Harmonic.Audio
Scale family

E♭ blues

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

D♯ and E♭ are the same pitch. This scale is written as E♭ blues. Both spellings need the same number of accidentals. Here we use the flat spelling for minor, as on our circle of fifths.

Notes
E♭ G♭ A♭ A B♭ D♭
1 ♭3 4 ♯4 5 ♭7
Same notes as
G♭ major blues Its relative
Without the blue note
E♭ minor pentatonic Its pentatonic
90 bpm
Labels
  • Root, E♭
  • Notes of the box
  • Notes of the chord you're on
  • Blue note

Jam along

The 12-bar blues in E♭

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

  1. E♭7Bar 1 · I7
  2. E♭7Bar 2 · I7
  3. E♭7Bar 3 · I7
  4. E♭7Bar 4 · I7
  5. A♭7Bar 5 · IV7
  6. A♭7Bar 6 · IV7
  7. E♭7Bar 7 · I7
  8. E♭7Bar 8 · I7
  9. B♭7Bar 9 · V7
  10. A♭7Bar 10 · IV7
  11. E♭7Bar 11 · I7
  12. B♭7Bar 12 · V7

Where it fits

Three places to use it

  • Over E♭ minor

    Every note but the blue note belongs to the key.

  • Over an E♭ blues

    G♭ against the E♭7's G is a clash, and that rub is the blues sound.

  • As G♭ major blues

    The same six notes. Make G♭ home and it sounds major.

The blue note

Hear what the blue note adds

Put A between A♭ and B♭ and the minor pentatonic becomes the E♭ blues scale. Try sliding through it into a neighbouring note.

Pentatonic
  1. E♭
  2. G♭
  3. A♭
  4. B♭
  5. D♭
Blues
  1. E♭
  2. G♭
  3. A♭
  4. A
  5. B♭
  6. D♭

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

Blues on every root

Pick a root