diff --git a/builtin/blame.c b/builtin/blame.c
index 581de0d832..8f66eb4786 100644
--- a/builtin/blame.c
+++ b/builtin/blame.c
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
 #include "object-store.h"
 #include "blame.h"
 #include "string-list.h"
+#include "refs.h"
 
 static char blame_usage[] = N_("git blame [<options>] [<rev-opts>] [<rev>] [--] <file>");
 
@@ -993,6 +994,18 @@ int cmd_blame(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	revs.disable_stdin = 1;
 	setup_revisions(argc, argv, &revs, NULL);
+	if (!revs.pending.nr && is_bare_repository()) {
+		struct commit *head_commit;
+		struct object_id head_oid;
+
+		if (!resolve_ref_unsafe("HEAD", RESOLVE_REF_READING,
+					&head_oid, NULL) ||
+		    !(head_commit = lookup_commit_reference_gently(revs.repo,
+							     &head_oid, 1)))
+			die("no such ref: HEAD");
+
+		add_pending_object(&revs, &head_commit->object, "HEAD");
+	}
 
 	init_scoreboard(&sb);
 	sb.revs = &revs;
diff --git a/t/annotate-tests.sh b/t/annotate-tests.sh
index 6da48a2e0a..d933af5714 100644
--- a/t/annotate-tests.sh
+++ b/t/annotate-tests.sh
@@ -68,6 +68,14 @@ test_expect_success 'blame 1 author' '
 	check_count A 2
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'blame in a bare repo without starting commit' '
+	git clone --bare . bare.git &&
+	(
+		cd bare.git &&
+		check_count A 2
+	)
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'blame by tag objects' '
 	git tag -m "test tag" testTag &&
 	git tag -m "test tag #2" testTag2 testTag &&