Guitar scale · pentatonic & blues
F Major Blues Scale
Major pentatonic with an added ♭3 passing tone for rich country-blues phrasing.
Tap any note to hear it.
F 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|-------------------1-3-4-| B|---------------1-3-------| G|-----------1-2-----------| D|---------3---------------| A|-------3-----------------| E|-1-3-4-------------------|
e|-----------------------3-4-5-| B|-------------------3-6-------| G|-----------------5-----------| D|-----------3-5-6-------------| A|-------3-5-------------------| E|-3-4-5-----------------------|
e|-----------------------5-8-| B|-------------------6-8-----| G|---------------5-7---------| D|---------5-6-7-------------| A|-----5-8-------------------| E|-5-8-----------------------|
e|---------------------------8-10-| B|--------------------8-9-10------| G|-----------------10-------------| D|--------------10----------------| A|------8-10-11-------------------| E|-8-10---------------------------|
e|-------------------------------------10-13-| B|-------------------------------10-13-------| G|----------------------10-12-13-------------| D|----------------10-12----------------------| A|-------10-11-12----------------------------| E|-10-13-------------------------------------|
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 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 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
| Degree | Note |
|---|---|
| 1 | F |
| 2 | G |
| ♭3 | Ab |
| 3 | A |
| 5 | C |
| 6 | D |
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Practise F Major Blues anywhere, even offline.
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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.