Scales
Bb Minor Blues Scale
Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab
The minor pentatonic plus the flattened fifth — six notes, one of them the blue note.
Also called Bb blues
Bb Minor Blues Scale
Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab
Fingering on the piano
| Hand | Fingering | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right hand | 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 | Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab · Bb | |
| Left hand | 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 | Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab · Bb |
One octave ascending; 1 is the thumb. A standard fingering, not the only one.
Tap a key or a fret to hear it.
Scale degrees
Bb Minor Blues is made of the notes Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab. Each is a degree counted from the tonic, and the gaps between them are the step pattern W½ W H H W½ W.
Read on: scale degrees · building any scale · pentatonic and blues scales
Related scales
Bb Minor Blues is a selection of notes from larger scales rather than a seven-note scale of its own, so it has no chords of its own: it takes them from the scales that contain it, listed here with the scales it contains and its related keys.
A# Minor BluesA# · C# · D# · E · E# · G#
The same sound, spelled from the enharmonic root
Scales inside it
Bb Locrian PentatonicBb · Db · Eb · Fb · Ab
Every note of this scale is in Bb Minor Blues.
Bb Minor PentatonicBb · Db · Eb · F · Ab
Every note of this scale is in Bb Minor Blues.
Scales that contain it
Bb Bebop LocrianBb · Cb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Gb · Ab
Contains every note of Bb Minor Blues.
Bb Composite BluesBb · C · Db · D · Eb · Fb · F · G · Ab
Contains every note of Bb Minor Blues.
Bb ChromaticBb · Cb · C · Db · D · Eb · Fb · F · Gb · G · Ab · A
Contains every note of Bb Minor Blues.
Understanding Bb Minor Blues
Names and spellings
Bb Minor Blues is also called Bb blues; every one of those names means exactly these notes.
A blues scale is a pentatonic scale with one added note, the “blue note”. The minor blues scale is the one most players mean by “the blues scale”; the major blues scale is its relative, built on the major pentatonic.
Bb Minor Blues and A# Minor Blues are the same sound spelled two ways; both have a page here, and each links to the other. A# Minor Blues
How it is built
On Bb the scale is Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab, following the step pattern W½ W H H W½ W. It is the minor pentatonic with a ♭5 inserted between the fourth and fifth degrees.
That added note is a passing tone more than a resting place. It is almost always approached and left by step, and holding it is what separates a blues player from someone playing the blues scale.
How it is used
Over a twelve-bar blues it works across all three chords without alteration, which is unusual and much of why the form is so approachable.
The tension between its flattened third and the major third of the underlying dominant chords is not an accident to be avoided — it is the sound.
Learn this properly
Chapter 7: Scales: Major and MinorCommon questions
- What notes are in the Bb Minor Blues?
- The Bb Minor Blues contains Bb · Db · Eb · Fb · F · Ab. Find every scale that contains these notes with the scale finder.
- What is the blue note?
- The flattened fifth added to the minor pentatonic. It functions as a passing tone between the fourth and fifth degrees.
- Does the blues scale work over the whole twelve bars?
- Yes. The same six notes sit over the I7, IV7 and V7 of a blues without needing to change.
- How do I play Bb Minor Blues?
- On guitar start with the 1st position, played from the lowest string upward; the instrument panel on this page shows its frets and the positions further up the neck. On the piano the right hand ascends 1 2 3 1 2 3 4, with 1 as the thumb. Every position plays when you press it.
- What is the formula of Bb Minor Blues?
- From Bb the steps run W½ W H H W½ W, where a whole step is two frets or two keys and a half step one. Apply the same pattern from any other note and you get the same scale on that root, which is why every root of this scale has a page here.