A Major Blues Scale on the Guitar
A major blues scale relates to the A major pentatonic scale which consists of five notes:
A – B – C# – E – F#
While in A major blues scale, “C” is the additive note.
Adding a C note to this scale makes it the A major Blues Scale.
A Major Blues Scale Notes
A major blues scale consists of 6 notes that are given below:
A – B – C – C# – E – F#
If we play these notes in the OPEN position, then we play within the first five frets of the guitar
But if we play it in another specific position called the CAGED position, we play starting from the 2nd fret up to 11th fret.
Open position A Major Blues Scale
To play the A major blues scale, the easiest and most convenient position is the OPEN position.
The reason is that it includes several open notes, which makes it easier for the beginner to play.
One does not need to play the notes on progressive frets.
Moreover, the Open position offers the whole scale and it plays in two different octaves.
CAGED position for A Major Blues Scale
There are five different CAGED positions for A major blues scale. These positions start from 2nd, 4th, 6th, 9th and 11th fret, respectively.
Every position offers almost two different octaves.
It is challenging to play it in CAGED positions because open positions provide several open notes, i.e. A – D – G.
The CAGED position does not include any open notes.
That’s why beginners must try to play the scale first in the open position.
If you can easily play the scale in the open position, it is advisable to progress to CAGED positions.
2nd Position
The second position starts from the 2nd fret and goes up to the 5th fret.
It offers the scale in two octaves.
The lower octaves start from the 5th fret of the “Low E string” and completes at the 2nd fret of the G string, i.e. at the same “A” note.
The higher octave starts from the 2nd fret of the G string and progresses to the 5th fret of “high E string”.
4th Position
The fourth position can be played between the 4th and 8th fret.
We have two octaves
The lower octave starts from the 5th fret of the “low E string” and completes at the 7th fret of the D string.
The higher octave starts at the 7th fret of the D string and completes at the 5th fret of the high E string.
6th Position
The sixth position can be played between the 6th and 10th fret.
We can play two octaves
The first starting from the 7th fret of the D string and ending at the 10th fret of the B string.
The second octave starts from the 10th fret of the B string and ends at the 7th fret of the D string. Both octaves sound great.
9th Position
The ninth position starts from the 9th fret and goes up to the 13th fret.
The position contains two octaves of the scale, both sounding great.
The first octave starts from the 12th fret of the A string and completes at the 10th fret of the B string.
In contrast, the second octave starts from the 10th fret of the B string and completes at the 12th fret of the A string.
11th Position
This last position starts from the 11th fret and goes up to the 15th fret.
There are two octaves
The lower one starts from the 12th fret of the A string and completes at the 14th fret of the G string.
The higher one starts from the 14th fret of the G string, and we can end it at two notes, either the 12th fret of the A string or the 14th fret of the G string.
Guitar Tablature for A Major Blues Scale
Following are the open and most easy guitar tabs of A Major Blues Scale: