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Guitar scale · pentatonic & blues

F Major Blues Scale

Major pentatonic with an added ♭3 passing tone for rich country-blues phrasing.

Notes FGAbACD
Formula 1 2 ♭3 3 5 6
Steps W H H W+H W W+H
Mood Swinging, Vibrant, Expressive
Heard in B.B. King style, Country Blues, Swing

Interactive scale diagram

F Major Blues Scale · Standard tuning

STR OP 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 E A D G B E

Tap any note to hear it.

How to play F Major Blues on guitar

Find the root first: F is at fret 1 on the low E string and fret 8 on the A string. The blue notes on the diagram are every F on the neck; the gold ones are the other chord tones (3rd, 5th and 7th), which are the safest notes to land on at the end of a phrase.

Learn it one box at a time. Position 1, the E shape, sits at frets 1–4. Once it's under your fingers, move to position 2 (the D shape) and play the notes the two boxes share, then keep going up the neck. After all five, the scale joins up into one pattern across the whole fretboard.

Degrees

DegreeNote
1 F
2 G
♭3 Ab
3 A
5 C
6 D

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Questions

What notes are in the F Major Blues Scale?
The F Major Blues Scale has 6 notes: F, G, Ab, A, C, D.
What is the formula of the major blues scale?
1 2 ♭3 3 5 6, which is the step pattern W H H W+H W W+H (W = whole step, H = half step).
Where do I play F Major Blues on the guitar?
The root F is at fret 1 on the low E string and fret 8 on the A string. Position 1 (the E shape) covers frets 1–4, and four more positions connect it up the neck.

Major Blues Scale in every key

More scales in F