B♭ blues scale (A♯ blues)
B♭ blues scale is B♭ – D♭ – E♭ – F♭ – F – A♭, with B♭, D♭, E♭, F♭ and A♭. Formula 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7. Press play and follow the keys.
B♭ blues scale, note by note
From B♭ upward the gaps are W+H W H H W+H W (W = whole step, H = half step, W+H = a step and a half). The half steps fall between E♭–F♭ and F♭–F. The wide steps are B♭–D♭ and F–A♭.
| Degree | Note | Interval from B♭ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | B♭ | root | |
| ♭3 | D♭ | minor third | |
| 4 | E♭ | perfect fourth | |
| ♭5 | F♭ | tritone | |
| 5 | F | perfect fifth | |
| ♭7 | A♭ | minor seventh |
What B♭ blues sounds like
Add F♭ to B♭ minor pentatonic and you get the B♭ blues scale. Bend into it, slide through it, and resolve to the note either side of it.
F♭ is the blue note. Slide E♭ – F♭ – F and back, and you've played the most recognizable phrase in the blues.
B♭ blues scale is B♭ minor pentatonic scale plus F♭. Hear B♭ minor pentatonic scale and compare.
Where your hands go
On the piano it uses four black keys (B♭, D♭, E♭ and A♭) and two white. F♭ is a white key with a sharp or flat name, because each letter can appear only once in the scale.
15 notes fit in the box between frets 4 and 10, with B♭ at the 6th fret of the low E string.
Chords that fit B♭ blues scale
Every note of these chords is in the scale: B♭m, B♭m7, B♭sus4, C♯, C♯m, C♯sus2, E♭sus2, A♭sus2, E♭sus4, A♭sus4, C♯6, C♯m6.
Moving it around the guitar
Anchor points for B♭: low E string fret 6, A string fret 1 and 13. Treat the ♭5 as a passing note; slide through it rather than landing on it.
On the piano, B♭ blues scale uses 4 black keys (B♭, D♭, E♭ and A♭) and 2 white.
A good drill once the scale is under your fingers: play it in thirds, skipping one note each time. Here that's B♭–E♭, D♭–F♭, E♭–F, F♭–A♭, F–B♭, A♭–D♭.
Drills for B♭ blues
Try these after the plain scale. Tap to hear each pattern at a steady speed, then play along.
- Up in threes: B♭ D♭ E♭ · D♭ E♭ F♭ · E♭ F♭ F · F♭ F A♭ · F A♭ B♭.
- Land on F♭: B♭ F♭ B♭ F♭ B♭: the ♭5, the blue note, squeezed between the 4th and 5th.
Scales to compare with B♭ blues
Blues scale in every key
B♭ blues scale: questions
What are the notes of the B♭ blues scale?
6 notes: B♭, D♭, E♭, F♭, F and A♭.
How many sharps or flats are in the B♭ blues scale?
Five: B♭, D♭, E♭, F♭ and A♭.
What's the difference between B♭ blues scale and B♭ minor pentatonic scale?
It adds F♭.
What chords go with the B♭ blues scale?
Any chord built only from its notes, for example B♭m, B♭m7, B♭sus4, C♯, C♯m and C♯sus2. In a 12-bar blues in B♭ it also works over the IV and V seventh chords, where the clashing notes are part of the sound.
Generated from the step pattern 3-2-1-1-3-2 and checked by the site's tests. Updated September 2026.