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Fig. 1 · Db blues · first 12 frets

ukulele scale

D♭ blues

D♭1F♭♭3G♭4A♭♭♭5A♭5C♭♭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 C♯ blues.

on guitaron piano

Written out

Fig. 2 · Db 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

D♭W+HF♭WG♭HA♭♭HA♭W+HC♭WD♭

What is true of it

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

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, A♭♭ 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 26 places, which is what makes a scale a shape rather than a list.

Chords made only of these notes

D♭mminorD♭dimdiminishedD♭m7minor seventhD♭m7♭5half-diminished seventh

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

Other scales on D♭

D♭ major pentatonicpentatonicD♭ minor pentatonicpentatonicD♭ major bluespentatonicD♭ majormajorD♭ natural minorminorD♭ harmonic minorminor

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