E Blues Scale (Minor Blues): Notes and How to Play It
If there is one scale that sounds like the blues the moment you play it, this is it. The E blues scale (also called the E minor blues scale) is six notes that have powered countless guitar solos, riffs and late-night jams. E is also one of the friendliest keys on the guitar, because the open low E string is your home note. Learn this one scale and you can start bending, sliding and wailing over a blues groove today.
The Notes of the E Blues Scale
The E blues scale contains six notes: E, G, A, Bb, B, D. After the D, you arrive back at E an octave higher and the pattern starts again.
Musicians describe scales with a formula, which is just a way of numbering each note by its distance from the starting note, called the root. Here the root is E. The formula is:
- 1 (root): E
- b3 (minor 3rd): G
- 4 (perfect 4th): A
- b5 (diminished 5th): Bb
- 5 (perfect 5th): B
- b7 (minor 7th): D
Don't worry about memorising the interval names yet. The important thing is that the minor 3rd (G) and minor 7th (D) give the scale its dark, moody colour, and that sneaky b5 (Bb) is where the real blues lives.
How the Step Pattern Builds the Scale
On guitar, a half step is the distance of one fret. A whole step is two frets. The blues scale uses this pattern of steps: W+H - W - H - H - W+H - W. A W+H is a whole step plus a half step, which is three frets.
You can see this perfectly by playing the whole scale on just the low E string:
- Start on the open string: E (fret 0)
- W+H, three frets up: G (fret 3)
- W, two frets up: A (fret 5)
- H, one fret up: Bb (fret 6)
- H, one fret up: B (fret 7)
- W+H, three frets up: D (fret 10)
- W, two frets up: E again (fret 12)
Play that slowly up and down one string. It's a great way to hear the shape of the scale before you worry about box patterns.
A Quick Word on Spelling
You might wonder why the scale says Bb instead of A#. On the fretboard they're the exact same fret, so you're not doing anything wrong if you think of it as A#. We write Bb because the formula calls this note a flat 5th: it's the 5th (B) lowered by a half step. Spelling it Bb keeps that relationship clear, so you can see at a glance that Bb is just a slightly "bent down" version of B. Same sound, clearer logic.
What Makes It Sound Like the Blues
The blues scale is built from the E minor pentatonic scale: E, G, A, B, D. That five-note scale is already the backbone of rock and blues soloing. The blues scale adds just one note: the Bb, the flat 5th, often called the "blue note."
On its own, Bb sounds tense and slightly wrong against an E. That's the point. It's a passing note, a bit of grit that you squeeze through on the way to somewhere more stable. Listen to what happens when you play A, Bb, B in a row (frets 5, 6, 7 on the low E string). That chromatic crawl, three frets side by side, is pure blues.
Listen for: how tension builds on the Bb and relaxes when you land on B or E. Try bending the A string's... or simply bending A up a half step toward Bb. That "crying" quality is what players mean by expressive.
Fun fact: the G major blues scale uses exactly the same notes. The difference is which note feels like home. Over an E groove, these notes sound minor and moody.
Chords to Jam Over
Several simple chords can be built entirely from notes in the scale:
- Em (E, G, B)
- G (G, B, D)
- Power chords E5 (E, B), A5 (A, E), D5 (D, A) and G5 (G, D)
Power chords are just two notes, a root and the note five steps above it, so they sit neutrally under a blues solo without clashing.
For a simple jam, loop this progression, one bar each:
E5 - G5 - A5 - E5
Or for something moodier, strum Em for four bars, then A5 for two and Em for two. Record yourself playing it, or ask a friend to strum, then improvise over the top. Aim to end your phrases on E and you'll always sound resolved.
Finding E on the Guitar Neck
Knowing where your root lives is the key to playing the scale anywhere. In standard tuning, E appears on:
- The low E (6th) string at frets 0, 12 and 24
- The A (5th) string at frets 7 and 19
The most famous shape starts at the 12th fret, and the same pattern works with open strings:
- Low E string: 12 (E), 15 (G)
- A string: 12 (A), 13 (Bb), 14 (B)
- D string: 12 (D), 14 (E)
- G string: 12 (G), 14 (A), 15 (Bb)
- B string: 12 (B), 15 (D)
- High E string: 12 (E), 15 (G)
Swap every 12 for 0 (an open string), every 13 for 1, 14 for 2 and 15 for 3, and you've got the same scale down by the nut. Open-position E blues rings out beautifully and is a great place to start.
Your Practice Plan
Spend five minutes playing the one-string version on the low E string, then five minutes on the 12th-fret box, slowly and evenly. Then put on your E5 - G5 - A5 - E5 loop and play just three notes: A, Bb, B, landing on E. Once that feels good, let yourself wander. Keep it simple, keep it slow, and let that blue note sting. You'll be surprised how quickly it starts sounding like real blues.
For the bigger picture, read The Blues Scale (Minor Blues).