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Discovering music: the blues
Discovering music: the blues

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13 Check your learning

Have a go at the following quiz to check what you have learned.

a. 

The blues scale is a special scale with lots of notes.


b. 

Blue notes are usually the third, fifth and seventh notes of the scale.


c. 

Chords are made up of four notes sounding simultaneously.


d. 

Chords are two or more notes sounding simultaneously.


e. 

Primary chords relate to the scales on which they are based


f. 

Delta blues and urban blues used primary chords.


g. 

The order of chords in the 12-bar blues is I-IV-V-I.


h. 

Blues lyrics often use three-line verses to fit the 12-bar blues pattern.


i. 

Blues songs are always ballads.


The correct answers are b, d, e, f and h.

b. 

Correct. These are the usual notes that are altered to become ‘blue’ notes, but occasionally the fourth or sixth note may be altered too.


d. 

Correct, two or more notes sounding simultaneously form a chord.


e. 

Correct, the primary chords appear on the first, fourth and fifth notes of a scale. Doh is counted as I, fa as IV and soh as V.


f. 

Correct, almost all Western music uses primary chords in some way.


h. 

Correct, the three-line rhyme scheme AAB is the most common verse form.