Using The 6th In The Blues

Hey, it’s Justin here! In this edition of Rut Busters, Lee and I explore a cool note you can add to your blues solo playing. That note is the 6th! :)

What Is The 6th?

The 6th is a fantastic blues note you can use with the Minor Pentatonic Scale! Players like B.B. King used it a lot, giving them a unique sound. In the key of A, it’s the note f#. In position 1 of the Minor Pentatonic, you’ll find it at fret 7 on string 2, and at fret 4 on string 4.

Some of my students over the years have avoided the 6th because they think it’s the “wrong” note to play. But it actually sounds wicked over the A and D chords in an A blues.

Why Is It The 6th Note Of The A Major Scale?

Lee asked me why f# is note 6 in A Major and not in A Minor Pentatonic, which led to a little discussion on theory. First off, penta = 5: the Minor Pentatonic scale only has five notes. The note f# isn't part of the A Minor Pentatonic (a, c, d, e, g).

Also, Western harmony uses the Major Scale as a starting point for naming notes and chords. When we say the 6th, we mean the 6th of the Major Scale, not the 6th of the minor scale.

By the way, when I say 6th in a blues context, I only mean the 6th note in the original key, not the 6th of each chord. So in an A blues, the “6th” means the note f# and no other. :)

💡Remember: in an A blues, the 6th means the sixth note of the A Major scale (f#), whatever chord we happen to be playing. It doesn't change!

When Can We Use The 6th?

Over A, you’ll find the 6th sounds best when you play it then move away. It works, but you wouldn’t usually finish a solo on it. But over D, you don’t need to move away because it’s already part of the D chord (d f# a). It’s the 3rd in the key of D. In fact, it sounds great on the transition from A to D.

A little question for you – which scale degree is f# in the key of E Major? That’s right, it’s the 2nd or 9th degree. This means it can also work over the E Major chord, creating an E9 sound. I tend to play it less, though.

Another cool trick with the 6th is that no matter where you play it on the neck, you can always play a semitone bend from it to the b7th degree!

Exercise: Have a five-minute jam over a 12-bar blues in A and target f# over all the chords. See what awesome sounds you can find! Another exercise we tried in the video is to solo over A and D only, using only notes from the Minor Pentatonic over the A, then targeting f# during the D chord.

Where Else Can We Find The Note F#?

Exercise: Grab your guitar and see if you can find two f# notes further up the neck. Where are they?

You’ll find f# notes at fret 11 on string 3 and at fret 14 on string 1. These are in another pattern of the Minor Pentatonic scale, so I suggest you get really comfortable using the f# notes in the other pattern before learning these.

💡Quick Guitar Tip: it’s one to think about the 6th, but it's another thing to use it well. You can analyze, but always remember: it’s just a note! If it sounds good, it is good. :)

Practice Tips

I suggest we spend half our practice time on exercises and the other half playing whatever we want. Lee glimpsed the power of practicing one exercise for five minutes repeatedly. He’s right – it’s super powerful!

We all find it difficult to practice, and those five-minute periods are challenging. The trick to inspiring yourself is to practice things that are both beneficial AND enjoyable. There are some super-boring exercises out there!

And the ultimate motivator is to see the power of this focused practice. This transforms us as guitar players and takes us out of our habitual playing, our ruts! And it can happen quickly. :)

Stick around for more Rut Busters with Lee and I and take your playing to the next level! Laters. :)

🎵 Explore the 6th further in my Colouring The Blues Module.

Andertons Music

Captain Lee runs Anderton's Music in Guildford (UK) which is a store near me and who I knew had a great presence on YouTube, so I got in touch about trying out some collaboration ideas and it's morphed into these lessons for Lee, which are a lot of fun! We also have some gear reviews planned where Lee will come hang at my studio!