Another scale??? Yes and no. Now you know your pentatonic scales and the intervals, it’s fairly easy to remember and understand the Blues scale:
- The minor blues scale is the minor pentatonic with a flat fifth added.
- The major blues scale is the major pentatonic with a minor third
Bonus: the major #5 and the minor b3 are in the same spot (not the same note)! Remember one, and you know the others.
See below both A major (5th pentatonic position) and A minor (first pentatonic position) blues scale
The chromatic addition adds that familiar bluesy tone, but it can most definitely be used in other music genres. You will found it a lot in country and rock for instance.
How to use the blues scale?
You should be using it exactly like you’re using your pentatonics (see Pentatonics and soloing).
- Bends: If you experimented enough with your pentatonics, you might have started to bend some notes. And perhaps you noticed that bending the 4th in a minor scale or the 2nd in a major scale was giving that blues-y sound… now you understand why: bending brings you to that blue note (in minor the 4th to b5, in major 2nd to b3).
It takes some practice, fingers and ears, to reach that note and make it sound perfectly.
Somehow important: That added note could also be referred as the blue note. Technically the blue note is slightly lower but that’s too much theory we probably don’t need, still it’s important to know so your bends are not exactly trying to reach the semitone.
- Chromatism: bending is fun but just playing the note is perfectly acceptable too and pianists will agree since they can’t bend their strings and still use the blues scale. The blue note is in-between two notes of the scale so use that opportunity to play it when you’re going from one to another. Hammer-on, pull-off, slide, your creativity is the limit.
All Positions
You should probably not learn them all, but learning the first positions is a great start. Ultimately you will want to play the scale that falls right under the chord you’re playing.
Below all positions in the key of A:
