Scales › minor blues

minor blues scale

minor blues, ♭5 blue note

minor blues on the guitar: the fretboard diagram

Here is the minor blues scale laid out across the whole neck, from fret 0 to fret 15. The guide tones (3rd and 7th) are highlighted — they're what makes the scale's color sing. Use the key selector above to shift the shape along the neck and find the positions in your key.

What color?

Minor pentatonic plus the blue note (b5/#11) that slips between the eleventh and the fifth: all the cry and color of the blues. The go-to tool for phrasing over a blues or a minor with expressive, vocal tension.

Origin & history

The blues scale: the minor pentatonic augmented by the "blue note" (♭5). Born of African American music, it is the basic vocabulary of blues, rock, and jazz.

Listen

• "The Thrill Is Gone" — B.B. King

Which chords to play it on?

The jazz consensus (Aebersold) recommends it on:

Try it in a real chart

Paste a chord chart into the tool: Pentania tells you, chord by chord, when this scale fits — and what other colors are open to you. Open the tool →