A♭ blues scale on drop D guitar

A♭ · C♭ · D♭ · E𝄫 · E♭ · G♭

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 16 · The minor pentatonic.

The notes

  1. A♭1
  2. C♭♭3
  3. D♭4
  4. E𝄫♭5
  5. E♭5
  6. G♭♭7

The A♭ blues scale is A♭, C♭, D♭, E𝄫, E♭, G♭.

You may also see it called 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7.

On the staff

A♭B♭C♭D♭E𝄫E♭F♭G♭A♭

On a treble staff, the A♭ blues scale is written A♭ C♭ D♭ E𝄫 E♭ G♭.

The solid notes are the A♭ blues scale. The pale notes are the rest of A♭ natural minor, the larger scale it is carved out of, so you can see which notes it leaves out.

Why the A♭ blues scale has these flats

  1. A♭1
  2. T+S
  3. C♭♭3
  4. T
  5. D♭4
  6. S
  7. E𝄫♭5
  8. S
  9. E♭5
  10. T+S
  11. G♭♭7
  12. T
  13. A♭8

A scale is a pattern of steps, and this one is T+S T S S T+S T: a tone and a half, a tone, a semitone, and so on. S stands for a semitone, the distance of one fret or one key. T stands for a tone, which is two semitones. T+S stands for a tone and a half, which is three semitones. The pattern is what gives A♭ blues its sound, and it stays the same whichever note you start on.

This scale has only six notes, so it does not use every letter. It is built on A♭ natural minor, and the notes it shares are spelled the same way as they are there.

The pattern still does not fit the plain letters. If you walk the pattern up from A♭, five letters cannot keep up:

  • C♭ — the flat third. The pattern needs a tone and a half from A♭, but A♭ to C is only 4, so C has to fall to C♭.
  • D♭ — the fourth. The pattern needs a tone from C♭, but C♭ to D is only a tone and a half, so D has to fall to D♭.
  • E𝄫 — the flat fifth. The pattern needs a semitone from D♭, but D♭ to E is only a tone and a half, so E has to fall to E𝄫.
  • E♭ — the fifth. The pattern needs a semitone from E𝄫, but E𝄫 to E is only a tone, so E has to fall to E♭.
  • G♭ — the flat seventh. The pattern needs a tone and a half from E♭, but E♭ to G is only 4, so G has to fall to G♭.

None of those accidentals was a choice. Once you pick the note to start on, the pattern decides the rest, and a key signature is a record of the result.

The A♭ blues scale is written with A♭, C♭, D♭, E𝄫, E♭ and G♭. A♭ has its accidental because that is the key, and the other notes need theirs because the T+S T S S T+S T pattern of steps cannot be spelled from A♭ with plain letters.

The pattern of steps is the part of a scale that never changes. The letter names take sharps or flats to fit that pattern, and a key signature is a record of those sharps or flats.

On the piano

C♭5E𝄫♭6F♭FGA♭3C♭C♭5E𝄫♭6F♭FGA♭3C♭C♭5E𝄫♭6F♭FGA♭3C♭C♭5E𝄫♭6F♭FGA♭3C♭C4D♭5E♭♭7G♭1A♭2B♭4D♭5E♭♭7G♭1A♭2B♭4D♭5E♭♭7G♭1A♭2B♭4D♭5E♭♭7G♭1A♭2B♭C2C3C4C5C6

The keyboard shows the same six notes as a shape you can see. The coloured keys are the A♭ blues scale, the pale keys are the rest of A♭ natural minor, and you can click any key to hear it.

A♭ blues scale on the whole neck

DADGBE123456789101112131415E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5G♭♭7A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E𝄫♭5E♭5G♭♭7

67 notes of the A♭ blues scale are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the A♭ blues scale fall on the drop D guitar, with each note's name and its scale degree. The roots are marked so you can find your bearings.

Position by position

Position 1 — starts on the 5
DADGBE1234565♭7♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71
Position 2 — starts on the ♭7
DADGBE456789♭714♭55♭71♭34♭555♭71♭3
Position 3 — starts on the 1
DADGBE678910111♭35♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭5
Position 4 — starts on the ♭3
DADGBE91011121314♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭711♭34♭55
Position 5 — starts on the 4
DADGBE1112131415164♭551♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7
Position 6 — starts on the ♭5
DADGBE121314151617♭55♭7♭34♭55♭71♭3♭34♭55♭71

The A♭ blues scale has six playable positions, at frets 1–5, 4–8, 6–10, 9–13, 11–15 and 12–16.

Each shape starts on a different degree of the scale and fits inside five frets, so your hand can play all of it without moving.

One climb up the neck

DADGBE567891011121314151♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7TAB69115696911781191214101114

The climb runs from fret 5 to fret 14 and plays eighteen notes.

This is one path from the lowest root to the top of the neck, and it plays each note once, never on two strings. It takes three notes on every string. The widest stretch on any one string is five frets.