Open position blues scales

[ianb]

One way of looking at the pentatonic box shapes is as open position scales for
the blues in different keys, as you can also use the same shapes for major pentatonic
and I have included Major Keys and a pointer to Chord shapes to start you off.

This information comes in very handy when playing open chords on an acoustic.
It shows where melody notes can be found to sound either Bluesy or Major
when adding extra notes between the chords.


m = Root Note for using as a Minor Scale
M = Root note for using as a Major Scale
b = Blues scale passing note
x = available scale note


Each box can be looked at as a chord shape surrounded by extra notes.
The extra notes are available for melody and fills between chords
each box can also be used as a movable shape along with movable chord shapes (Barre chords)
The appropriate shapes for the Major chords are also listed below.


Blues in E or G Major Pentatonic (G shape chord)

m|---|---|-M-|---|
x|---|---|-x-|---|
M|---|-x-|-b-|---|
x|---|-m-|---|---|
x|-b-|-x-|---|---|
m|---|---|-M-|---|



Blues in D or F Major pentatonic (E Shape chord)

-|-M-|---|-x-|-b-|
-|-x-|---|-m-|---|
x|-b-|-x-|---|---|
m|---|---|-M-|---|
x|---|---|-x-|---|
-|-M-|---|-x-|-b-|



Blues in B or D Major Pentatonic (D shape chord)

x|-b-|-x-|---|---|
m|---|---|-M-|---|
-|---|-x-|---|---|
M|---|-x-|-b-|-x-|
x|---|-m-|---|---|
x|-b-|-x-|---|---|



Blues in A or C Major Pentatonic (C Shape chord)

x|---|---|-x-|---|
-|-M-|---|-x-|-b-|
x|---|-m-|---|---|
x|-b-|-x-|---|---|
m|---|---|-M-|---|
x|---|---|-x-|---|



Blues in G or Bb Major Pentatonic (A Shape chord)

-|-x-|---|-m-|---|
-|-x-|-b-|-x-|---|
m|---|---|-M-|---|
x|---|---|-x-|---|
-|-M-|---|-x-|-b-|
-|-x-|---|-m-|---|



Try each shape mixing melody and chords. A lot can be done with these shapes.
You can move up the fretboard from your starting box to the box below,
just add boxes to map the entire fretboard.