Learning Guitar Scales

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blues guitar scales are just minor pentatonic scales plus one note which is: flat 5th, this note is called the "blue note". This scales as it name refers is used in "blues music" extensively but you can find it in heavy metal music as well as country music.

To understand and play the blues guitar scales easily, you have to take a look at pentatonic guitar scales, especially the minor pentatonic guitar scale.



While the minor pentatonic scale is built with these intervals: Root - b3 - 4 - 5 - b7 (it doesn't have the 2nd and the 6th intervals), the blues scale is built with these intervals: Root - b3 - 4 - b5 - 5 - b7 , When you play the minor pentatonic scale in the key of C you will have: C - Eb - F - G - Bb. and it looks like this on the fretboard:

E------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------
G--------------------------3---5---------------------------
D-----------------3---5------------------------------------
A--------3---6---------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------

When adding the flatted 5th note to the minor pentatonic scale, we will get the blues scale which have these notes in the key of C: C - Eb - F - F# - G - Bb, and it looks like this on the fretboard:

E------------------------------------------------------------
B------------------------------------------------------------
G-------------------------------3---5----------------------
D-----------------3---4---5-------------------------------
A--------3---6---------------------------------------------
E-----------------------------------------------------------

Note: the formula of whole and half steps used in the "blues guitar scales" is: (whole and half step, whole, half, half, whole and half step, whole).

The blues guitar scales are great scales because they add colour to your music, make sure you add them to your arsenal when learning guitar scales.