C blues scale

The notes of the C blues scale

C E♭ F G♭ G B♭

Formula: 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7. Steps from note to note: 3 2 1 1 3 2 semitones (one and a half, whole, half, half, one and a half, whole).

The C minor pentatonic scale with one note added: G♭, the flat fifth, the blue note. Slide through it, don't sit on it.

In Hz, from C4: C4 261.6 · E♭4 311.1 · F4 349.2 · G♭4 370.0 · G4 392.0 · B♭4 466.2.

The C blues scale on the piano

White keys: C F G; black keys: E♭ G♭ B♭.

For the fingering, slide the thumb under after the black keys, never onto one.

The C blues scale on guitar

One position, frets 7–11, low E string first: low E: 8 11 (C E♭) · A: 8 9 10 (F G♭ G) · D: 8 10 (B♭ C) · G: 8 10 11 (E♭ F G♭) · B: 7 8 11 (G♭ G B♭) · high E: 8 11 (C E♭). 0 = open string.

The root C sits at fret 8 on the low E string and at fret 3 on the A string. Slide the same shape there for any other root.

Blues in C

On the piano the C blues scale is three white keys (C, F, G) and three black (E♭, G♭, B♭), the handiest blues to learn first with the right hand. Over a 12-bar blues in C (C7, F7, G7) the same six notes work over every chord. Slide from G♭ to G and from E♭ to E for the blues sound.

More scales

Blues scale G blues scale F blues scale D blues scale A blues scale C major scale on guitar C minor: scale and chords

How this page works

Hear it plays the scale up and down at 100 BPM on one of four Brumm sounds. Take it gives the same notes as a MIDI file and a WAV. − and + move the root. Every note here is computed from the formula.

Sources

Scales and modes: Open Music Theory, musictheory.net. Piano fingerings: the standard scale-book fingerings (ABRSM scale books; Hanon, The Virtuoso Pianist, part 3). Trumpet valves: the standard B♭ trumpet fingering chart (Yamaha, Bach). Hz: A4 = 440 Hz, ISO 16.

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