The One Scale To Rule Them All

Years ago I was sitting in a music class with blues guitar grand puba Kenny Burrell…

He didn’t have his guitar with him that day. But he did have a grand piano in the room.

So he walked over to it and played the notes:

E 

G

A

Bb

B

D 

E 

In that order, slowly, he hunted and pecked at the keys. (Kenny isn’t a piano player. But, he would often use the piano to demonstrate certain sounds he was talking about.)

He then looked up at the class and said, “Do you know what that is?”

The room was silent. 

He said, 

“That’s the blues scale.”

Then he paused and said,

“Do you have that worked out? All over your instrument?...

…because if not, you’re going to want to do that.”

Decades later, I still remember this lesson. And as I became a more proficient musician. I’ve only seen MORE value in it.

You see, when I play lead guitar, in pretty much ANY style, I rely on knowing the blues scale on my instrument. The blues seems to always sneak its way into my soloing somewhere.

But when it comes to learning the blues scale. There are a lot of confusing and contrasting methods out there. 

While I’m sure some are fine. There are many that are just plain garbage.

Most advice tells you to stay in the “boxes”...

Or…some other BS method they’ve made up that sounds catchy.

The truth is, there are only 5 patterns you ever need to know. And this works for all keys major and minor.

They are the same ones guitarists have been using for 100+ years. Like the Good Book says, there’s nothing new under the sun.

But you need to have these down with economic fingerings. Because, some ways to play them are easier than other ways. And you don’t want to make the whole process harder on yourself. Remember – this is the foundation for soloing and a lot of music, as Grandmaster Kenny says. 

But how do you sort through all the BS to know you’ve got the right ones? And that your fingering patterns are going to follow the same sequences used by the legends?

If you need help with this, get your hands on my free blues scale pdf below.

Jon MacLennan