F Minor Blues Near the Nut
F, Ab, Bb, Cb, C and Eb are the six notes of the F minor blues scale. The blue note is Cb, which is spelled that way because it is the flat fifth, but you fret it as B.
The first box begins on the 1st fret of the low E string, right beside the nut, and the root repeats on the 8th fret of the A string. For a clean fingering across those frets, scale fingering is worth a read.
Play the F minor blues scale
Use the step menu in the player to switch between the single-string run and the box shapes.
Notes of the F minor blues scale
| Note | Degree | Interval | Semitones from root |
|---|---|---|---|
| F | 1 | Root | 0 |
| Ab | b3 | Minor 3rd | 3 |
| Bb | 4 | Perfect 4th | 5 |
| Cb | b5 | Tritone | 6 |
| C | 5 | Perfect 5th | 7 |
| Eb | b7 | Minor 7th | 10 |
Structure
F minor blues scale notes:
How the minor blues scale is built:
The minor blues scale is built from the degrees 1 b3 4 b5 5 b7, which gives the step pattern W+H-W-H-H-W+H-W (W = whole step, H = half step).
Counting in semitones from the root: 0, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10. That makes it a 6-note scale.
It is also known as Blues Scale.
F Minor Blues Scale Guitar Patterns
Static diagrams of every position shown in the player above.
On one string (low E)
Box pattern — position 1
Box pattern — position 2
Box pattern — position 3
Box pattern — position 4
Box pattern — position 5
3 notes per string — position 1
The minor blues scale in other keys
Created by
Giancarlo is a musician (teaching guitar since 2000), software engineer, AI consultant and published researcher
