5574 / 18210 · Workshop 39 — “Watermelon Man”: Blues-Funk Vocabulary, Dominant Vamps, Riffs as Harmony, and Making Repetition Feel Inevitable Instead of Boring← prev⊞ allnext →
39.4Why blues can live on dominant 7ths
A major triad would be:
F A C.
Adding E♭ gives:
♭7.
That creates a rougher, more open sound than Fmaj7.
The chord does not feel fully “resolved” in classical terms, which is exactly part of the blues aesthetic.