PENTATONIC BLUES

Pentatonic Scales are scales made up of five notes.  The pentatonic blues scale is one of the easiest to learn but also one of the most important scales in modern music. 

It is also a good scale to begin with when learning to play guitar solos.  Most solo techniques work well within the pentatonic blues scale.  Indeed, most classic rock and blues solos from the past fifty years have been based on the humble pentatonic blues scale.

The pentatonic blues scale is also very adaptable. This is because the full blues scale, natural minor, dorian mode, phrygian mode and locrian mode all share the pentatonic blues scale as part of their structure. This can obviously be very useful.

BLUES SCALE

The full blues scale is very similar to the pentatonic blues scale but with two additional notes.  These are often referred to as blue notes.  These blue notes, while being part of the scale, are not as strong as the notes that make up the pentatonic blues scale. 

That said, it is the blue notes that players use to give a sense of emotion and remoteness to a piece of music or solo.  They are often the notes that a guitarist will bend strings to get to – just outside the structure of the pentatonic blues scale but giving weight and feeling to it.