A Blues Scale

What is the A Blues Scale?

The blues scale is the minor pentatonic with one crucial addition: the ♭5, often called the "blue note." That single chromatic passing tone is what gives blues guitar its gritty, vocal-like quality — a sound so iconic it defined an entire genre and continues to shape rock, funk, and jazz to this day. Here's how the A Blues Scale lays out on the fretboard.

Notes and Positions

Minor pentatonic with the 'blue note' (b5). On bass, the fretboard view helps you visualize where the important tones sit for building lines across positions. Use a finger-per-fret approach first, then add shifts only when the line needs a wider range. In the key of A, the notes are: A, C, D, Eb, E, G.

How to Use It

You'll often hear it in Blues, Rock, Jazz, and R&B. A good way to internalize the sound is to sing the root, then sing a few scale degrees before you play them.

Start with the root on beat 1, add the 5th on beat 3, then work the other scale tones in as passing notes. Use the interactive fretboard above to spot repeats of the same note on different strings and frets.