Blues Scale Pdf Guitar
Paul
The blues scale is a six-note progression that sounds right at home in blues, rock, and country music. This scale is essentially the pentatonic scale plus one chromatic note, often called the blue note. This extra step gives the blues scale that unmistakably bluesy sound.
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Mastering the blues scale will give you the tools you need to improvise over a range of chord progressions, from a classic 12-bar blues to a driving rock and roll song. In addition to boosting your improvisational skills, practicing this scale will also help you train your ear so you can learn new bluesy licks to incorporate into your playing.
The intervals that make up the minor blues scale are the same in any key. These intervals are: A whole step and a half step, a whole step, a half step, a half step, a whole step and a half step, and a whole step.
To play the A minor blues scale in 1st position, use your index finger for notes on the 1st fret, your middle finger for notes on the 2nd, your ring finger for notes on the third, and your pinky for notes on the 4th fret.
To play the A minor blues scale in 5th position, use your index finger for notes on the 5th fret, your middle finger for the 6th, your ring finger for the 7th, and your pinkie for notes on the 8th fret. This scale starts on the 5th fret of the low E string. This version is also known as an E-shaped blues scale.
The A minor blues scale in the 7th position starts with your index finger on the 7th fret of the D string. You will need to shift your hand position up one fret when you reach the B string so you can play notes on the 8th fret with your index finger. This scale is also known as the D-shaped blues scale.
To play the A minor blues scale in 12th position, start with your index finger on the 12th fret of the A string. This scale does require you to shift your hand position up one fret once you reach the B string so that your index finger is on the 13th fret. Then, you must shift your hand back to your starting position for the high E string. This scale is also known as the A-shaped blues scale.
In this Technique of the Week, Kirk Fletcher (Fabulous Thunder Birds and Mannish Boys) teaches the pentatonic blues guitar scale which is essential for beginner blues guitarists. Fletcher breaks down this versatile scale and plays his favorite phrases rooted in pentatonic blues.
Each of these scale shapes are moveable. This means that you can play these patterns anywhere on the neck of your guitar. Learning and memorizing the notes on the E, A, and D strings of your guitar will come in handy as you practice moving each of these scales up and down the fretboard of your guitar.
Play the 12-bar blues using downstrokes and emphasize the first and third beat of every measure to get the right rhythm. You might also find this 12-bar blues described as a blues shuffle thanks to this shuffling rhythm. Here is a guitar tab showing a standard 12-bar blues pattern.
Blues Scale ExercisesPracticing the blues scale in A minor is a great way to train your fingers and your ears while you learn this versatile scale. First, practice playing the scales on your own until you are comfortable playing the A minor blues scale in each position.
Then, with a looping accompaniment of the 12-bar blues in A, practice playing the A minor blues scale in each position, but with a syncopated rhythm. Listen to the accompaniment and play the scale in sections, treating the notes on each string as one phrase. Once this feels easy to you, experiment by breaking up the scale into three- or four-note sections across strings.
Another great way to practice the blues scales on guitar is to spend time playing each shape up and down the neck of your guitar. Starting with the E-shaped blues scale, play each scale ascending and descending, beginning at the first fret and moving up one fret for each repetition of the shape. Play the scale in this way up to the thirteenth fret, then begin moving down one fret for each cycle until you arrive back at the first fret.
Playing the scales over a 12-fret span on your guitar will allow you to hear the scale in every key, helping you to train your ear. You can also use this exercise to help you memorize the notes on the E, A, and D strings by saying the root note of each scale as you go up and down the neck.
If however you feel comfortable playing the minor pentatonic scale, and you are now looking to add some variety to your lead playing, then getting to grips with the blues scale is one of the best places to start.
Each of the numbers above describes a note from within the major scale. 1 is the first note of the scale, 2 is the second note, and so on. In the key of A, the notes of the major scale are as follows:
In the key of A, this changes the notes of the scale. The 3rd, 5th and 6th notes have all been flattened. And this reduces their pitch by a semi-tone. So the notes of the minor scale in the key of A are as follows:
Although the major scale provides the foundation of most Western music, it is very rarely used in the form noted above. This is because put simply, the major scale lacks some of the edge and tension that we like to hear when we listen to popular forms of music.
There are two types of pentatonic scale; the major and the minor pentatonic scale. Both of these are important, and both are widely used in blues and rock guitar playing. This is especially true of the minor pentatonic scale, which has come to define the sound of blues and rock music.
Looking at the scale formulae in this way, it is somewhat challenging to understand how to apply the blues scale to your playing. But this all changes when you see the shapes of the minor blues scale. Here they are in the key of A minor:
The diagram here shows the shapes of the minor blues scale. The notes in green are the root and octave notes (in this example they are the notes of A), and the notes in blue are the new notes from the blues scale.
As noted above, the easiest way to understand and view the blues scale, is as a pentatonic scale with the addition of one extra note. So, if you want to use the scale in your soloing, all you need to do is play it in those situations where you currently use the minor pentatonic scale.
The first playing situation in which you can use the minor pentatonic or minor blues scale is nice and straight forward. If you are playing a song in a minor key, you can solo using the corresponding minor pentatonic or minor blues scale.
As an example, if you are playing a song in B minor, you can solo and improvise using the B minor pentatonic or B minor blues scale. If you are playing in the key of G minor, you can solo and improvise using the G minor pentatonic scale or G minor blues scale, and so on.
As I outlined in more detail here, blues songs are usually built around a 12 bar chord progression. This chord progression is typically comprised of dominant 7th chords. These chords are unusual, in that they blend the minor with the major. Specifically they contain the root note, a major third, perfect fifth, and a minor seventh.
This minor seventh clashes with the rest of the chord, creating a somewhat tense and unresolved sound. This sound is not harsh on the ears, and in fact it creates a feeling that we now associate with the blues.
When you solo over a chord progression built from these chords, the minor pentatonic scale or minor blues scale both make a great choice. There is already a major/minor clash contained within the chords, and so the dissonance that you would normally create by playing the minor pentatonic over a major chord progression is diminished.
And whilst there may be only one note separating the two scales, the difference that this single note makes is significant. This is because it introduces an element of chromaticism and tension into your playing.
In fact part of what makes the minor pentatonic such a popular scale amongst blues guitarists (and guitarists more generally) is that you can play it in a wide range of different contexts, without hitting any notes that create a lot of tension or dissonance.
Here the first shape of the A minor pentatonic scale is played over an A minor chord. And as you can hopefully hear, there is no sound of dissonance or tension whatsoever. The same is true if you hold or repeat any of the notes within the minor pentatonic scale.
The same is also true over 12 bar blues progressions and in most (if not all) contexts where you are able to play the minor pentatonic scale. Of course, there are notes that sound more harmonious over different chords. But when using the minor pentatonic, you are never at great risk of hitting a note that really makes you wince.
Here, the blue note at the 8th fret of the G string (in the first shape of the A minor blues scale) is played over the A minor chord. And as you can hopefully hear, this creates a harsh dissonance that is really quite unpleasant.
To be an effective blues guitarist, you need to be able to make your listeners feel emotion. And one of the best ways to create emotion is to manipulate tension. You want to be able to build a sense of tension, before releasing it at the right moment.
As mentioned above, you can use the minor blues scale and minor pentatonic scales interchangeably. The only key difference is that when you play the blues scale, you also have to consider how to effectively utilise the blue note.
The key to success here, is to use the blue not sparingly. You do not want to stick around on this note and let it ring out. Otherwise you will end up with the harsh and grating sound you can hear on the audio clip above.
In other words, use the blue note to travel between all of the other notes in the minor pentatonic scale. In this way you will create a sense of tension in your playing, but it will only be momentary.
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