The C Blues Scale

Today let’s take a look at a scale often used in improvising on the Blues form, the Blues scale. Here is the C Blues scale going up and down one octave.




The Blues scale is pretty much similar to the minor pentatonic scale where we have two minor 3rd intervals, one at the beginning of the scale and another towards the end of it. So Get the C minor pentatonic scale, and add the flatted fifth which is G♭ to that. Then you get the C Blues scale.

The more colorful notes of the Blues scale are sometimes referred to as Blue notes. They are the minor 3rd, flatted 5th and the minor 7th. So when you are playing in the Blues scale, those are the notes that you probably most often emphasize. 

Play the C Blues scale one octave and then for two octaves by eighth notes and explore the shapes underneath your fingers.

When you hear some blues tune, try to find the key that is in and improvise it all the way through using the notes in that Blues scale.

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