STRINGSCALES

A composite blues Scale — Guitar Fretboard Visualization

Low E string: E, F#, G, A, B, C, C#, D, Eb, E at frets 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

A string: A, B, C, C#, D, Eb, E, F#, G, A at frets 0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12

D string: D, Eb, E, F#, G, A, B, C, C#, D at frets 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12

G string: G, A, B, C, C#, D, Eb, E, F#, G at frets 0, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12

B string: B, C, C#, D, Eb, E, F#, G, A, B at frets 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 12

High E string: E, F#, G, A, B, C, C#, D, Eb, E at frets 0, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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A composite blues

The composite blues scale merges the major and minor blues scales into one nine note super set: root, 2nd, both 3rds, 4th, flat 5th, 5th, 6th, flat 7th. It is less a scale to run than a map of every blues inflection available in one key: major sweetness, minor grit and the blue note all coexist. Blues and jazz players effectively think in it already.

it consists of these notes and degrees:

A

I

B

II

C

bIII

C♯

III

D

IV

E♭

bV

E

V

F♯

VI

G

bVII

composite blues in all 12 keys, with chords and related scales

tip
  • Do not run all nine notes: treat A composite blues as a map and pick the major-blues subset over I and IV, minor-blues subset over V.
  • Practice switching mid-phrase: answer a line built on II, bIII (C), III, VI with one built on IV, bV (Eb), V, bVII (G).
  • The double chromatic runs (II-bIII-III and IV-bV-V) are built-in slurs: hammer through them landing on the chord tone.
  • Over a shuffle in A, keep strong beats for triad tones and spend all that chromatic wealth on the upbeats.

How to play A composite blues on guitar

Open A gives you the root and both open E strings the fifth, so a root-fifth drone spans the outer reaches of the string set. Every other open string sits in the scale too, with G on the flat seventh, which means all six strings can ring while you play. E-shape barre and outer-string roots agree at fret 5. Two sharps keep reading easy, and position one lasts until fret 9.

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