A♭ minor blues (Ab minor blues) scale on bass
A♭ minor blues has 6 notes: A♭ B D♭ D E♭ G♭. Degrees: 1 ♭3 4 ♭5 5 ♭7. Formula: W+H W H H W+H W.
What notes are in the A♭ minor blues scale?
A♭, B, D♭, D, E♭ and G♭. It has 6 notes; its formula in whole and half steps is W+H W H H W+H W.
What does A♭ minor blues sound like, and when do you use it?
Minor pentatonic + the "blue note" (♭5): what makes it sound like the blues. Use it over the three 7 chords of a blues.
Chord progressions to improvise with A♭ minor blues
In Jam mode (the Jam button above) a band of grand piano, upright bass and drums (recorded instruments) plays these progressions as swing, bossa, groove or ballad, and the fretboard lights up the notes of each chord as it plays. It's a backing track made for this scale in A♭:
- Blues (I7–IV7–V7): 12 bars over A♭7, D♭7 and E♭7. The 12-bar blues: three 7 chords with the scale on top. The clash between the ♭3 and the chord's 3rd is the blues.
- Minor blues (i7–iv7–♭VI7–V7): 12 bars over A♭m7, D♭m7, F♭7 and E♭7. Minor 12-bar blues. Bars 9 and 10 bring the ♭VI7 and the V7: aim for their highlighted notes.
A♭ minor blues positions on bass
In standard tuning (E A D G), with 2 notes per string, A♭ minor blues is played in 6 positions along the neck:
- Position 1: frets 1 to 7 (starts on the root)
- Position 2: frets 4 to 9
- Position 3: frets 6 to 10
- Position 4: frets 7 to 11
- Position 5: frets 8 to 14
- Position 6: frets 11 to 16
Same notes as
Minor blues in other keys
On other instruments
A♭ minor blues on piano · A♭ minor blues on guitar · All scales