E blues scale on 6-string bass

E · G · A · B♭ · B · D

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

The notes

  1. E1
  2. G♭3
  3. A4
  4. B♭♭5
  5. B5
  6. D♭7

The E blues scale is E, G, A, B♭, B, D.

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

On the staff

EF♯GAB♭BCDE

On a bass staff, the E blues scale is written E G A B♭ B D.

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

Why the E blues scale has this flat

  1. E1
  2. T+S
  3. G♭3
  4. T
  5. A4
  6. S
  7. B♭♭5
  8. S
  9. B5
  10. T+S
  11. D♭7
  12. T
  13. E8

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 E 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 E 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 E, one letter cannot keep up:

  • B♭ — the flat fifth. The pattern needs a semitone from A, but A to B is only a tone, so B has to fall to B♭.

That accidental was not 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 E blues scale is written with B♭, because the T+S T S S T+S T pattern of steps cannot be spelled with plain letters from E.

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

♭6C♭7D1EF♭3G4A5B♭6C♭7D1EF♭3G4A5B♭6C♭7D1EF♭3G4A5B♭6C♭7D1EF♭3G4A5B♭6C♭7D1EF♭3G4A5B♭6CC♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C0C1C2C3C4C5

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

E blues scale on the whole neck

BEADGC123456789101112131415B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7

77 notes of the E blues scale are marked across six strings.

This is every place the notes of the E blues scale fall on the 6-string bass, 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 ♭7
BEADGC345678♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭3
Position 2 — starts on the 1
BEADGC56789101♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34
Position 3 — starts on the ♭3
BEADGC8910111213♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55
Position 4 — starts on the 4
BEADGC1011121314154♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7
Position 5 — starts on the ♭5
BEADGC111213141516♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7
Position 6 — starts on the 5
BEADGC1213141516175♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71

The E blues scale has six playable positions, at frets 3–7, 5–9, 8–12, 10–14, 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

BEADGC567891011121314151♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7TAB5810671071012891291214101114

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.