The Blues Scale

If you're having trouble remembering exactly how to play the blues scale, have a look at the diagram on the left. Truthfully, it's one of the easier scales you'll learn.. probably because your first finger starts on the same fret of each string. Play the scale forwards and backwards several times.
What fret you start this scale at depends on which scale you'd like to play.. like the B minor chord we learned in this lesson, the blues scale is "movable". What type of blues scale you're playing depends on which fret you start at. If you start the scale with your first finger on the fifth fret of the sixth string (the note A), you're playing an "A blues scale". If you start the scale with your first finger on the eighth fret of the sixth string, you're playing a "C blues scale".

Uses of Blues Scale

If you're interested in learning to play guitar solos, you'll want to spend a whole lot of time with the blues scale. Many pop, rock, and blues guitarists use the blues scale almost exclusively in their solos. The basic premise is this: a guitarist will play a series of notes from the blues scale, which sound good together. Learning to do this well takes experimentation and practice, but it gets easier.
Many songwriters use parts of the blues scale as the foundation for their songs. Led Zeppelin did this often: in the song Heartbreaker for example, the blues scale is used extensively in the main "guitar riff". Eric Clapton used the blues scale too, for the riff in Cream's Sunshine of Your Love.