Learning scales might seem like a boring thing to do, but learning the blues scale will help with your improvisation. If you want to pick up your guitar and play something really cool sounding, a riff based on a blues scale is a great place to start.
On a three stringed instrument tuned G D G the easiest blues scale in G is played in this way:
Bass string 0 3 5 6, middle string 0 3, top string 0
What Do We Mean By The Blues Scale?
Many people learning the cigar box guitar want to learn to play the blues. For a beginner, you need to know that there are blues chord progressions and there are blues scales. In this article we are looking at blues scales.
For those that want the theory, the blues scale has this pattern:
| 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| G | Bb | C | Db | D | F | G |
What Is The Point Of Learning Scales On A Cigar Box Guitar?
When you play any melody, be it rock, pop or folk, each melody is based on a scale.
You know how if you try to pick out a tune you can play an awful sounding note? It’s not just the wrong note at that place in the tune, but it just doesn’t fit in with the tune at all.
That’s because you have accidentally hit a note that is not in the scale of that tune. More advanced players might choose to add a note that is not in the scale. If I choose where I’m going to add notes that aren’t in the scale, it doesn’t sound like a mistake. It adds interest.
When we play chords on the cigar box guitar, there are chords that go together. In my Absolute Beginner’s Guide to chords we learned that G C and D chords all go together.
When you play a melody in the key of G, you can make a basic accompaniment using just those three chords. It might not sound perfect because the original song had a minor chord or another slightly more complicated chord, but it won’t sound terribly wrong like it does if you hit that bum note.
How Do I Start To Play A Blues Scale On The Cigar Box Guitar?
If you know music theory, it’s helpful to know that the blues scale is based on the minor pentatonic with an added blues note.
But if you don’t know music theory and don’t want to learn, you can still play a blues scale just by knowing the fingering pattern on the fretboard.
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in G D G | G | Bb | C | Db | D | F | G |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
For those that just want the fingering pattern, that translates to
0 3 5 6 on bass string
0 3 on middle string
0 on top string
If you want a fuller explanation of the theory, you need to know that the blues scale is based on the minor pentatonic scale which is a five note scale, (“penta” means 5). To get from the minor pentatonic to the blues, we add the flattened 5th. This is an example of an added note in a scale that gives more interest to the scale.
The minor pentatonic scale formula is 1, b3, 4, 5, b7. It is based on a minor scale without the 2nd and 6th notes:
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in G D G | G | Bb | C | D | F | G |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
And is played on the strings in this way:
0 3 5 on the bass string
0 3 on the middle string
0 on the top string (which can also be played on the 5th fret of the 2nd string)
How Do I Know Where The Notes Are On The Fretboard Of The Cigar Box Guitar?
It may seem very daunting to learn the notes on the fretboard and you might not even feel the need to yet, but if you want to learn them, here they are:
The Notes And Fret Numbers On The 3 Stringed Guitar In Open G:
| FRET NUMBER | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| BASS STRING | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G |
| MIDDLE STRING | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D |
| TOP STRING | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G |
You will see that some chords have alternative names. It’s not important for you to know the theory yet but if you want to know, here’s a simple explanation:
When you sharpen a G note for instance, it’s a semitone higher and this note is the same pitch as flattening an A note by a semitone. So that pitched note can be called 2 different names.
The great thing about the cigar box guitar in open G is that the bass and top strings have the same notes, so once you’ve learned one string, you’ve learned the other.
Finding Notes On The Middle String Of A Cigar Box Guitar
Even though the middle string is different to the bass and top strings, it does follow the same pattern. Here are some hints to help you find your way around:
- If you want to play the same note on the middle string as on either of the G strings, you need to add 5 to the fret on the middle string.
- To play a G note on the middle D string, it’s the open string on G so on fret 0. Add 5 to this and you get a G note on the middle string at the fifth fret.
- To play a C note on the middle string, it’s the 5th fret on the G string so add 5 and you play a C on the 10th fret of the middle string.
- If you know where a note is on the D string and want to play it on either of the G strings, you need to add 7 to find the correct fret:
- F is the 3rd fret of the D string, so add 7 and it’s the 10th fret of the G string.
The notes on the bass ( and top) strings also give you the name of the power chord you are playing when you fret across all the strings. So it really is worth learning the names of these notes as soon as you can.
See my article here on 1 finger chords for more info.
How Do I Easily Play A Blues Scale In Different Cigar Box Guitar Tunings?
The Blues Scale On A Guitar Tuned E B E
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in E B E | E | G | A | Bb | B | D | E |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
0 3 5 6 on bass string
0 3 on middle string
0 on top string ( or 5th fret on middle string)
But you will be playing an E blues scale
(Note that the flattened 3rd note is a G and not a Gb – that’s because in E major we would play a G#, so flattening it takes it to G natural. The same is true with the flattened 7 being a D rather than a Db)
On A Guitar Tuned D A D: The Blues Scale
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in D A D | D | F | G | Ab | A | C | D |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
0 3 5 6 on bass string
0 3 on middle string
0 on top string
Gives you a blues scale in D
(Again the flattened 3rd and 7th notes are flattened from the sharp notes of the major scale to the natural)
On a 4 stringed guitar in G D G B you can play a two octave blues scale
The Notes On The 4 Stringed Guitar In G D G B:
| FRET NUMBER | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| BASS STRING | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G |
| 3rd STRING | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D |
| 2nd STRING | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B | C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G |
| 1st STRING | B | C | C#/Db | D | D#/Eb | E | F | F#/Gb | G | G#/Ab | A | A#/Bb | B |
The blues scale in G contains these notes: G Bb C Db D F G Bb C Db D F G
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in G D G B | G | Bb | C | Db | D | F | G | Bb | C | Db | D | F | G |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 7 |
0 3 5 6 on bass string
0 3 on 3rd string
0 3 5 6 on 2nd string
3 5 7 on top string
Other Tunings For Cigar Box Guitar
There are so many other tunings for a cigar box guitar and it’s beyond the scope of this article to give fingerings for a blues scale on all of them, but once you know the sound you are looking for, I hope you can experiment on your own.
I Want To Play A Blues Scale In A Different Key On The Open G Cigar Box Guitar
Even though the guitar is tuned to open G, we won’t always want to play in the key of G.
Here are some fingerings for other blues scales on a guitar tuned G D G:
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for C blues scale | C | Eb | F | Gb | G | Bb | C |
| frets on each string for tuning in G D G, starting with bass | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 5 |
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for D blues scale | D | F | G | Ab | A | C | D |
| frets on each string for tuning in G D G, starting with bass | 7 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 7 |
| frets on each string for tuning in G D G, starting with middle string | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 |
| note number from major scale | 1 | b3 | 4 | b5 | 5 | b7 | 1 |
| letter name for tuning in G D G | A | C | D | Eb | E | G | A |
| frets on each string, starting with bass | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
Playing A Blues Progression
Playing the 12 bar blues on the cigar box guitar is one of the easiest things that you can start with, since you can do it using just one finger ( or guitar slide) to form the chords required. Remember that you don’t need to use a 1 finger barre if you find that difficult. I personally like to line up my 2nd, 3rd and 4th fingers ( or sometimes my 1st , 2nd and 3rd) in a line across the 3 strings.
This will give you a very basic blues progression that you can then spend a lifetime improving.
Although the basic 12 bar blues is very easy to learn, playing the blues is so much more than just playing the basic chords. There are loads of ways to embellish this pattern, but it’s more than just embellishing the progression.
Playing the blues comes from within. Learn the chord progression, learn how to embellish it and only then can you put the true blues feeling in.
I have more information on how to start playing a blues progression in this article Step By Step Easy Blues Chord Progressions: Number 1