Blues scales are derived from pentatonic scales and add one additional chromatic note (called the “blue”), making their sound distinctive from major and minor scales.
This lesson will show you how to construct an F blues scale using both treble and bass clef notation, requiring manual addition of flats/sharps as necessary for certain notes.
1. F-sharp
F-sharp is the starting note of the natural minor scale and also forms part of its blues scale in F. A blues scale is a modified pentatonic scale which features an additional flat fifth note; as a result it can be played without needing accidentals to play keys with key signatures without difficulty.
The F blues scale contains all the notes found in an F minor pentatonic scale with one additional flat fifth note added on top. As such, it may also be known as an F minor blues scale or Fm pentonic minor blues scale or simply as “The F Blues Scale.”
When playing music based on the F Blues Scale, it’s essential to keep in mind that chords will differ from those used with major or minor scales due to its limited six-note structure (vs the seven in most scales). Some chords will need to be avoided when using this scale instead.
The F Blues Scale can also be an ideal scale to use when fingering fretboard notes, since it can be played both open position and all other positions of a fretboard. This makes the F Blues Scale useful on any instrument capable of playing its notes such as piano, bass guitar, saxophone trumpet trombone clarinet and flute.
F-sharp is often utilized for piano music, specifically nocturnes and barcarolles. Franz Liszt was particularly fond of this key and composed several soothing yet meditative pieces within it; these included his Harmonies Poetiques et Religieuses S.173 set as well as Smetana’s 3 Polkas de Salon set.
2. Ab-sharp
The Ab-sharp blues scale has only six notes (unlike major and minor scales which both feature seven). It consists of the five notes found within minor pentatonic scale plus an added flatted fifth note, giving this unique scale its distinct timbre.
Due to the closeness of many notes in this scale, it may be necessary to assign individual scale degrees a different note name; this is particularly evident for the 4th scale degree that forms the “blue note”. Additionally, since this scale is derived from minor pentatonic scale theory it will sound very familiar for anyone who has previously learned it.
Beginners may find it beneficial to start learning the ‘root’ of the blues scale – specifically, F sharp minor pentatonic scale first shape ascending – because its shapes are identical with its notes and you will get acquainted with both root and blues notes quickly.
Step two should involve practicing this scale through the blues form in quarter notes, in order to become familiar with its progression and identify any key moments of tension or release in the form. You need to get familiar with these points because they will serve as springboards for further improvisational explorations.
Once you’re comfortable with the previous exercise, try shifting the chord progression to other keys to gain insight into how changing between major and minor blues scales affect the chord progression. Spend some time getting familiar with F major blues scale as this will provide a solid basis for improvisation across a range of genres such as rock and jazz.
3. Bb-sharp
The blues scale contains six notes, as opposed to the major and minor scales which each contain seven notes. It is derived from minor pentatonic scale with an added flat fifth known as “blue note.”
This flat fifth adds tension to a scale, contributing to its blues sound. Additionally, it can be bowded for added expression; making this particularly helpful on an acoustic guitar where pitch bending isn’t an option.
Flat fifths provide another advantage to improvisers when it comes to avoiding collisions between chords and scales when improvising, by allowing you to play one scale up the neck before immediately switching over to playing a descending chord without moving back down to play an ascending scale – thus eliminating clashes or key signature issues altogether.
Blues scales can be created through two methods. One way is to use the minor pentatonic scale and add its fifth tone (a process known as minor blues scaling), while the other way involves simply adding that fifth tone onto an original heptatonic scale.
Once you’ve learned the six notes of the blues scale, it is vitally important that you practice it across all five positions on the fretboard. This will enable you to improvise more smoothly in F and will especially come in handy when playing alongside musicians who use similar chord progressions; for instance if your band uses 12 bar blues progression then make sure everyone plays an identical scale in every measure! You’d be amazed how this can enhance performance!
4. C-sharp
Blues music is an integral component of modern music, boasting powerful, soulful and melancholic tones that span many different styles. Certain scales have emerged from this style that are used when improvising on piano – for instance the minor and major blues scales used when improvising; two examples being Boogie-Woogie, Soul RnB Jazz Funk!
Minor blues scale is composed of the notes found in natural minor scale, but with the addition of a flat fifth note interval known as the blue note to add dissonance and create dissonant notes in its progression. Furthermore, this scale also contains an altered third interval that gives its characteristic sound.
To successfully play the minor blues scale, it is necessary to understand the key of your tune or key signature, so as to know which chords should accompany the scale and how they should harmonize with it.
This lesson step introduces the blues scale in the key of F, suitable for piano playing or any instrument capable of producing its notes. Note positions are arranged in Circle-of-Fifths order. To identify both major and minor blues scale keys using the scale formula below or by counting up from the last note by one physical piano key (white or black), using either method will give you its key.
5. Eb-sharp
The F Blues Scale contains seven notes in all: six fundamental notes plus the octave of the tonic note – for a total of seven notes – three flats and an added diminished fifth (add two flats to key signature of starting note of scale). It can be built either using major scale, minor pentatonic scale, parallel minor scale with added diminished fifth or using other methods such as building with parallel minor pentatonic scale or parallel minor with diminished fifth.
This process creates a scale which differs significantly from its major pentatonic predecessor in that its sound has more of a mournful tone, enhanced by a diminished fifth for added bluesy feel that perfectly suits this type of music.
This scale is an invaluable way to improvise on piano, and can be applied to any chord – particularly blues chords such as C7, F7 and G7. Furthermore, it can even be combined with Dorian Add 5 Scale (see next step).
For this lesson, we will begin from an F major starting point and construct the blues scale from there. To identify its notes we will utilize the W-W-H note counting rule: to count up one tone simply count up by one physical piano key that could either be white or black; while counting down half-tones simply counts down by two physical piano keys which could either be white or black.
The F blues scale is composed of the first, third, fourth, fifth and seventh notes from F major scale. If you know your major and minor scales well enough, this should be a fairly easy scale to construct.