Bass Guitar

Blues Scales and Applications by Eric Starr and Nelson Starr

Now you are ready to take a look at the blues scales. The only difference between these scales and pentatonic scales is one note: the almighty “blue” note.

For minor blues scales, the “blue” note is the same as the diminished fifth you learned in Chapter 10. When learning how to use blues scales, it may be easier to focus on the minor scales first. Once you've mastered these, simply shift down three half steps (or frets) and maintain the same position and pattern. When you do this, you will be playing the major blues scale of the same letter name.

After you've located the blue note, or flatted fifth, you are ready to try the minor blues scale. Again, this scale is exactly like the minor pentatonic from Chapter 9 except that the scale now includes the additional blue note. Figure 11-10 shows you the fully extended version of this scale (with E-flats acting as blue notes). Again, notes that go beyond the true octaves of each scale are written in parentheses. You will also see parentheses in the same way on Figures 11-11 through 11-14.

Figure 11-10.

A-minor blues scale fully extended in closed position

Next, replay the same shape or pattern on the neck and think of it as the relative major blues scale. How does this work? The two scales use the same set of notes. When you use the position illustrated in Figure 11-10, the second note in the minor scale (C) becomes the tonic of the relative major scale. It's interesting to see that these scales use the same shapes and pitches. The difference lies in the emphasis on a tonic. This is shown in Figure 11-11. Remember, the tonic is C. In the previous figure the tonic was A.

Figure 11-11.

C-major blues scale fully extended in closed position

Although this scale begins on an A the tonic pitch is C!

After comparing the relative minor and major blues scales, you should compare major and minor blues scales of the same letter name. These are called parallel major and minor keys (as opposed to relative major/minor). To shift from the minor blues scale to the major one, all you need to do is to shift the same pattern down three frets. This is shown in Figure 11-12.

Of course, if you know other positions for each scale, you can play a major blues scale in the exact same location that you find the minor blues scale. However, make sure you use the proper intervallic model for each scale. Check out Figures 11-13 and 11-14. Here the positions and shapes of the scale overlap. Of course, there are dozens of other positions for you to explore, and you should experiment with them until you discover and internalize as many of them as possible.