Are blue notes out of tune?

Songs referenced in this episode:

• Skip James - "Devil Got My Woman" (1931)

• Robert Johnson - "Kindhearted Woman Blues" (1936)

• Charlie Christian - "Waiting for Benny" (1941)

• Duke Ellington - "Far Away Blues" (1946)

• John Lee Hooker - "Boogie Chillen" (1948)

• Little Walter Jacobs - "Juke" (1952)

• Muddy Waters - "Standing Around Crying" (1952)

• The Osborne Brothers - "Ruby" (1957)

• Thelonious Monk - "Functional" (1957)

• Johnny Cash - "Big River" (1958)

• Elizabeth Cotten - "Freight Train" (1958) (I say that it’s in C, but the guitar is tuned down a whole step, so while she’s playing in C, it sounds in Bb)

• Elizabeth Cotten - "Honey Babe Your Papa Cares For You" (1958)

• Charles Mingus - "Better Git It In Your Soul" (1959)

• The Beatles - "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)

• Aretha Franklin - "Chain of Fools" (1968)

• Sam and Dave - "I Thank You" (1968)

• BB King - "The Thrill Is Gone" (1969)

• Nina Simone - "Nobody's Fault But Mine" (1969)

• Jackson 5 - "ABC" (1970)

• Grateful Dead - "Tennessee Jed" (1972)

• Al Green - "Love and Happiness" (1972)

• Curtis Mayfield - "Pusherman" (1972)

• Joan Jett and the Blackhearts - "I Love Rock n Roll" (1981)

• Patrice Rushen - "Forget Me Nots" (1982)

• Herbie Hancock - "Rockit" (1983)

• Prince - "7" (1992)

• Dawn Penn - "You Don't Love Me (No No No)" (1994)

• Carly Rae Jepsen - "Call Me Maybe" (2012)

• Beyoncé - "Texas Hold Em" (2024)

• Tikar Woman - "Grinding Song" (1995)

• Led Zeppelin - "When The Levee Breaks" (1971)

• Napoleon Strickland - "Key to the Bushes (Jitterbug Version)" (1995)

Check out Miles Okazaki’s demonstration of guitar harmonics.

Panos Charalampidis’ video tutorial on blues pitch zones is a must-watch.

Here’s the 60 Minutes interview with Miles Davis from 1989.

This blog post explains the possible just intonation basis for blue notes in more depth.

I explain more about Hohner’s just intonation tuning for harmonicas here.

Gerhard Kubik lays out his theory that blue notes originate in West African tuning systems in his book Africa and the Blues. I also recommend this interview he did with Afropop Worldwide.

Jeff Titon’s book Early Downhome Blues is one of the best musicological analyses of the blues.

Court Cutting’s empirical study of blue note tuning is one of the few such studies out there.

Hear the “just intonation blues scale” in musical context.