Highway Blues

The Blues Scale

Another common scale used in Rock guitar is the Blues scale. This scale is similar to the Minor Pentatonic scale except an extra note is added. The following table shows the construction of a C Minor Pentatonic scale and a C Blues scale.

A Minor Pentatonic scale is made up of the 1, b3, 4, 5 and b7 notes of the Major scale. To construct the Blues scale simply add the flattened 5th note of the Major scale to the Minor Pentatonic scale. Scale construction is covered in more detail at the back of this book.

The C Blues Scale

The next fretboard diagram shows the notes that make up the C Blues scale. Notice that the scale is the same as the C Minor Pentatonic scale (pattern one), except the extra note (Gb ) is added.

The following lick is taken directly from Highway Blues (bars 5 - 8). This lick is played solely within the C Blues scale Pattern One.

The extra note to form the Blues scale can be incorporated into all five patterns. In this book you will learn two common Blues patterns that are a combination of the five patterns. The first of these patterns combines a couple of bass notes from Pattern Five, the middle strings of Pattern One and the treble strings of Pattern Two.
The following diagram shows the Blues scale in all five patterns in the key of C, the shaded note is the extra note to complete the Blues scale. The first Blues scale combination pattern is highlighted.

The following example ascends and descends the first combination Blues scale shown in the previous diagram. Attention should be given to the left hand fingering.

The lead guitar solo to Highway Blues is played within the C Blues scale. A combination of Patterns One and Two is used as just shown. This solo uses a distinct triplet feel.