Editing Blues scale (section)

===Heptatonic===
One [[heptatonic]], or seven-note, conception of the blues scale is as a [[diatonic scale]] (a [[major scale]]) with lowered third, fifth, and seventh degrees,<ref>Smallwood, Richard (1980). "Gospel and Blues Improvisation" p. 102, ''Music Educators Journal'', Vol. 66, No. 5. (Jan., 1980), pp. 100-104.</ref> which is equivalent to the dorian {{Music|flat}}5 scale, the second mode of the [[harmonic major scale]]. Blues practice is derived from the "conjunction of 'African scales' and the diatonic western scales".<ref>Oliver, Paul. "That Certain Feeling: Blues and Jazz... in 1890?" p. 13, ''Popular Music'', Vol. 10, No. 1, The 1890s. (Jan., 1991), pp. 11–19. Cites Rudi Blesh.</ref>
: <score sound="1"> {
\override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f
\relative c' { 
  \clef treble \time 7/4
  c4 d es f ges a bes c2
} }
</score>
Steven Smith argues that, "to assign blue notes to a 'blues scale' is a momentous mistake, then, after all, unless we alter the meaning of 'scale'".{{Explain|date=December 2020}}<ref>Smith, Steven G. (1992). "Blues and Our Mind-Body Problem", ''Popular Music'', Vol. 11, No. 1. (Jan., 1992), pp. 41–52.</ref>