Module 25 mini-test

1. What are the three basic chords in a C blues?

2. Why is C7 unusual compared with ordinary C-major harmony?

3. What is the C minor pentatonic scale?

4. What is the C blues scale?

5. What is the defining ♭3→3 gesture over C7?

6. What happens at bar 5 of a basic 12-bar C blues?

7. What happens at bar 9?

8. Why is playing only C blues scale across the entire form limiting?

9. What is a quick change?

10. What matters more in basic blues: elaborate harmony or groove?

Answers

1. C7, F7, G7
2. The tonic itself is a dominant seventh, containing B♭, rather than Cmaj7.
3. C-E♭-F-G-B♭
4. C-E♭-F-G♭-G-B♭
5. E♭ → E
6. The harmony moves from I7 to IV7: C7 → F7.
7. The harmony moves to V7: G7.
8. It can obscure the changing chord functions; targeting A on F7 and B on G7, for example, makes the harmony audible.
9. Moving briefly to IV7 in bar 2 instead of staying on I7.
10. Groove.

The central lesson of Module 25 is:

Blues is not about finding a scale that avoids every clash. It is about controlling the clash—especially major versus minor—and making it speak rhythmically.

Next is Module 26 — Pop Piano: how modern pop harmony uses surprisingly few chord functions but creates variety through inversions, bass lines, rhythmic patterns, sus/add chords, pedal tones, octave textures, builds, drops, and arrangement structure.