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Fig. 1 · Ab blues · first 12 frets

ukulele scale

A♭ blues

A♭1C♭♭3D♭4E♭♭♭5E♭5G♭♭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 G♯ blues.

on guitaron piano

Written out

Fig. 2 · Ab 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

A♭W+HC♭WD♭HE♭♭HE♭W+HG♭WA♭

What is true of it

A♭ blues is A♭, C♭, D♭, E♭♭, E♭ and G♭, and back to A♭.

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 7 alterations, E♭♭ 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 24 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.

Chords made only of these notes

A♭mminorA♭dimdiminishedA♭m7minor seventhA♭m7♭5half-diminished seventh

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

Other scales on A♭

A♭ major pentatonicpentatonicA♭ minor pentatonicpentatonicA♭ major bluespentatonicA♭ majormajorA♭ natural minorminorA♭ harmonic minorminor

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