noob question on scales (particularly blues scale)

[iamnguyen]

I just started playing guitar about a few months ago.

Why is it that a blues scale with root note C consists of G,B and E flats,

while a blues scale with root notes D consists of A flats only??

[sinister]

Because scales work by intervals, the second note in a C blues scale after the root (C) is the minor 3rd of C, which is E flat.

In a D blues scale the next note is still a minor 3rd away which makes it F.

The intervals (distances between notes) make up the structure of a scale, it can be started on any note and still be a blues scale.

I hope that makes some sense, i can't explain well but you had no other replies so I gave you my best shot.

[Pom-Bear]

The Blues scale

is basically the entire minor pentatonic scale with 1 added note


to find that added note it is basically the 6th fret from the open note u want to play in

or 3 whole intervals from the note

so

if u were playing in C it would be F#

while if u were playing in D# it would be A

[SeekAndDestroy406]

the reason they are called such are not because of the notes to say in the chord, rather their tonics or root notes..

start on c = c scale

start on d = d scale

the intervals in between are the reason that the notes aren't always what you would expect them to be

[iamnguyen]

this has helped alot.

What i dont know is that how would you know what notes to play in a root C, or D etc blues scale since it varies with different root notes.

[WindowLedge]

Simply learn the box shapes - arrangements of note that can be moved anywhere on the fretboard. The idea behind this is that since the D blues scale is the same as the C blues only every note has been moved up two semitones (frets), you can change position to change keys.

[-----------------------3-6-----------------------5-8-]
[-------------------4-6-----------------------6-8-----]
[---------------3-5-----------------------5-7---------]
[---------3-4-5---------------------5-6-7------------]
[-----3-6-----------------------5-8-------------------]
[-3-6----------------------5-8------------------------]

[qwerty__666]

The Blues scale

is basically the entire minor pentatonic scale with 1 added note


to find that added note it is basically the 6th fret from the open note u want to play in

or 3 whole intervals from the note

so

if u were playing in C it would be F#

while if u were playing in D# it would be A

You can only have one interval, an interval is the distance between two notes, not the amount of distance or notes between the two, you should be using interval names such as Major 2nd, Major 3rd, Perfect 4th and so on.

[Alive]

qwerty is right.

You wouldn't say "It's one distance to London, two distances to New York:, it would be "It's abc miles to London, xyz miles to New York.

Likewise, you say that C to C# is a minor second, wheras C to E is a major third.

[judge_gideon]

Nice way of putting it Brian.

[judge_gideon]

Playing blues patterns should be a cinch. Don't make it harder than it is. Just think of them like those old plastic templates used for tracing lines back in elementary school - you held your pencil in the slots and holes. No matter where you put that template, you could reproduce a duplicate design. Scale patterns are the same. Move them to new root note locations, and you don't have to re-memorize them. Play the same pattern in a new place.

• = root
• = b3rd, 4th,#4th, 5th, b7th

Blues consists of these intervals:
root
flat 3rd
perfect 4th
sharp 4th (also called augmented 4th or diminished 5th, the Tritone, the Blue Note)
perfect 5th
flat 7th

Let's only examine a single pattern for now. This pattern starts on the low E string, with the root:

C Blues
┌───┬─•─┬───┬───┬─•─┬───┬───┐
├───┼─•─┼───┼───┼─•─┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼───┼─•─┼─•─┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼───┼─•─┼───┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼─•─┼─•─┼───┼───┼───┤
└───┴─•─┴───┴───┴─•─┴───┴───┘
............8th

Those notes names are:
┌───┬─C─┬───┬───┬─Eb┬───┬───┐
├───┼─G─┼───┼───┼─Bb┼───┼───┤
├───┼─Eb┼───┼─F─┼─F#┼───┼───┤
├───┼─Bb┼───┼─C─┼───┼───┼───┤
├───┼─F─┼─F#┼─G─┼───┼───┼───┤
└───┴─C─┴───┴───┴─Eb┴───┴───┘
............8th

Here's the TAB:
┌───────────────────────────────8─11──┐
├──────────────────────────8─11───────┤
├───────────────────8─10─11───────────┤
├──────────────8─10───────────────────┤
├───────8─9─10────────────────────────┤
└──8─11───────────────────────────────┘

Now, let's play the same pattern up a whole step, so that the root isn't C anymore, but D instead:

D Blues
┌───┬─•─┬───┬───┬─•─┬───┬───┐
├───┼─•─┼───┼───┼─•─┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼───┼─•─┼─•─┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼───┼─•─┼───┼───┼───┤
├───┼─•─┼─•─┼─•─┼───┼───┼───┤
└───┴─•─┴───┴───┴─•─┴───┴───┘
...........10th

Those notes names are:
┌───┬─D─┬───┬───┬─F─┬───┬───┐
├───┼─A─┼───┼───┼─C─┼───┼───┤
├───┼─F─┼───┼─G─┼─G#┼───┼───┤
├───┼─C─┼───┼─D─┼───┼───┼───┤
├───┼─G─┼─G#┼─A─┼───┼───┼───┤
└───┴─D─┴───┴───┴─F─┴───┴───┘
............10th

Here's the TAB:
┌────────────────────────────────────10─13──┐
├───────────────────────────────10─13───────┤
├──────────────────────10─12─13─────────────┤
├────────────────10─12──────────────────────┤
├───────10─11─12────────────────────────────┤
└──10─13────────────────────────────────────┘


If you think within the pattern, you will automatically hit those notes without thinking. Knowing where your pattern begins and ends is the answer to the mystery of why different sharped and flatted notes end up in your blues scales.
♪♫♫♪
[*edit: just when you think it's perfect, an error rears its ugly head]