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Fig. 1 · Gb blues · first 12 frets

ukulele scale

G♭ blues

G♭1B♭♭♭3C♭4D♭♭♭5D♭5F♭♭7

Minor pentatonic with one note squeezed in between the fourth and the fifth. It is written as a flattened fifth, so the fifth letter carries both of them and the fourth keeps its own.

The same sounds spelled from the other side are F♯ blues.

on guitaron piano

Written out

Fig. 2 · Gb blues, ascending

Every accidental is written in, rather than left to a key signature, so the letters can be read one at a time.

The step pattern

G♭W+HB♭♭WC♭HD♭♭HD♭W+HF♭WG♭

What is true of it

G♭ blues is G♭, B♭♭, C♭, D♭♭, D♭ and F♭, and back to G♭.

Its steps are W+H – W – H – H – W+H – W, where W is a whole step and H a half.

Written correctly it needs 8 alterations, B♭♭ and D♭♭ among them. That is what the letters force, and it is also why nobody writes music in this key: the same notes spelled from the other side are easier to read.

Across the first twelve frets of the ukulele its notes fall in 27 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.

Chords made only of these notes

G♭mminorG♭dimdiminishedG♭m7minor seventhG♭m7♭5half-diminished seventh

Found by testing every chord in the catalogue against these 6 sounds, not chosen.

Other scales on G♭

G♭ major pentatonicpentatonicG♭ minor pentatonicpentatonicG♭ major bluespentatonicG♭ majormajorG♭ natural minorminorG♭ harmonic minorminor

C bluesC♯ bluesD♭ bluesD bluesD♯ bluesE♭ bluesE bluesF bluesall 374