blue notes
Flatted jazz tones
Blue notes are tones sung or played slightly flat—usually the third, fifth, or seventh degrees of a scale—creating the characteristic melancholy sound of blues and jazz.
The pitch bends downward from where classical music would place it, producing an expressive tension between major and minor: She bent into those blue notes like she was wringing something out of the melody.
- slide guitarStringed instrument with gliding bar
- flattenedMade smooth or level
- microtonalUsing non-standard pitch intervals
- jazzImprovisational American music genre
- improvisationSpontaneous, unplanned creation
bebop · quarter tone · melancholy · sad song · flats · syncopation · swing · bent · chords · pitch · minor third · notes · scales · scat singing · juke joint · soul music · smoky · longing
- BluesB.B. King, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Buddy Guy, Howlin Wolf
- Black Musicjazz, gospel choir, hip hop, R&B, funk
- Early JazzNew Orleans jazz, Dixieland, hot jazz, ragtime, Louis Armstrong
- Jazz Originsragtime, spirituals, syncopation, New Orleans, brass bands
- jazz singingscat singing, scat, vocalese, jazz vocals, vocal jazz
- jazz slangaxe, cat, chops, gig, lick