Scales
C# Major Blues Scale
C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A#
The major pentatonic with a flattened third added — brighter than the minor blues, and the sound of country and gospel lead playing.
C# Major Blues Scale
C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A#
Fingering on the piano
| Hand | Fingering | Notes | Play it on your instrument |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right hand | 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 | C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A# · C# | |
| Left hand | 3 2 1 3 2 1 3 | C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A# · C# |
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
C# Major Blues is made of the notes C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A#. Each is a degree counted from the tonic, and the gaps between them are the step pattern W H H W½ W W½.
Read on: scale degrees · building any scale · pentatonic and blues scales
Related scales
C# Major 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.
Db Major BluesDb · Eb · Fb · F · Ab · Bb
The same sound, spelled from the enharmonic root
Scales inside it
C# Major PentatonicC# · D# · E# · G# · A#
Every note of this scale is in C# Major Blues.
C# Flat Three PentatonicC# · D# · E · G# · A#
Every note of this scale is in C# Major Blues.
Scales that contain it
C# Bebop MinorC# · D# · E · E# · F# · G# · A# · B
Contains every note of C# Major Blues.
C# Composite BluesC# · D# · E · E# · F# · G · G# · A# · B
Contains every note of C# Major Blues.
C# ChromaticC# · D · D# · E · E# · F# · G · G# · A · A# · B · B#
Contains every note of C# Major Blues.
Understanding C# Major Blues
Names and spellings
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.
C# Major Blues and Db Major Blues are the same sound spelled two ways; both have a page here, and each links to the other. Db Major Blues
How it is built
On C# the scale is C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A#, following the step pattern W H H W½ W W½. It is the major pentatonic with a ♭3 inserted between the second and third degrees.
The added flat third sits a semitone below the major third, so the classic gesture is to slide from one to the other — the move that makes a line sound like country rather than like a scale exercise.
How it is used
It is the same set of notes as the minor blues scale a minor third below, which is why players often think of it as "playing the minor blues shape from the sixth degree".
It sits naturally over a major or dominant I chord, and it is the default vocabulary of country, western swing and gospel soloing.
Learn this properly
Chapter 7: Scales: Major and MinorCommon questions
- What notes are in the C# Major Blues?
- The C# Major Blues contains C# · D# · E · E# · G# · A#. Find every scale that contains these notes with the scale finder.
- What is the difference between major and minor blues scales?
- They contain the same notes a minor third apart. Which one you are playing depends on which note you treat as the tonic.
- Where is the major blues scale used?
- Country, western swing, gospel and rockabilly lead playing, over major and dominant chords.
- How do I play C# Major 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 C# Major Blues?
- From C# the steps run W H H W½ W W½, 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.