Printable worksheet
Blues Scale Worksheet: Minor and Major Blues, Blue Notes
Free printable blues scale worksheet: write or identify minor and major blues scales and find the blue note. Three levels, answer key included.
Blues Scale Worksheet: Minor and Major Blues, Blue Notes
Sheet #
Name Date Score /
Answer key
Blues Scale Worksheet: Minor and Major Blues, Blue Notes · Sheet #
About the Blues Scale Worksheet
The blue note is the extra note that gives a blues scale its bluesy sound: a flattened fifth in the minor blues scale, or a flattened third in the major blues scale. This free Blues Scale Worksheet runs in your web browser with no sign-up, and it lets you write, identify or find the blue note on a staff. You can choose minor blues, major blues or both, and three difficulty levels cover simple keys through harder ones with double flats and sharps. An answer key is included, and nothing you enter is uploaded. Every sheet has its own number, so the same set can be opened again or shared.
How to use the Blues Scale Worksheet
- Open the Blues scale menu and choose Minor blues, Major blues, or Minor and major (the default is minor).
- Open the Exercise menu and choose Write the scale on the staff, Identify the scale, Find the blue note, or Mixed (the default is write).
- Set the Clef to Treble clef or Bass clef, and set the Difficulty to easy, medium or hard.
- Choose 10 or 20 questions in the Questions menu.
- Press New worksheet to generate a sheet, then complete it on the staff. For a written exercise, add accidentals to the notes. For an identify exercise, name the scale shown. For a blue note exercise, give the blue note.
- Press Show answers to check your work. The explanations show which degrees were used.
- Press Print to print the questions and the answer page, or press New worksheet for a new set.
Each sheet has a number (Sheet #), and the page address keeps your settings and that number (?seed=…). Open or share that address to get the same sheet again. Printing gives page 1 with the questions and page 2 with the answer key, and both A4 and US Letter paper work. The sheet has Name, Date and Score lines.
Begin on Easy with the minor blues scale and the Write exercise, then raise the difficulty. Keep the flat spelling of the blue note: in C blues, write G♭, not F♯, since this worksheet marks only the flat as correct.
What is the blue note in a blues scale?#
The blue note is an extra note added to a pentatonic scale to create a bluesy sound. In the minor blues scale it is the flattened fifth, and in the major blues scale it is the flattened third. It works as a passing note between two notes of the pentatonic scale, not as a home note.
What notes are in the minor blues scale?#
The minor blues scale uses degrees 1, ♭3, 4, ♭5, 5 and ♭7 of the major scale. In C it is C E♭ F G♭ G B♭, and in G it is G B♭ C D♭ D F. To build it, start from the minor pentatonic scale (1, ♭3, 4, 5, ♭7) and insert the lowered fifth between the 4 and the 5.
What is the major blues scale?#
The major blues scale uses degrees 1, 2, ♭3, 3, 5 and 6. In C it is C D E♭ E G A, and in G it is G A B♭ B D E. To build it, start from the major pentatonic scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 6) and insert the lowered third between the 2 and the 3.
Should the blue note be written as a flat fifth or a sharp fourth?#
Both spellings are used in music. This worksheet always writes the minor blues note as a flattened fifth, so C blues uses G♭ rather than F♯. The two names sound the same on a piano, but the flat spelling keeps one letter for each degree. Many players write the sharp fourth instead, but the sheet marks only the flat spelling as correct.
Why does the major blues scale have two E notes in C?#
The scale contains E♭, the added blue note, and E natural, the normal third. Both sit on the letter E and are a half step apart. The worksheet shows them side by side so you can see that each degree keeps its own letter.
Which keys appear at each difficulty level?#
The tonic depends on how many notes in the scale need accidentals. At easy level, at most two notes are altered, so keys such as A, D, E, G, B and F♯ minor blues appear. At medium level, up to four notes are altered, so C, F, C♯ and G♯ blues appear. At hard level, almost any tonic can appear, and double flats or sharps may be needed. For example, G♭ minor blues includes B𝄫 and D𝄫. The only tonics left out are C♭, F♭, E♯ and B♯.