To understand why this scale has these sharp and flat note names, have a look at the Ab natural minor scale. The next 3 steps (including this one), show how the natural minor scale is used as a basis for the minor pentatonic scale, which in turn is used to construct the blues scale in this key. Starting with the second finger of your right hand on A flat, move your thumb under to B. For instance, in the C blues scale the notes are C – Eb – F – Gb – G – Bb – C. The flat third, flat fifth and flat seventh notes of the scale are the blue notes of the scale. The A Flat blues scale consists of A flat, B, D flat, D, E flat, G flat, and A flat again. From there bring your fourth finger over and play until you finish with your second finger on the A flat. The left hand is similar. 107-31265 Wheel Ave. Abbotsford, BC, V2T 6H2 Canada Direct: 1-604-855-7605 The 2nd and 6th notes of the major scale are not used. This step shows the 6 blues scale notes constructed using the major scale of the same key. The minor pentatonic scale is made from the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th notes from the natural minor scale above. Terms / Every white or black key could have a flat(b) or sharp(#) accidental name, depending on how that note is used. Once you've memorized the notes, I'll give you the fingering for those notes. For a quick summary of this topic, have a look at Blues scale. For example, in the Gb blues scale, the 4th note of the major scale Cb is simplified to be note B. Like the other Privacy / Yet another (more complex) way to identify the blue note is to take the Diminished 5th note interval based the tonic note - Ab-dim-5th. This step assigns note names to the major scale note positions identified in the previous step. piano scale lessons, I'm going to give you the notes of the scale. Having identified the piano keys that make up this major scale, this step shows the note names of those keys. This step shows the 6 blues scale notes constructed using the minor pentatonic scale of the same key. So for this major scale, the 5th note of the major scale is flattened from Eb to D to make the blue note. The A Flat blues scale consists of A flat, B, D flat, D, E flat, G flat, and A flat again. For the blues scale, the half-step / semitone closeness of notes around the 4th and 5th notes usually mean it is inevitable that a note name will be used twice in the scale, so it makes sense to use the chromatic scale names for all notes. There are 6 blues scale notes plus the octave of the tonic note - a total of 7 notes. The numbered notes are those that might be used when building this note scale. These note names are shown below on the treble clef followed by the bass clef. This note became known as the “ blue note “, and is the flat fifth in the case of the minor pentatonic, or the flat third in the case of the major pentatonic. See diagrams at Standard Guitar. The blues scale is made from the 1st, flattened 3rd, 4th, flattened 5th, 5th and flattened 7th notes from the major scale above. To count up a Half-tone (semitone), count up from the last note up by one physical piano key, either white or black. To understand why this scale has these sharp and flat note names, have a look at the Ab minor pentatonic scale. The 7th note is the octave of the tonic note, where the pattern begins to repeat itself. The 1st note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 2nd note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 3rd note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 4th note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 5th note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 6th note of the A-flat blues scale is, The 7th note of the A-flat blues scale is. This step shows an octave of notes in the key of A-flat, to identify the start and end notes of the scale. This is done because blues (and pentatonic scales) do not follow the 'usual' music theory rules that hold for diatonic scales, such as major and all minor varieties, which state that each note from A..G can only be used once in the scale. The 1st note of the A-flat blues scale is Ab: 2: The 2nd note of the A-flat blues scale is B: 3: The 3rd note of the A-flat blues scale is Db: 4: The 4th note of the A-flat blues scale is D: 5: The 5th note of the A-flat blues scale is Eb: 6: The 6th note of the A-flat blues scale … Media Kit. The tonic note (shown as *) is the starting point and is always the 1st note in the major scale. 6 free video lessons to teach you chords so you can play popular songs! To construct the blues scale from the minor pentatonic scale in the previous step, take the 4th note of that scale(note Eb), flatten it, and insert it before the 4th note position of the same scale. Move your thumb under to the D, second finger to D flat, thumb to B, and finish with your second finger on the A flat. This step shows the A-flat blues scale on the piano, treble clef and bass clef. This added note can be spelled as either a ♭5 or a ♯4. An A♭ Blues scale consists of A♭, B, D♭, D, E♭ and G♭ notes. The audio files below play every note shown on the piano above, so middle C (marked with an orange line at the bottom) is the 2nd note heard. Since the key of Ab appears on the Circle of fifths diagram as both a major and minor key, the Lesson steps explain both ways of constructing this blues scale for this key: The 1st construction, using the major scale, starts at Lesson 3. On the way back down, play until your thumb hits the D. Bring your third finger over to hit the D flat, hit the B with your thumb, and finish by hitting the A flat with your second finger. The Blues Scale can be thought of as whole step and a half step, whole step, half step, half step, whole step and a half step, whole step. The Solution below shows the Ab blues scale, on the piano, treble clef and bass clef. Toll Free: 1-800-439-8921 A Flat Major Blues Scale on the Guitar – 5 CAGED Positions, Tabs and Theory The Ab Major Blues Scale contains the following notes: Ab – Bb – Cb – C – Eb – F For a complete lesson on the Major Blues Scale… The major scale uses the W-W-H-W-W-W-H note counting rule to identify the scale note positions. The 2nd construction, using the minor pentatonic scale, starts at Lesson 6. Below are those notes numbered 1 to 6 on the piano keyboard. The Blues Scale is an extension of The Pentatonic Scale with the addition of one extra note, the Blues note A flat 5th in this key it's the G flat. Notice that the note that was added is the same on both scales, just memorize the minor blues scale and transmit that note to the other shapes when making a solo. The flattened 5th is the blue note that gives the blues scale its distinctive sound in this key. The blues scale (or Pentablues) is the pentatonic scale plus one note. In a later step, if sharp or flat notes are used, the exact accidental names will be chosen. To understand why these sharp and flat note names have chosen given the note positions from the previous step, have a look at the Ab major scale. To flatten a note, just replace it with the piano key lower in pitch ie. Coming down, play until your fourth finger is on the E flat. The hexatonic, or six-note, blues scale consists of the minor pentatonic scale plus the ♭5th degree of the original heptatonic scale. Wherever possible, complex note names from the major scale are simplified to arrive at the final blues scale notes. This step shows the white and black note names on a piano keyboard so that the note names are familiar for later steps, and to show that the note names start repeating themselves after 12 notes.