Bass Lesson No. 7 - The Blues Scale

What is a blues scale?

This type of scale is used in Rock music to build riffs on the guitar and as walking bass line in Jazz music. A blues scale is built on the 1st note, b3rd, 4th note - b5th, 5th, b7th and 8th note.

The flattened notes are called ‘blues notes’ which give a particularly bluesy sound when you are developing melodies. It is most commonly used in Jazz and blues songs and is often used for improvisation.

The structure of a blues scale  is similar to a pentatonic minor scale and uses a flattened 3rd, flattened 5th and flattened 7th.

Here is the C Minor Blues scale -  C - Eb - F - Gb - G - Bb - C

1 4 1 2 3 1 3 or 4

On the fret board we start with the 1st finger on fret 3 of the A string below is the fingering pattern and position for C minor blues scale.

Exercise 1 - C Minor Blues scale

Have a practice moving up and down the Cm Blues scale with this backing track. Use the pattern above to help you position your hand.

Exercise 2 - G Minor Blues scale

The pattern used for the CM Blues scale can be used for any other key. use For example if you were in the key of G minor you would use the same pattern but start on the G note.

Here is the Gm Blues scale and the same fingering pattern but starting on G.

Have a practice playing along with the G minor Blues scale backing track.

Using the Blues scale in Rock Music

The blues scale is often used in Rock Music for developing bass riffs.

A riff is a little melodic pattern that is repeated in a song and is usually played by guitarists.

When you are developing your own riffs on the bass you cam easily use some of the notes of the Blues scale to develop a rocky riff that works really well with some chords.

Exercise 3

In this Exercise we are going to use the 12 bar blues structure again, same chords, different sounding guitar riff and we are going to use some of the notes from the blues scale.

Here is the riff, followed by the backing track for you to have a play with. Notice the ‘tie’ on the second C note of the first bar and 3rd bar. A tie means you play the first note only and hold it down for the value of the second note that it is tied to.

Jazz and Blues

The Blues scale is often used in Jazz and in 12 Bar Blues music. It is often played to help form the foundation of a musical structure called 12 Bar Blues.

What is 12 Bar Blues?

This is a structure like a verse over 12 bars where the chords that are used follow a particular pattern.

Here is a picture of what 12 Bar Blues would look like, followed by a short video that gives some more explanation.

A walking bass uses the blues scale over the 12 bars to create a consistent step by step pattern. The walking rhythm uses steady crotchet notes that move up and down the scale.

Here is an example over a 12 Bar Blues structure using the Cm blues scale.

Exercise 4 is an example for you to play along with.