Minor Pentatonic Blues Worksheet

This worksheet can be used in-tandem with the minor pentatonic blues chart that I posted last month. It includes a breakdown of the intervals in a minor pentatonic blues scale, as well as a reminder about the number of half-steps in each specific interval.

In order to keep it flexible for the teacher, I did not assign specific scales – either let the student pick which scales they want to build, or assign specific ones by filling in the blanks. Click here to download the PDF: Minor Pentatonic Blues Scale Worksheet.

When I first started using the chart in my studio, I had several students point out a pretty obvious “mistake”…

“Why is it called pentatonic blues when there are seven notes in the scale? Shouldn’t there be five?”

… look out, here comes a mini theory lesson!

First, I explained that there are only actually six notes in the scale. In a C minor blues scale, we can’t count C twice. That makes the six notes of the scale the following: C – E♭ – F – G♭ – G – B♭

… but the question still remains: Where does that sixth note come from? A pentatonic scale should have five notes.

The answer is in the name of the scale! We call it the “C Minor Pentatonic Blues,” right? Well, chop off the blues part, and you’re left with “C Minor Pentatonic,” which would look like this:

That means that the extra note is G♭ – or a flat five. This is our “blue note” – it gives the minor pentatonic blues an extra kick. Without the flat five, it would just be a plain old minor pentatonic scale.

Well, I hope you find all this info handy in your lessons! Thanks for reading.