Can a blues scale be played over major7th and dominant 7 chords?
Answer The key that a piece of music is in is governed more by the underlying chords than by the scale(s) that you play over them. For example, if you had a piece in the key of A natural minor, it would be based around (using 7th chords as an example) Am7 Bm7b5 CM7 Dm7 Em7 FM7 G7, and you could play over this using the A natural minor scale. A piece in A harmonic minor would be based around (using 7th chords) Am(Maj7) Bm7b5 CM7#5 Dm7 E7 FM7 G#o7 You could use the harmonic minor (or a mode of it) in a piece in the key of A natural minor where outside chords are used. For example, you may see E7 used in place of Em7 – here you could use the V moode of the A harmonic minor (E Phrygian Major) over the substituted dominant 7 chord. In contemporary terms, music theroy offers guidelines rather than super strict rules, and if something sounds good then there’s no reason not to use it. A blues scale over a dominant 7 chord is a relatively common device, depsite the fact that technically speakin
