The Blues Scale on Guitar: Shapes, Licks and How to Use It

If you've ever heard a guitar solo that made you feel something in your chest, there's a good chance it used the blues scale. From early Delta blues to classic rock, from Texas shuffles to modern indie, this one scale has shaped more guitar solos than any other.

The good news is that it's one of the easiest scales to learn. If you already know the minor pentatonic, you're five sixths of the way there. If you don't, this guide will teach you the shape from scratch, show you the "blue note" that gives the scale its character, and give you licks you can play over a blues today.

What is the blues scale?

The blues scale is a six-note scale. It's built from the minor pentatonic scale, which has five notes, plus one extra note called the flat fifth, or "blue note."

That flat fifth sits right between the fourth and the fifth. On its own it sounds tense and a little dissonant, but when you slide or pass through it on the way to another note, it creates the bending, crying quality that defines the blues.

The A blues scale: box shape

The most useful shape to learn first is the "box" position at the 5th fret, in the key of A. Put your index finger at the 5th fret and use one finger per fret: index for 5, middle for 6, ring for 7 and pinky for 8.

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

The blue notes in this shape are on the 6th fret of the A string and the 8th fret of the G string. Everything else is the A minor pentatonic box you may already know. The root note A appears on the 5th fret of the low E string, the 7th fret of the D string, and the 5th fret of the high E string. Those are your home bases.

How to use the blue note

Beginners often treat the blue note like any other note and land on it, which sounds wrong. The trick is to treat it as a passing note: something you move through on the way somewhere else.

• Chromatic walk-up: play D, E♭, E in a row (A string, frets 5, 6, 7). This walk from the fourth to the fifth is the most classic blues move there is.
• Walk-down: reverse it: E, E♭, D. Great for ending a phrase.
• Bend to it: bend the 7th fret of the G string (D) up a half step to reach E♭, or a whole step to reach E.
• Hammer and pull: hammer from the 7th to the 8th fret on the G string and pull back off for a quick, bluesy flick.

Five beginner blues licks

Here are five short licks in A. Learn them slowly, then use them as building blocks for your own solos.

Lick 1: The walk-up

G|---------------5-|
D|-----------7-----|
A|-5-6-7-----------|

Walk up from D through the blue note to E, then up to the root on the D string and C on the G string.

Lick 2: The bend and release

e|-------5-|
B|-8b10-8--|
G|---------|

Bend the 8th fret of the B string (G) up a whole step to A, release, then hit the root on the high E. Our guide to guitar vibrato will help these bends sing.

Lick 3: The G-string flick

B|-----------5-|
G|-5-7h8p7-5---|

A quick hammer-on and pull-off through the blue note gives this lick its swagger. See our guide to hammer-ons and pull-offs if the technique is new.

Lick 4: The turnaround descent

G|-8-7-5-----|
D|-------5-7-|

A descending run through the blue note back to the root, perfect for the last two bars of a blues.

Lick 5: The call and response

e|-8-5---------8-5-------|
B|-----8-5---------8-5---|
G|-----------7---------7-|

Play the phrase, pause for a beat, then play it again. Repetition with space is the heart of blues phrasing.

Soloing over a 12-bar blues

The blues scale was made for the 12-bar blues, the most famous progression in popular music. In A, the chords are A7, D7 and E7. You can play the A blues scale over all three chords, and it will sound right.

To start, put on an A blues backing track (search for "slow blues in A backing track") and play a lick, then leave space, then play another. Don't try to fill every beat. Some of the greatest blues solos are made of just a handful of notes played with feeling. Our guide to the 12-bar blues explains the progression in detail.

Target notes for each chord

Once you're comfortable, try ending phrases on notes that belong to the chord that's playing:

• Over A7: land on A (root) or G (the seventh).
• Over D7: land on D or A.
• Over E7: land on E or D.

This small change makes your solos sound like they're following the music rather than wandering over it.

Moving the blues scale to other keys

The box shape is movable. The root is under your index finger on the low E string, so to play in a different key, just move the shape so your index finger is on the new root.

If you're not sure where a note is on the low E string, our guide to guitar fretboard notes has a full chart.

The E blues scale in open position

Many blues and rock songs are in E, and the open position lets you use the ringing open strings:

e|-----------------------0-3-|
B|-------------------0-3-----|
G|--------------0-2-3--------|
D|--------0-2----------------|
A|--0-1-2--------------------|
E|0-3------------------------|

The blue notes here are the 1st fret of the A string and the 3rd fret of the G string. Open strings make it easy to add bass notes and play riffs that mix single notes and chords.

The major blues scale

There's also a major blues scale, which has a sweeter, more country-flavored sound. It's built from the major pentatonic plus a flat third. In A, the notes are A, B, C, C♯, E and F♯. A neat shortcut: the A major blues scale uses the same shape as the F♯ minor blues scale. Many players mix the major and minor blues sounds in the same solo, which is a hallmark of players in the B.B. King tradition.

Start with the minor blues scale first. Once it feels natural, the major version is a great way to add variety.

Making it sound like the blues

The blues scale on its own is just notes. These techniques are what bring it to life:

• Bends: pushing a string to raise the pitch. The most common bend in A is the 7th fret of the G string, bent up a whole step.
• Vibrato: a gentle, repeated wobble on a held note. It's the difference between a note that sits there and one that sings.
• Slides: sliding into a note from a fret below adds a vocal, expressive quality.
• Dynamics: play some phrases softly and others hard. Blues is conversational.
• Space: silence between phrases gives the listener time to feel what you just played.
• Repetition: repeat a good lick two or three times with small variations. Blues players do this constantly.

A 15-minute practice plan

1. 3 minutes: play the A blues box up and down at a slow tempo, naming the blue notes.
2. 3 minutes: practice the chromatic walk-up and walk-down on the A string.
3. 4 minutes: learn one lick until you can play it without looking.
4. 5 minutes: improvise over a slow blues backing track using only that lick and the box shape.

Add a new lick every few days. After a month, you'll have a small vocabulary you can mix and match in real solos. When you're ready to go further, our guide on how to improvise on guitar shows you how to build longer, more musical solos.

Common mistakes

• Landing on the blue note. Pass through it; don't end phrases on it.
• Running up and down the scale. Scales are a vocabulary, not a solo. Play short phrases with gaps.
• Out-of-tune bends. Check your bends against the target note fretted normally.
• Playing too fast. Feel matters more than speed in the blues. Slow and expressive always wins.
• Ignoring rhythm. Blues usually has a shuffle or swing feel. Lock your phrases into that groove.

Next steps

Learn the A blues box this week and pick two licks to master. Then put on a backing track and play. Your first solos will be simple, and that's perfect. The blues rewards feel and patience more than technical tricks.

Fretwork's path takes you from your first scale to blues, rock and other styles, one manageable step at a time. The first two stages are free, no card required.

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