Scale family
B♭ blues
Six notes: B♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ F A♭. B♭ minor pentatonic with one note added, the blue note F♭.
A♯ and B♭ are the same pitch. This scale is written as B♭ blues because the key it comes from needs fewer accidentals as B♭ than as A♯.
- Notes
- B♭ D♭ E♭ F♭ F A♭
- 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7
- Same notes as
- D♭ major blues Its relative
- Without the blue note
- B♭ minor pentatonic Its pentatonic
- Root, B♭
- Notes of the box
- Notes of the chord you're on
- Blue note
Jam along
The 12-bar blues in B♭
Play along with a repeating twelve-bar blues. The neck highlights the notes in your box that belong to the current chord.
The blue note
Hear what the blue note adds
Put F♭ between E♭ and F and the minor pentatonic becomes the B♭ blues scale. Try sliding through it into a neighbouring note.
Pentatonic
- B♭
- D♭
- E♭
- F
- A♭
Blues
- B♭
- D♭
- E♭
- F♭
- F
- A♭
Hear both
Exercises
Five drills, with a click
Start in box 1 and play along with the metronome. Follow the highlighted notes on the neck above.
- Box 1, up and downEvery note once, low to high and back. Say the note names.70 bpmLevel 1
- Connect box 1 to box 2Up box 1, slide to box 2, back down. The shared notes are the bridge.70 bpmLevel 1
- Groups of threeThree notes at a time, one step up each time, through box 1.80 bpmLevel 2
- Hit the chord's notesOver the 12-bar, land on the lit notes as each chord changes.90 bpmLevel 2
- Call and responseHear a two-bar phrase, then answer it in the gap.80 bpmLevel 2