Dec 2025
Is the Blues Scale a Real Thing?
The "blues scale" with chromatic notes doesn't always sound bluesy in practice
Key Takeaways
- The "blues scale" with chromatic notes doesn't always sound bluesy in practice
- Real blue notes are bent pitches, not chromatic scale tones
- Bend the minor 3rd up slightly (not all the way to major 3rd)
- Bend the 7th similarly for authentic blues phrasing
Transcription
We often hear of "blues scales" that have a chromatic note, the blue note. But in blues playing, if you actually listen to it and try to play it on guitar, you'll often find that these blues scales and chromatic blue notes don't work very well.
However, in the blues, there are definitely some flexible notes we could categorize as blue notes. Learning how to find and phrase those will really help your blues playing.
Here's an example of a blue note. Here's an A. Up here is the minor third, C. Now I can take that note and bend it up slightly. I would call that a blue note because I'm bending up the third without even getting all the way to the major third (C#). That sounds very bluesy.
You can do the same thing on the seventh. Go from the b7 to the root. What if you bend that?
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