The blues scale on guitar is the minor pentatonic scale with one extra note: the flat 5. In C, the minor pentatonic is C, E flat, F, G and B flat. Add F sharp (the flat 5, also written G flat) and you’ve got the C blues scale, six notes with a harsh, expressive clash you hear all over the blues.
When I started practicing guitar, this was a big confusion for me. I wasn’t really clear about the difference between the pentatonic and the blues scale, or how and when to use it. So in this lesson I break it into seven levels: the one-note difference, hearing it, the fingering, the major blues scale, playing in time, all five positions, and finally making music with it.
What’s the difference between the pentatonic and the blues scale?
One note. That’s it. The blues scale is the minor pentatonic plus the flat 5, so to understand the blues scale, we first want to understand the pentatonic scale.
Pentatonic comes from the word penta, which means five. There are five notes in the scale. I build the minor pentatonic as 1, flat 3, 4, 5, flat 7 and back to 1. In the key of C, that’s C, E flat, F, G and B flat. C is our center.
With the blues scale, we’re adding one color, one note that’s kind of a big deal. Play C, then E flat, then F sharp, and listen. That’s the flat 5. It’s wicked harsh, very clashy, with a lot of friction between that C and that F sharp.
Listen to the masters of blues guitar, artists like BB King and Jimi Hendrix, and you can hear the flat 5 all the time, because it’s very expressive. There’s a lot of pain in that sound. I think artists using the blues idiom really express urgency with it, and that’s very appealing. It hits the heart.
Levels 2 and 3: How do you learn the blues scale on guitar?
Hear it first, then learn one fingering slowly enough to know every note. One of the easiest ways to space out is just playing scales up and down, so before we talk fingers, we connect to the sound.
- Level 2: sing it over a drone. I do this kind of exercise with any scale. Either I play a drone, or I pull up an app, or sometimes I go to YouTube and look for a cello drone in C. Then sing against it. You don’t have to sing the note names, as long as you’re listening to the colors. Sing the pentatonic, then the blues scale, and hear what that one note does.
- Level 3: learn one position, slowly. Grab one fingering of the minor blues scale. When I’m playing these notes, I’m thinking about the letters, or I’m thinking solfege, and I’m hearing everything against the C in my mind. I use alternate picking with my right hand and try to keep the sound balanced. Slow things down to the point that you can process it.
For me, I feel music is kind of expressing ideas and emotions with sounds.
Rotem Sivan
I feel this is an important step that a lot of times guitar players just skip. They just move their fingers and don’t connect. But by connecting, we’re also able to move our fingers faster. Connecting the notes, tagging them emotionally and making sure the sound is really clear is a big part of it.
Once you have the position, loop it and compare. Play just the pentatonic, then the blues scale. It’s subtle, but that flat 5 really brings a vibe. And don’t try to rush any of this. When we’re practicing and listening, we’re actually learning.
Level 4: What is the major blues scale?
The major blues scale is the major pentatonic with a flat 3 added. In C, you get 1, 2, flat 3, 3, 5 and 6, which is C, D, E flat, E, G and A. I just call it major blues.
Here’s a shortcut. The C major pentatonic uses the same notes as the classic minor pentatonic boxes almost everybody knows, the A minor pentatonic. So take one of those boxes and add the flat 5 in relation to A. In relation to C, that same note is the flat 3.
To me, it’s basically a little embellishment. You’re still playing the major pentatonic, but the flat 3 becomes a little approach note into the 3. It’s a really cool sound to mix over a C major chord. Sometimes you want to express how major it is, and sometimes you want to bring in that minor pentatonic.
So when do you use which? It’s all sounds. It’s all colors. Over a C sound, any one of these colors works, the major or the minor pentatonic. It just depends on the energy and mood you want to connect with.
Levels 5 and 6: How do you practice the blues scale in time?
Put on a metronome, play one position in a few simple subdivisions, then learn all five positions slowly and bring the click back in. A lot of the music we listen to is in time, so the rhythmic side of practice is super important.
- Level 5: one position with a click. I put the metronome on 60 BPM on quarter notes and play the scale in quarter notes, eighth notes and triplets. Just these three, nothing more. Before I even start playing, I listen to the pulse and try to feel it in my body. Sometimes I’ll even hold a C first.
- Level 6: all five positions. One position doesn’t feel free when you’re trying to solo, and luckily we have a lot of guitar to move around. Go through the five areas of the neck really slowly, still thinking about the names of the notes. Once each position is clear, put the click on and work eighth notes, triplets and 16ths. Start slow, make sure you’re holding your ground and everything’s clear, then start mixing them.
When I’m practicing, I’m trying to lock things in, so when I’m soloing and creating music, all these elements are kind of embedded in my being. If you want to go deeper on drilling five positions, I do that in my lesson on the pentatonic scale on guitar.
Level 7: How do you make music with the blues scale?
Create with it. This is probably the most important level of them all, because the five positions of the blues scale and the major blues scale aren’t going to click until we mess around with them.
Loop a chord, maybe add a little distortion, and just try to do something. Keep it very simple. In the video I’m literally playing the pentatonic and hardly doing anything, one or two notes, but there’s music there because there’s a little groove. You can find a loop online, whatever you want, as long as you’re making music. If you need chords to loop, start with these blues guitar chords.
Try this today. Put on a C drone and sing the C minor pentatonic against it. Then add the F sharp and sing the blues scale. Pick up the guitar, loop a C chord, and play one position of the blues scale using only one or two notes at a time until you find a little groove.
If you want a framework for this, Simple Blues Soloing is about hearing, feeling and creating over the blues, so your solos come from your ears instead of muscle memory. And for some ready-made vocabulary, grab the 5 Licks Cheat Sheet, a free PDF of five licks that work over any blues or rock track.
Frequently asked questions
What’s the difference between the pentatonic scale and the blues scale?
One note. The minor pentatonic has five notes: 1, flat 3, 4, 5 and flat 7. The blues scale adds the flat 5, which gives it a harsh, clashy sound with a lot of friction against the root. In C, that added note is F sharp, also written G flat.
What notes are in the C blues scale?
The C minor blues scale is C, E flat, F, F sharp (G flat), G and B flat. That’s the C minor pentatonic (C, E flat, F, G, B flat) with the flat 5 added between the 4 and the 5.
What is the major blues scale on guitar?
It’s the major pentatonic with a flat 3 added as a little approach note into the 3. In C, that’s C, D, E flat, E, G and A. It shares its notes with the A blues scale, so you can build it from the A minor pentatonic boxes you already know by adding A’s flat 5.
Should I learn the pentatonic or the blues scale first?
Start with the pentatonic. To understand the blues scale, we first want to understand the pentatonic scale, because the blues scale is that same scale plus one note. Hear the pentatonic clearly against a drone, then add the flat 5 and listen to what changes.
Pick one position, loop a chord, and play two notes with a groove. Go make some music.
