Guitar How-To

Blues guitar music has a distinctive sound. This sound is produced by the addition of an extra note to the pentatonic minor scale. The extra note is a flattened fifth note of the scale. If you are playing in the key of A minor, the extra note – or blue note – is E flat. Why do you need to learn all this stuff? Because if you learn your blues scales and practice then relentlessly you will find that you will have been transformed from an ugly duckling to an ugly blues guitarist who can improvise anywhere, any time.

Here is the pentatonic scale in the key of A minor:

e|——————————5–8–5—————————-
B|————————5–8———-8–5———————–
G|——————-5–7——————–7–5——————
D|————–5–7——————————-7–5————
A|———5–7——————————————7–5——
E|–5–8——————————————————8–5-

Here is the blues scale in the key of A minor:

e|——————————–5-8-5—————————
B|—————————5-8———8-5———————-
G|———————5-7-8—————–8-7-5—————-
D|—————-5-7——————————7-5————
A|———5-6-7—————————————7-6-5——
E|–5–8—————————————————–8–5-

For info on blues chord progressions see my post on The Blues Scale And The I IV V Progression.

Here is a lesson on the blues scale from Justin Sandercoe:

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