About the F Minor Blues scale
F Minor Blues is used for blues, rock and soul solos. Think of it as the minor pentatonic with one extra blue note, the classic blues sound. It is F Blues Diminished with the third raised.
Its notes are F, A♭, B♭, C♭, C, and E♭. The formula is 1½ W H H 1½ W.
Also called Blues Scale and Blues Hexatonic.
An unfretted guitar already sounds B from this mode. On guitar, the deepest F within reach is the 1st fret of the low E string. Placed at the first fret, a capo lets F Minor Blues be played with E-shape fingerings.
Positions
Playable shapes for this scale up the neck. Tap any note to hear it.
6-position system
6 four-fret boxes, one per scale degree, each a single hand position with almost no shifting. The jazz and classical way, from William Leavitt's Berklee method.
Notes and intervals
| 1 | FF | Root |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | AbA♭ | Minor 3rd |
| 3 | BbB♭ | Perfect 4th |
| 4 | CbC♭ | Diminished 5th |
| 5 | CC | Perfect 5th |
| 6 | EbE♭ | Minor 7th |
| Steps | 1½ W H H 1½ W |
|---|---|
| Semitones | 3-2-1-1-3-2 |
| Degrees | 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7 |
Shapes
Chromatic
Circle of Fifths
Related scales
Minor Blues in other keys
Modes
The same notes, starting on a different note.