Bb Blues Scale
The Bb blues scale (also written A#) — Bb Db Eb E F Ab — with its intervals, the chords it makes and every position on the guitar neck.
Also written A# blues. A# and Bb are the same pitch — Bb is the spelling in common use.
Tap any note on the neck.
Swipe the neck sideways to see the higher frets.
Bb blues is Bb minor pentatonic with the b5 added — E.
Bb blues scale notes and intervals
Bb blues has 6 notes. Each is named by its distance from the root, which is the same in every key — learn the numbers once and every blues scale reads the same.
Step pattern from the root: W+H – W – H – H – W+H – W (W is a whole step, two frets; H is a half step, one fret; W+H is three frets).
Scales it shares notes with:
- Bb minor pentatonic — minor pentatonic — the blues scale without the b5
Bb blues scale positions on guitar — all 5
Bb blues is played in five box shapes that tile the neck between frets 1 and 14. Each box shares frets with the next, so you change shape without stopping. Position 4 sits lowest.
Position 1 — frets 6–9
Starts on the 1 (Bb) on the 6th string. Practice this position → · Box 1 on its own page
Position 2 — frets 8–12
Starts on the b3 (Db) on the 6th string. Practice this position → · Box 2 on its own page
Position 3 — frets 10–14
Starts on the 4 (Eb) on the 6th string. Practice this position → · Box 3 on its own page
Position 4 — frets 1–5
Starts on the 5 (F) on the 6th string. Practice this position → · Box 4 on its own page
Position 5 — frets 3–7
Starts on the b7 (Ab) on the 6th string. Practice this position → · Box 5 on its own page
Each box on its own page, with how it joins its neighbours →
Chords to play Bb blues over
Bb blues is the minor scale with the 2 and the b6 left out and a b5 added — the notes most likely to clash — so it works across the chords of Bb minor and over the dominant seventh chords of a blues in Bb. It is not an equally good fit on every one of them: over each chord, aim for that chord’s own notes and let the rest pass.
How to practice the Bb blues scale
- Start with position 4 at frets 1–5, slowly, until every note lands on the click. The loop keeps the shape and the tempo for you.
- Add five beats a minute each time it feels easy. When straight runs get dull, play the same position in thirds — the pattern that turns a scale into lines.
- See every Bb blues note across the whole neck on the Fretboard, and find each box again an octave up.
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