E blues scale on ukulele

E · G · A · B♭ · B · D

The course explains what this page shows in Lesson 10 · 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 treble 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♭6CC♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C♯D♯2F♯G♯♭5B♭C3C4C5C6

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

GCEA123456789101112131415G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5D♭7E1G♭3A4B♭♭5B5

33 notes of the E blues scale are marked across four strings.

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

The five boxes

Position 1 — starts on the 4
GCEA2345674♭55♭71♭34♭55♭7
Position 2 — starts on the ♭5
GCEA345678♭55♭71♭3♭34♭55♭71
Position 3 — starts on the 5
GCEA4567895♭71♭34♭55♭71
Position 4 — starts on the ♭7
GCEA789101112♭71♭34♭555♭71♭3
Position 5 — starts on the 1
GCEA910111213141♭34♭55♭71♭34♭5

The E blues scale has five playable positions, at frets 2–6, 3–7, 4–8, 7–11 and 9–13.

There are five shapes, and each one starts on a different note of the scale. Once you know one shape you can slide it along the neck, and once you know all five they join up to cover the whole neck.

One climb up the neck

GCEA91011121314151♭34♭55♭71♭34♭55TAB91291011101210121314

The climb runs from fret 9 to fret 14 and plays eleven 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 a different number of notes on different strings. The widest stretch on any one string is four frets.