Bb Blues Scale
The common B flat minor blues scale uses B flat, D flat, E flat, F flat, F, A flat. It begins with B flat minor pentatonic and adds F flat between E flat and F. The extra note is the lowered fifth, often called the blue note in this six-note pattern.
- Notes: B flat-D flat-E flat-F flat-F-A flat
- Added note: F flat
- Six notes
Which notes are in the scale?
Play B flat-D flat-E flat-F flat-F-A flat-B flat. Leave out F flat and you have Bb minor pentatonic: B flat-D flat-E flat-F-A flat. That is the fastest way to remember the six-note set. The notes B flat-D flat-F form the tonic minor chord.
What exactly is the blue note?
F flat is played on the key labeled E. Its written name says that the fifth, F, has been lowered, even though the keyboard calls that key E.
Try E flat-F flat-F and then E flat-F. The first version passes through a point of tension; the second skips over it. How long you stay on F flat can matter as much as whether you include it.
How can you use it in a phrase?
Play E flat-F flat-F, then return through D flat to B flat. Give F flat a short duration before F to make its passing role clear.
This six-note list is a practical entry to blues phrasing, not a complete rule for the style. A singer or guitarist can bend pitches between piano keys. Over Bb7, the minor third D flat can also rub against the chord's major third D; listen to the accompaniment when you sustain it. Pentatonic and Blues Scales explains how the note set and the played phrase differ.
Keep going
Every pentatonic and blues scale
- C Blues Scale
- C Pentatonic Scale
- C# Blues Scale
- C# Pentatonic Scale
- D Blues Scale
- D Pentatonic Scale
- Eb Blues Scale
- Eb Pentatonic Scale
- E Blues Scale
- E Pentatonic Scale
- F Blues Scale
- F Pentatonic Scale
- F# Blues Scale
- F# Pentatonic Scale
- G Blues Scale
- G Pentatonic Scale
- Ab Blues Scale
- Ab Pentatonic Scale
- A Blues Scale
- A Pentatonic Scale
- Bb Blues Scale
- Bb Pentatonic Scale
- B Blues Scale
- B Pentatonic Scale