On this page you’ll find blues scale guitar TAB, patterns and notation that will allow you to play blues scales all over the guitar neck. Read on for a complete blues scale guitar lesson…
If you have any questions about anything covered on this page then feel free to ask them in the comments section below; we’ll be happy to help!
For a guitar lesson on using blues scales, with an example guitar solo and a backing track for you to play your own blues solo over, see this page: How To Use Blues Scales.
A Beginner's Guide To The Blues Scale
After the pentatonic minor scale and major scale, the blues scale is probably the most widely-used scale in guitar improvisation. Despite its name, the blues scale is not only used in blues music; it’s also regularly used in rock, metal, jazz, and many other musical styles.
As we’ll find in the notes in a blues scale section of this page, the blues scale is simply an embellishment of the standard pentatonic minor scale; an additional note is all that separates the blues scale from the pentatonic minor scale.
Basic Blues Guitar Pattern If you need to know how to read guitar scale patterns, then you’ll find a complete lesson on this page: Guitar Scale Patterns
Minor Pentatonic Scale Guitar Lesson With Backing Tracks
Get to know the sound of the blues scale by playing the pattern below. Further down the page you’ll find four additional blues scale patterns plus TABs.
In the fretboard patterns on this page, the tonic note of the scale (i.e. the ‘C’s in a C blues scale, or the ‘G’s in a G blues scale) are shown in green.
Use the pattern shown above to play a C blues scale by positioning your hand at the 8th fret. In this position the green notes on the diagram correspond to C notes on the fretboard – as shown in the TAB below:
Extended Pentatonic Lick In The Key Of A Minor
After playing the TAB you may have noticed that the scale pattern includes an additional note that extends the scale beyond the second octave.
Scale diagrams often include notes that are either above or below the tonic notes in this way. This is because you’ll usually be using the scale while improvising, so knowing which extra notes are available in that fretboard position can be useful.
If you just want to play the scale then start and stop on the green tonic notes (as shown in the TAB).
Guitar Scales Explained
The diagram below shows the first blues scale pattern together with four more patterns. We’ll take a closer look at each of the new patterns below.
The basic blues scale pattern (pattern 1) can be extended up and down the guitar fretboard using the additional scale patterns. You’ll see how to join the patterns up in order to create longer lines further down the page.
A tab example has been provided for each of the new patterns. The tab shows how the pattern can be used to play either a 1 octave or a 2 octave C blues scale. (Patterns 1 & 5 span 2 octaves, the others a single octave.)
Pentatonic Scale Extension
Remember that the scale patterns may contain notes that extend the scale, either upwards or downwards. If you just want to play a single octave, play from a green note to the next green note, as shown in the tabs below.Blues Scale Pattern 2
Play this pattern starting at the 10th fret of the 4th (D) string for a 1-octave C blues scale, as shown in the TAB below:
The TAB below shows how pattern 3 can be used to play a 1-octave C blues scale either in open position (in which case one of the black circles on the diagram would represent the open G string), or starting in 13th position (i.e. with your index finger ready to play at the 13th fret).
G Minor Pentatonic Scale In Open G Tuning
This means that there will always be a blues scale ‘under your fingers’ wherever you are on the fretboard… whatever key you’re playing in!
You’ll also be able to link the patterns together, giving you the option of playing lines that go beyond a single fretboard position (see the next section).
For example, if you only knew the basic blues scale pattern (pattern 1) and were improvising over a chord progression in C, then you’d be limited to playing in 8th position (i.e. with your index finger positioned over the 8th fret.)
Fingerstyle Blues Duo Inspired By Guitarnick
If you also knew blues scale pattern no. 3, then you could also improvise using a C blues scale in open position, or in 12th / 13th position (the pattern requires changing position). This would give you access to more notes.
When playing with scales, you can extend your lines by linking together adjacent scale patterns. Below you’ll find a TAB example of this. Once you’ve seen how it works, try creating your own multi-position blues licks.
The blues scale contains a minor 3rd, giving it a minor tonality. This means that it can be used to improvise over minor chord sequences. For example, the A blues scale could be used to improvise over the following chord progression:
A Blues Scale Guitar: Blues Scale In A Tab, Notation & Scale Patterns
However, the blues scale is unusual because it also sounds good over blues chord progressions in major keys. For example, you could use a G blues scale to improvise over the following 12 bar blues in G:
The blues scale differs from the pentatonic minor scale only by the addition of a single note: the diminished 5th (also known as the ‘flattened 5th’, ‘flat five’ or ‘blues note’).
Try and remember where the blues notes are in each of the 5 shapes. Then, when improvising, you can slide to or from them, string bend into them, play them subtly or stress them, emphasizing their bluesy sound.
Playing Scales Across The Fretboard Fast, Fluidly & Musically
In the diagram below, all of the blues notes in each of the 5 blues scale patterns are represented by blue circles:
We hope that you have enjoyed learning about the blues scale. It’s one of the main scales used in lead guitar solos; in fact, it’s the only scale that some guitarists know!
Visit the following pages on Guitar Command to find out more about guitar scales and how to use them in your own playing:
Pentatonic Licks To Spice Up Your Solos
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Pentatonic scale extensions are a good way to move out of the common box patterns typically used the learn the scale. The extended pentatonic scale naturally creates a flow that helps us break out of the feeling of being “trapped” when strictly playing within the boxed patterns and allows you to seamlessly move between scale positions.
Extended Pentatonic Structures
Extending the pentatonic scale is also a great way to expand your knowledge of the fretboard and help to visualize the scale connections up and down the fretboard.
For review, the pentatonic scale is a 5 note scale derived from its parent major or minor scale. For the examples in this lesson, we’ll be using the minor pentatonic. The minor pentatonic scale consists of the following intervals:
These 5 intervals can be found all over the fretboard and if you’re familiar with the CAGED system, then you know the pentatonic scale can be broken into 5 different positions or patterns. These positions, or boxes, give us an easy way to visualize the scale across the fretboard.
How To Play The Jimmy Page Extended Blues Scale
It’s important to note that all of the positions contain the same five notes of the scale. So while we tend to learn the scale vertically (across the fretboard), the scale can be played up and down the fretboard as well by extending the scale horizontally between positions.
In this lesson we’ll be extending the A minor pentatonic scale, but the concept applies to all minor and major pentatonic scales. Let’s get started.
Extending the pentatonic scale simply refers to taking the traditional scale shape and extending it into an adjacent position. So, instead of playing the scale across the fretboard vertically, you transition up or down the fretboard. The extended pentatonic scale allows you to fluidly move between the pentatonic positions, particularly with ascending/descending runs.
The Three Types Of Minor Blues Scale
Since the first position of the minor pentatonic scale is far and away the most used, we’re going use this position as our starting point on which we’ll build our extensions. However, you can start from any and all positions as the concept isn’t limited to the first position.
Also, it’s important to note that each extension can be treated as its own separate scale and practiced as any other pentatonic scale shape. Any exercises you’ve applied to the regular, CAGED, scale shapes can be applied to these as well.
Transitioning to another position in the scale can be done multiple ways. I tend to prefer sliding up to the next position in most cases, but sometimes you can straight pick it. How you transition between positions is up to you, and when applied in the real world will likely be influenced by the musical
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