Ukulele Scales: Blues Scale

The Blues Scale is very similar to the minor pentatonic scale. There’s only one new note: the flattened fifth (also known as the devil’s interval).

C Blues Scale

The extra note fits in to the minor pentatonic like this:

Looks like this in tab:

And sounds like this:

C Blues Scale

Here’s me having a little mess around with it.

C Blues Mess Around (MP3)

D Blues Scale

Like the minor pentatonic, you can change the key of the blues scale just by moving the same pattern up the fretboard. The lowest note on the scale is the key that it’s in. For example, the D blues scale starts on the second fret of the C string like this:

And this in tab:

F Blues Scale

The same deal with F. Starting on the fifth fret of the C string.

If you want tab for the ‘blues mess around’ – and plenty of other ukulele blues – check out my How to Play Blues Ukulele ebook.

Ukulele Scales: Minor Pentatonic

This week, I thought I’d go over the easiest scale around. It only has five notes in – as the ancient Romans amongst you will have already worked out. It’s also used almost exclusively in blues and rock music.

C Minor Pentatonic

The C minor pentatonic looks like this on the fretboard:

This in tab:

And sounds like this:

C Minor Pentatonic (MP3)

The minor pentatonic is a great scale to improvise with – particularly with bluesy songs. Here’s me playing around with the notes in this pattern.

C Minor Pentatonic Improvisation (MP3)

The end lick in that is easy to play and very effective. Here’s the tab of it:

D Minor Pentatonic

As with the major scale, the minor pentatonic pattern can be moved up the neck to fit with whichever key you’re playing in. Find the root note on the C string and start the pattern from there. For example, if you’re playing in the key of D minor, start the pattern on the second fret so it looks like this on the fretboard:

And this in tab:

F Minor Pentatonic

Similarly for F minor, you start on the fifth fret of the C string like this:

And this:

If you can get this scale under your fingers, next week’s scale – the blues scale – will be a doddle.

If you want to learn more stuff you can do with this scale, check out my Blues Ukulele ebook.

Ukulele Scales Part 1: Major Scale

When I did my ukulele scales posts there were a few people who didn’t have a clue what it was all about. So, I thought I’d go back to basics and cover it from there.

The most common scale in all music is the major scale. You’ll hear it all over the place (pretty much every nursery rhyme, Christmas carol and national anthem uses it) and it’s the basis of all chords.

The major scale creates a particular pattern on the ukulele. This pattern can be moved up and down the neck depending on which key you play in.

C Major Scale

The most important note to concentrate on is the root note – the first one played and the last one played. For example, The C major scale starts on the open C string and ends on the A string, third fret. The pattern looks like this on the fretboard:

The tab looks like this:

And sounds like this:

There are lots of ways you can use the major scale. One is for improvising a solo. In the following snippet, I’m improvising a little melody with the chords C, F and G and using only notes in the major scale pattern.

D Major Scale

For the D major scale, you use exactly the same pattern but start on a D note (C string second fret) and end on a D note (A string, fifth fret). Giving you this:

F Major Scale

Moving that pattern up and down the fretboard will give you a major scale wherever you use it. Whichever key you want to play the major scale in, find that note on the C string and start the pattern from there.

For example, to get the F major scale, you start the scale pattern on the fifth fret of the c string which gives you this pattern:

This tab:

And sounds like this: