Slow Burn
Smouldering slow minor blues in C — take your time and let every note cry.
Jam this track with live chords →The Blues Scale
Take the minor pentatonic and add one note — the flat five. That's the blues scale: 1, b3, 4, b5, 5, b7. The b5 is the "blue note", the dissonance that gives blues its ache. In A: A, C, D, Eb, E, G.
How to treat the blue note
The b5 is a passing tone, not a destination. Slide through it — b3 to 4 to b5 to 5 is the most-played four-note move in electric blues — or bend into it and resolve. Sitting on it sounds wrong fast; passing through it sounds like Chicago. That's the whole technique.
A blues scale
The guitar-friendliest blues key. Position 1 sits at frets 5–8, and the open strings double three of the six notes:
Practice the A blues scale on the interactive fretboard →
E blues scale
The other home key of the blues — open-position friendly, and the key of a thousand shuffles. Notes: E, G, A, Bb, B, D:
Notes in every key
| Key | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | A | C | D | Eb | E | G |
| Bb | Bb | Db | Eb | Fb | F | Ab |
| B | B | D | E | F | F# | A |
| C | C | Eb | F | Gb | G | Bb |
| C# | C# | E | F# | G | G# | B |
| D | D | F | G | Ab | A | C |
| Eb | Eb | Gb | Ab | B𝄫 | Bb | Db |
| E | E | G | A | Bb | B | D |
| F | F | Ab | Bb | Cb | C | Eb |
| F# | F# | A | B | C | C# | E |
| G | G | Bb | C | Db | D | F |
| Ab | Ab | Cb | Db | E𝄫 | Eb | Gb |
Minor vs major blues scale
Everything above is the minor blues scale — the default meaning of "blues scale". There's also a major blues scale (1, 2, b3, 3, 5, 6 — major pentatonic plus a b3 passing tone), the brighter uptown sound you hear in swing and western swing. Same idea: one added chromatic note, treated as seasoning.
Jam it over a real track
A scale page can’t teach you the blues — a slow blues track can. These are free; play them right here or open JamLab to watch the changes:
Greasy Shuffle
Swaggering blues shuffle in E — open position, wide-open jam.
Jam this track with live chords →Want more to jam over? Browse all blues backing tracks.