Guitar scale · pentatonic & blues
D Major Blues Scale
Major pentatonic with an added ♭3 passing tone for rich country-blues phrasing.
Tap any note to hear it.
D Major Blues Scale tab: all 5 positions
Each tab climbs from the low E string to the high e string. Play it up, then back down.
e|----------------------------10-12-13-| B|----------------------10-12----------| G|----------------10-11----------------| D|-------------12----------------------| A|----------12-------------------------| E|-10-12-13----------------------------|
e|----------------------------------12-13-14-| B|----------------------------12-15----------| G|-------------------------14----------------| D|----------------12-14-15-------------------| A|----------12-14----------------------------| E|-12-13-14----------------------------------|
e|----------------------------------14-17-| B|----------------------------15-17-------| G|----------------------14-16-------------| D|-------------14-15-16-------------------| A|-------14-17----------------------------| E|-14-17----------------------------------|
e|-------------------------------17-19-| B|----------------------17-18-19-------| G|-------------------19----------------| D|----------------19-------------------| A|-------17-19-20----------------------| E|-17-19-------------------------------|
e|-------------------------------------19-22-| B|-------------------------------19-22-------| G|----------------------19-21-22-------------| D|----------------19-21----------------------| A|-------19-20-21----------------------------| E|-19-22-------------------------------------|
How to play D Major Blues on guitar
Find the root first: D is at fret 10 on the low E string and fret 5 on the A string. The blue notes on the diagram are every D on the neck; the gold ones are the rest of the scale's home chord (3, 5), 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 10–13. 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
| Degree | Note |
|---|---|
| 1 | D |
| 2 | E |
| ♭3 | F |
| 3 | F# |
| 5 | A |
| 6 | B |
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Practise D Major Blues anywhere, even offline.
This page is a small slice of Fretwise. The app adds practice: exercises that play as tab, a new routine every day, and the tools to tune and keep time. On iPhone, iPad and Android, no sign-up.
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Questions
- What notes are in the D Major Blues Scale?
- The D Major Blues Scale has 6 notes: D, E, F, F#, A, B.
- 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 D Major Blues on the guitar?
- The root D is at fret 10 on the low E string and fret 5 on the A string. Position 1 (the E shape) covers frets 10–13, and four more positions connect it up the neck.