The blues scale — adding the blue note

The “blue note”

The blues scale is minor pentatonic plus one extra note: the ♭5 (also called the “tritone” or “blue note”).

• Minor pentatonic: 1 ♭3 4 5 ♭7
• Blues scale: 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7

In A: A C D E♭ E G.

Why the ♭5 makes everything bluesy

The ♭5 is the most dissonant note in Western music. Sit on it and it sounds painful. Pass through it and it sounds bluesy.

The blues scale teaches you that the ♭5 is a passing tone — never a destination. Slide into it from the 4 and immediately to the 5 (or vice versa). That little half-step rub between 4-♭5-5 is the entire emotional engine of the blues.

On the fretboard

How real bluesmen use it

• Bending into it: bend the 4 up a half-step to the ♭5, then to the 5. Or bend the 5 down to the ♭5 and back.
• Hammer/pull: hammer 4→♭5→5 in quick succession.
• Quick passing: never sit on ♭5. Touch and leave.

This 4–♭5–5 fragment, played thousands of different ways, is the heart of B.B. King, Albert King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Mayer, Joe Bonamassa, and every blues player since 1940.

Major blues scale

There’s a major blues scale too: major pentatonic plus a ♭3 (used as a passing tone between 2 and 3).

• Major pentatonic: 1 2 3 5 6
• Major blues: 1 2 ♭3 3 5 6

In A: A B C C♯ E F♯.

This is the country/bluegrass-blues sound — players like Brent Mason, Brad Paisley, the Allman Brothers. The major and minor blues scales can be mixed over a 12-bar blues for maximum flavor.

Try this

Loop an A7 chord (the I7 of an A blues). Solo using the A blues scale. Make a habit of always passing through the ♭5 (E♭ at fret 6 of the A string, fret 1 of the high E, etc.) — bend or hammer into it, then immediately leave to the 5 or 4.

That single technique habit is what separates “playing a scale” from “playing the blues”.