How To Play The Blues Scale On Guitar | Blues Guitar Lesson

This lesson is all about how to play the blues scale on guitar. If you like blues music and want to play some killer blues guitar, then you are going to need to learn the blues scale!

What is the blues scale, and how can you use it to create great sounding blues guitar?

In this blues guitar lesson, I teach you how to play the blues scale, and how to use the blues scale on guitar. The lesson includes 3 great sounding, and easy to play, blues guitar licks using the blues scale.

The blues scale is the minor pentatonic scale with one note added, which is called the blues note. Although we only add one note, that one note gives a very bluesy flavor to the sound of the scale!

You will need to know at least one of the pentatonic shapes before adding the blues note, so before we get into the blues note in this blues guitar lesson I will show you the G shape pentatonic pattern and then the G+3 pattern. These are usually the first positions of the pentatonic scale that you will learn and are a vital part of lead guitar playing in all genres.

In theory terms, the blues note is a flat 5 (b5) note. This is the note that adds an extra bluesy flavor to the minor pentatonic scale.

So how do we take this blues scale on guitar and use it? Generally, you want to use the blues note as a passing note, or passing tone. This means that you play it between other notes of the minor pentatonic scale. I show you how to do this in the lesson.

You don’t have to use it as just a passing note though, you can get some great tension into your playing by holding the note a little longer. Bending into the blues note is a great sounding technique that you will want to try out in your blues guitar solos.

If you want to learn how to play the blues using the blues scale on the guitar, the 3 licks in this lesson will get you well on your way!