How to Learn the Blues Scale

The blues scale, built around the minor pentatonic scale, is the backbone to rock and roll, R&B, country and blues, as well as much of jazz. If you are just getting going in your study of songwriting or improvising, getting a good grasp on the blues scale and how to use it should be one of your first priorities. It is an all purpose musical figure, and is always a good thing to fall back on when you momentarily run out of ideas. Here is how to translate a blues scale into any key, and use it to your advantage when first starting out in your musical improvisation studies.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• An instrument of your choice.
• Some music transcription paper.

The Blues Scale: A Versatile Musician's Tool

1. Start with the tonic, or root note. Use the diagram to start out in the key of "C." In this key, then, the root note is "C."

2. Proceed to the second note of the blues scale, a minor third (or flat-third) above the tonic. In this example for the key of "C," the second note in the blues scale is "Eb." The minor third is one of the two key "blue notes" within the blues scale, and is really often played, on those instruments capable of bending pitch, just a little below the true note, so that it "whines" or "groans." This is called "bluing" by jazz players.

3. Train your ears to hear third note in the blues scale, a fourth step from the tonic note. In the key of "C," the fourth is "F."

4. Pay close attention to the fourth note in the blues scale, a sharp-fourth, or flat-fifth, from the tonic. This interval is also called the "tritone." It is the most dissonant note from the root note (tonic) of the scale, and can add a lot of vinegar to your playing if used with care. Use it too much, and you will just sound confused. In the key of "C," the tritone is "F#"

5. Let your ear take you to the fifth note in the blues scale, appropriately, a fifth away from the tonic of the scale. This is the most natural interval from the tonic within the blues scale, and is often used while improvising to turn from one phrase to the next. Think of it as a natural link. In the key of "C," the fifth is "G."

6. Find the sixth note in the blues scale. The sixth note is a minor seventh (flat-seventh) away from the tonic. This is the other "blue note" within the blues scale, and again, is often blued a little for emphasis, especially when singing. In the key of "C," this note is "Bb"

7. Round out your blues scale when practicing it by playing the octave (eighth) note from your root note. In the key of "C," this is the "C" one octave above where you started.

8. Transcribe the blues scale, using this pattern, into every key you are comfortable with on your instrument. Ideally you should be able to run blues scales quickly up and down in all keys, as this is a good "backup" tool in improvising if you should get lost in the chord progression. Practice hard, and you will soon have it down!

Tips & Warnings

• Here is an easy little reference when translating the blues scale into any key. The numbers mean the steps of the scale, starting with 1, which is the root note: 1 - b3 - 4 - #4 - 5 - b7 - 8.