The blues scale is your passport to soulful guitar playing, a six-note powerhouse that resonates deeply in blues, rock, and country genres. Think of it as the pentatonic scale’s cooler cousin, enhanced with a single chromatic note – the iconic “blue note” – that injects that unmistakable bluesy flavor into your riffs and solos.
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Mastering the Blues Scale on Guitar: Your Gateway to Improvisation
Learning the blues scale is more than just memorizing notes; it’s about unlocking your ability to improvise over diverse chord progressions, from the classic 12-bar blues to electrifying rock anthems. Beyond improvisation, practicing this scale sharpens your ear, allowing you to identify and incorporate new bluesy licks into your own unique style.
Just like pentatonic scales, the blues scale comes in both major and minor flavors. In this guide, we’ll focus on the foundational A minor blues scale, a cornerstone for blues guitarists. We’ll explore four essential positions to play this scale, learn three adaptable shapes for playing in any key, and finally, put it all together by jamming over a 12-bar blues in A and exploring practical blues scale exercises.
Deconstructing the A Minor Blues Scale: Notes and Intervals
The A minor blues scale is built from six notes that create that signature blues sound:
- A
- C
- D
- D# (Eb) – The Blue Note
- E
- G
These notes, regardless of the key, are defined by specific intervals: Root, Minor 3rd, Perfect 4th, Diminished 5th (Blue Note), Perfect 5th, and Minor 7th. In terms of steps, the intervals are: whole and a half, whole, half, half, whole and a half, and whole.
That D# (or Eb), the fourth note in our A minor example, is the magic ingredient – the blue note. The chromatic movement from D to D# to E creates that characteristic sliding, bending blues sound that sets this scale apart. It’s the soul of the blues, right in your fingertips.
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Exploring A Minor Blues Scale Positions on the Guitar Neck
Like any scale, the A minor blues scale can be played in multiple positions along the guitar neck. We’ll break down four key positions to get you started.
When reading the following diagrams: ‘O’ represents an open string, and the numbers 1-4 indicate finger placement: 1 (index), 2 (middle), 3 (ring), and 4 (pinky).
1st Position (Open Position)
For the 1st position, also known as the open position, use your fingers on frets 1 through 4: index finger for the 1st fret, middle for the 2nd, ring for the 3rd, and pinky for the 4th fret.
5th Position (E-Shaped)
In the 5th position, align your index finger with the 5th fret. Fingering follows consecutively: middle finger on the 6th, ring on the 7th, and pinky on the 8th fret. This position begins on the 5th fret of the low E string and is often referred to as the “E-shaped” blues scale due to its resemblance to the E major/minor barre chord shape.
7th Position (D-Shaped)
The 7th position A minor blues scale starts with your index finger on the 7th fret of the D string. A slight shift is needed here: as you ascend to the B string, move your hand up one fret so your index finger reaches the 8th fret. This position mirrors the shape of a D major/minor barre chord, hence its nickname “D-shaped” blues scale.
12th Position (A-Shaped)
To play the A minor blues scale in the 12th position, place your index finger on the 12th fret of the A string. This position also involves a shift: upon reaching the B string, shift your hand up one fret so your index finger lands on the 13th fret. Then, revert back to the original hand position for the high E string. This is known as the “A-shaped” blues scale, echoing the A major/minor barre chord shape.
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Kirk Fletcher on the Blues Pentatonic Scale
Watch blues master Kirk Fletcher (renowned for his work with the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the Mannish Boys) break down the essential pentatonic blues guitar scale, a crucial stepping stone to the full blues scale and blues improvisation. He shares his favorite licks and phrases based on this foundational scale.
Blues Scale Tabs: Moveable Shapes for Any Key
Now that you’ve visualized the E-shaped, A-shaped, and D-shaped blues scales with diagrams, let’s translate them into tablature. Tabs provide a direct, string-and-fret roadmap for playing these scales both ascending and descending.
The beauty of these shapes lies in their movability. These patterns are not confined to A minor; they are templates you can slide up and down the neck to play the minor blues scale in any key. Knowing your notes on the E, A, and D strings is key to effectively transposing these scales across the fretboard.
E-Shaped Blues Scale Tablature
The “E-shaped” designation comes from its starting point on the low E string. Begin with your index finger on the 5th fret of the low E string (root note A) and follow the tab to navigate the scale upwards and downwards.
A-Shaped Blues Scale Tablature
This is the “A-shaped” scale because it originates on the A string. Position your index finger on the 12th fret of the A string (root note A) and use the tab to guide you through the ascending and descending patterns. Remember the slight hand shift upwards on the B string and back again on the high E string!
D-Shaped Blues Scale Tablature
The D-shaped A minor blues scale begins on the 7th fret of the D string (root note A). Start with your index finger on the 7th fret, and prepare to shift your hand up a fret as you ascend past the G string to reach the B string. Descending requires a reverse shift: back to the starting position on the G string, and then another shift upwards when you reach the low E string.
Blues Scale in Action: Playing the 12-Bar Blues Progression
The blues scale truly shines when played over chord progressions, especially the quintessential 12-bar blues. This foundational blues structure typically uses three chords: the I, IV, and V chords of a key. In A minor blues, these are A minor (I), D minor (IV), and E minor (V). However, in a traditional blues shuffle, you’ll often play simplified, two-string versions of these chords, focusing on the root and fifth.
The 12-bar blues progression has an instantly recognizable sound, deeply embedded in blues music, early rock and roll, and country.
To capture the authentic 12-bar blues feel, play with downstrokes, emphasizing beats one and three of each measure to create that characteristic shuffle rhythm. The following tab illustrates a standard 12-bar blues pattern in A.
Blues Scale Practice Exercises for Guitarists
Consistent practice is key to internalizing the blues scale and making it your own. Start by practicing each scale position in isolation until you can confidently play the A minor blues scale in all four positions.
Next, play along with a 12-bar blues backing track in A. Experiment with the A minor blues scale in each position using a syncopated rhythm. Listen closely to the backing track and phrase your scale runs in sections, treating each string as a musical phrase. Once comfortable, challenge yourself by breaking the scale into smaller, three- or four-note phrases that span across strings.
This type of focused practice not only builds technique but also encourages improvisation and can spark your own unique blues licks and riffs.
Another effective exercise is to systematically move each scale shape up and down the guitar neck. Starting with the E-shaped blues scale, play it ascending and descending, beginning at the 1st fret and moving up one fret with each repetition of the shape. Continue this pattern up to the 13th fret, then reverse direction, moving down one fret per cycle until you return to the 1st fret.
This exercise expands your ear training by exposing you to the scale in every key across a 12-fret range. Enhance this exercise further by verbally naming the root note of each scale as you move up and down the neck, reinforcing your fretboard knowledge.
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