Harmonic.Audio
Scale family

C major blues

Six notes: C D E♭ E G A. C major pentatonic with one note added, the blue note E♭.

Notes
C D E♭ E G A
1 2 ♭3 3 5 6
Same notes as
A blues Its relative
Without the blue note
C major pentatonic Its pentatonic
90 bpm
Labels
  • Root, C
  • Notes of the box
  • Notes of the chord you're on
  • Blue note

Jam along

The 12-bar blues in C

Play along with a repeating twelve-bar blues. The neck highlights the notes in your box that belong to the current chord.

  1. C7Bar 1 · I7
  2. C7Bar 2 · I7
  3. C7Bar 3 · I7
  4. C7Bar 4 · I7
  5. F7Bar 5 · IV7
  6. F7Bar 6 · IV7
  7. C7Bar 7 · I7
  8. C7Bar 8 · I7
  9. G7Bar 9 · V7
  10. F7Bar 10 · IV7
  11. C7Bar 11 · I7
  12. G7Bar 12 · V7

Where it fits

Three places to use it

  • Over C major

    Every note but the blue note belongs to the key.

  • Over a C blues

    Its E is the 3rd of C7, so it sits inside the I chord.

  • As A blues

    The same six notes. Make A home and it sounds minor.

The blue note

Hear what the blue note adds

Put E♭ between D and E and the major pentatonic becomes the C major blues scale. Try sliding through it into a neighbouring note.

Pentatonic
  1. C
  2. D
  3. E
  4. G
  5. A
Major blues
  1. C
  2. D
  3. E♭
  4. E
  5. G
  6. 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.

  1. Box 1, up and downEvery note once, low to high and back. Say the note names.70 bpmLevel 1
  2. Connect box 1 to box 2Up box 1, slide to box 2, back down. The shared notes are the bridge.70 bpmLevel 1
  3. Groups of threeThree notes at a time, one step up each time, through box 1.80 bpmLevel 2
  4. Hit the chord's notesOver the 12-bar, land on the lit notes as each chord changes.90 bpmLevel 2
  5. Call and responseHear a two-bar phrase, then answer it in the gap.80 bpmLevel 2

Major blues on every root

Pick a root