beginner-guitar-scales

Scales are notes played in a series.

The most common scales have eight notes in them.

Notice the yellow root notes In the scales. These are the notes in the scale that share the name of the scale. The yellow notes in the G Major scale are all "G" notes.

If we start with the first note of the scale and play each note down to the next yellow root note, we have 8 notes.

The 8th note in the scale is called the Octave. Octaves have the same note name but are 12 half steps higher or lower pitched than the other.

The notes in the scales are also found in their related chords and keys.

We practice scales starting from the lowest "root" note of the scale up to the highest note and back again.

Practicing the scales this way gives us a pattern or shape that helps us remember it easier

Some patterns are easier to remember than others.

When we play the notes of the scale along with their related chord families in the exercises and song sections, we can hear how well they blend together.

We create melodies, solos and licks or riffs from the scales.

Scales can be played in the open position as shown in the E minor pentatonic scale, or in a closed position, meaning no open notes like in the G major scale.

A closed scale is moveable. This means that once you memorize a pattern for a closed scale, you can instantly transpose it to another key just by moving it up or down the neck. Only the name of the scale changes at each fret.

The G major scale changes to an A major scale when we move the pattern to the 5th fret.

Playing in position
Playing in position is basically just keeping our fretting hand in a certain location on the neck.

We determine what position we are playing in by which fret the first finger is over.

For example, the C major pent. scale is in the 7th position because the first finger is positioned at the 7th fret even though we start playing the scale using the second finger on the 8th fret.

Alternate picking
Always practice playing scales slowly until you are able to play them faster.

However, to develop speed you must learn alternate picking.

Learning this technique is the only way to be able to start playing with a fast speed. You can only go so fast using all down strokes.

Alternate picking is just "down - up" pick strokes.
picking one note up and the next one down.

If you go to a new string, that string will get whatever stroke you are on whether up or down.

For example: If there are three notes picked on the 6th string (like the example on the guitar practice routine page) and the next note is on the 5th string, that note would be an up stroke.

You will see in some of the scale exercises there are pick stroke symbols on the bottom of the staff.

A Metronome is a helpful tool to use when practicing scales.
It produces a tick or beat at an adjustable tempo or speed that will help you develop clean playing skills. (not sloppy).

The minor & Major Pentatonic scales.

A Pentatonic scale is a five note scale.
They are the easiest scale patterns to remember and are the most popular scale used in rock guitar.

The blues minor scale is the same as the pentatonic with an additional "blue" note.

This note gives the scale the distinct blues sound.

The natural minor scale.
Minor scales are like the minor pentatonic but with two more notes.

We have just barely scratched the surface on the subject of scales.
There are many, many scales and this can get very overwhelming for beginners and pros! So for our lessons we will concentrate only on major and minor scales.

Some guitarists obsess over scale learning.

If your just beginning, just focus on the basic Major and minor patterns that we have learned here for now.

When you think your ready to explore scales in more detail, see the resource section for some guidance.

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Major & minor Scales