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Guitar scale · minor blues scale

F# Blues Scale

Minor pentatonic with the added ♭5 (Blue Note) for characteristic emotional grit.

Notes F#ABCC#E
Formula 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7
Steps W+H W H H W+H W
Mood Bluesy, Gritty, Soulful
Heard in Chicago Blues, Texas Blues, Hard Rock

Interactive scale diagram

F# 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# Blues on guitar

Find the root first: F# is at fret 2 on the low E string and fret 9 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 2–5. 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#
♭3 A
4 B
♭5 (Blue Note) C
5 C#
♭7 E

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Questions

What notes are in the F# Blues Scale?
The F# Blues Scale has 6 notes: F#, A, B, C, C#, E.
What is the formula of the blues scale?
1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7, which is the step pattern W+H W H H W+H W (W = whole step, H = half step).
Where do I play F# Blues on the guitar?
The root F# is at fret 2 on the low E string and fret 9 on the A string. Position 1 (the E shape) covers frets 2–5, and four more positions connect it up the neck.

Blues Scale in every key

More scales in F#