/10.1093%2Facprof%3Aoso%2F9780195116724.001.0001). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-19-511672-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-19-511672-4).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** Abbott, Lynn (1992). ""Play That Barber Shop Chord": A Case for the African-American Origin of Barbershop Harmony". *American Music*. **10** (3): 289–325. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.2307/3051597](https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3051597). [JSTOR](/source/JSTOR_(identifier)) [3051597](https://www.jstor.org/stable/3051597).

## Further reading

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

v t e Blues Musical form Blue note Blues ballad Blues scale Call and response Eight-bar blues Musical improvisation Shuffles Traditional blues verses Twelve-bar blues Walking bass Origins Origins Field hollers Spirituals Work songs American folk music Regional styles Africa Desert blues Canada Chicago Delta Hill country Louisiana New Orleans Swamp Memphis New Zealand Piedmont Texas Turkey United Kingdom West Coast Subgenres Boogie-woogie Classic female Country Delta Hill country Dirty Electric Fife and drum Hokum Holler Jug band Skiffle Fusion genres Blues rock Biker metal Boogie rock Punk Roots rock Southern rock Gospel Jump Rhythm and blues Soul Lists Blues musicians Blues musicians by genre Blues standards Blues festivals

v t e Jazz theory and improvisation Avoid note Backdoor progression Bar-line shift Bebop scale Bird changes Block chord Blue note Cadenza Call and response Chord-scale system Chordioid Coltrane changes Comping Constant structure Contrafact Electroacoustic improvisation Free improvisation List Groove Harmolodics Harmony Head Jam band Jam session Jazz chord So What Jazz improvisation Lead sheet Melodic pattern Outside Polyrhythm Rhythm changes Scale Swing Syncopation Turnaround ii-V-I Tadd Dameron Twelve-bar blues Upper structure

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