Content

• Steps
• Part 1 of 4: Key Concepts and Terms
• Part 2 of 4: Major Scales
• Part 3 of 4: Minor scales
• Part 4 of 4: Other Useful Scales
• Tips

Scales are instrumental in any musical repertoire.They form key template elements for musical composition and improvisation in almost any style and genre. It is the time spent on mastering the most basic scales that distinguishes an ordinary musician from a great master. Fortunately, when it comes to guitar, learning scales usually comes down to memorizing simple patterns through constant practice.

Steps

Part 1 of 4: Key Concepts and Terms

1. 1 Learn to read the neck of a guitar. On a guitar, the front, long and thin part where you press your fingers is called the neck. Convex metal frets on the neck divide it into frets. Scales are obtained by playing notes in different combinations of frets, so it is important to be able to distinguish between them:
   • Frets are numbered from the head of the guitar towards its body. For example, the nut at the top of the guitar's head is first fret (or "fret 1"), the next fret is second fret, and so on.
   • Placing a string at a specific fret and hitting that string over the body of the guitar will play the corresponding note. The closer the frets are to the guitar body, the higher the notes.
   • The dots on the frets are used to memorize the position of the frets - they help you easily remember where you are pressing your fingers, without having to constantly count the frets from the head of the guitar.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   

   Ron Bautista

   
   
   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher Ronald Bautista is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher at More Music and Los Gatos School of Music in California. He has over 30 years of music performance experience and over 15 years of teaching experience. Teaches jazz, rock, fusion, blues, fingerstyle and bluegrass.

   Ron Bautista
   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher

   Scales will help improve your musicality, but it will take time. To get some kind of result, you need to work on the scales for a long time. I think some people expect to learn how to play scales, they will learn how to play music, but this is not so. However, if you practice every day, you will find that your playing becomes more melodic over time.

2. 2 Learn the names of the notes on the fretboard. Each fret on the guitar takes on a note that has its own name. Fortunately, there are only 12 notes in total - the names just keep repeating. The notes you can play are shown below. Keep in mind that some notes have two distinct names:
   • A (A), A-sharp / B-flat (A # / Bb), B (B), C (C), C-sharp / D-flat (C # / Db), D (D), D-sharp / E-flat (D # / Eb), E (E), F (F), F-sharp / G-flat (F # / Gb), G (G), G-sharp / A-flat (G # / Ab)... After that, the notes are repeated again, starting with A.
   • Learning the positions of different notes is not very difficult, but it takes some time to cover in this article.
3. 3 Learn the names of the strings. You can refer to different strings by calling them “thickest, second thickest,” and so on, but it's much easier to talk about scales knowing their actual names. It is also useful as the strings are named according to the note they play when no fret is pressed... In a conventional six-string guitar with standard tuning, the strings are named as follows:
   • mi (E, thickest) -la (A) - re (D) - salt (G) -si (B) -mi (E, thinnest)

   On a note: the thickest and thinnest strings share the same name, which is why many call them the "lower" and "upper" mi. English thin string notation sometimes uses lowercase "e" instead of uppercase.

   
   
4. 4 Learn the concept of tones and midtones in scales. Simply put, a scale is simply a series of notes that sound nice when played in order. When you get down to the study of scales, you will realize that all scales are built according to schemes of "tones" and "semitones". Sounds complicated, but they just serve as a way to describe the different spacing on the fretboard.
   • Semitone is an interval one fret lower or higher. For example, if you play C (A string, third fret), moving up one fret will give you a C sharp (A string, fourth fret). It can be said that the notes in C and C sharp differ by half a tone.
   • Tone - the same, only the interval will be in two frets... For example, if we stand on C and move up two frets, we hit the note D (A string, fifth fret). Thus, the notes of C and D differ by a whole tone.
5. 5 Scale step. You are almost ready to learn scales.The last concept to remember is “steps”. They are used to define notes, since scales are sequences of notes that need to be played in order. The steps are listed below. Learning the quantitative names for each grade is very important; other names are used less frequently.
   • The note you start with is called basic tone or the first... It is sometimes also called tonic.
   • The second note is called second or upper opening tone.
   • The third note is called third or median.
   • The fourth note is called fourth or subdominant.
   • The fifth note is called fifth or dominant.
   • The sixth note is called sixth or submedian.
   • The seventh note is called seventh; it has several other names that vary depending on the gamut, so we will omit them in this article.
   • The eighth note is called octave... It is also sometimes called tonic, since this is the same note as the first, only higher.
   • After an octave, you can either start over from the second or continue from the ninth. For example, a note after an octave might be called "ninth" or "second", but it's the same note anyway.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   

   Ron Bautista

   
   
   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher Ronald Bautista is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher at More Music and Los Gatos School of Music in California. He has over 30 years of music performance experience and over 15 years of teaching experience. Teaches jazz, rock, fusion, blues, fingerstyle and bluegrass.

   Ron Bautista
   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher

   Think wider than just playing up and down. Gamma is, in fact, a diagram of related notes from which you can compose melodies or chords. When you play scales, you create a framework for understanding the melody and associated chords. Basically, this is a diagram that reflects the structure of music.

Part 2 of 4: Major Scales

1. 1 Select the starting note (root) for your scale. The type of scale we will explore in this section is major gamma. This is a good choice for beginners, as most of the other scales are based on the major scale. One great thing about scales is that you can play them from any note. To begin, select any note below the 12th fret on the low E or A string. By playing one of the low strings, you have plenty of room to move up and down the scale.
   • For example, let's start with salt (lower E string, third fret). In this section, you will learn how to play the G major scale - the scales are named according to their fundamental tones.
2. 2 Examine the rung diagram for the major scale. Any scale can be recorded as a scheme of whole tones and semitones. It is very important to study the rung diagram of the major scale, as most of the other scales derive from it. See below:
   • Start with your root tone, then follow these steps:

     Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.

   • For example, if we stand on salt, we will first go up a whole tone in A. Then, we will change to another tone in si. Next, we'll move up a semitone in C. Following the pattern above, the scale continues with D, E, F sharp, and ends in G.
3. 3 Learn the finger fingering for the major scale. You can play the entire scale on one string, but it's too easy - you usually won't notice it with guitarists. Instead, it is much more common practice to move up and down multiple strings when playing this scale. This will reduce the number of necessary movements of your hand.
   • For the studied G major scale, we start playing at the third fret on the low E string. Then play A and B on the 5th and 7th frets of the E strings.
   • Next, we play C at the third fret. strings a... Play D and E on the 5th and 7th frets of the A string.
   • Then play F sharp on the fourth fret. D strings... Finish by playing G on the 5th fret of the D string.
   • Note that we didn't have to move our hand up and down the fretboard with this play - we just played different strings and pulled our fingers.
4. 4 Repeat the steps and fingering in practice. In general, the scheme of the major scale (starting with the G string) will look like this:
   • Low E string: G (3rd fret), A (5th fret), B (7th fret).
   • String A: C (3rd fret), D (5th fret), E (7th fret).
   • D string: F-sharp (4th fret), G (5th fret).
5. 5 Try running this pattern up and down the bar. As long as you start playing low E or A strings, the fingering of the major scale you have learned can be played from any position on the fretboard. In other words, just move all notes up or down the same number of frets / steps to play different major scales.
   • For example, if you want to play a B major scale, you just need to move the fretboard to the 7th fret of the low E string. Then, you just need to use the same fingering as before to play a scale like this:
   • Low E string: B (7th fret), C sharp (9th fret), D sharp (11th fret).
   • String A: E (7th fret), F-sharp (9th fret), G-sharp (11th fret).
   • String D: A-sharp (8th fret), B (9th fret).
   • Note that the finger placement on the frets is exactly the same as before. Just slide up and down to play different major scales.
6. 6 Memorize the scales by running up and down. Scales usually play in more than one direction. Once you are comfortable with playing the major scale up, try playing it backwards as soon as you play a full octave. All you need to do is play the same notes, but in reverse order, without any changes.
   • For example, if you want to play a B major scale up and down, then you need to play the notes like this:
   • Play up: B, C sharp, D sharp, E, F sharp, G sharp, A sharp, B
   • Down play: B, A-sharp, G-sharp, F-sharp, E, D-sharp, C-sharp, B
   • If you want to play a 4/4 scale, play each note as a quarter or eighth. Play an octave twice or go to the ninth note (a tone just after an octave), then go back. This will give you the number of notes you need to match the scale with the score.
   SPECIALIST'S ADVICE

   In addition to playing scales up and down, you can play them in certain patterns that will benefit your technique.

   

   Ron Bautista

   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher Ronald Bautista is a professional guitarist and guitar teacher at More Music and Los Gatos School of Music in California. He has over 30 years of music performance experience and over 15 years of teaching experience. Teaches jazz, rock, fusion, blues, fingerstyle and bluegrass.

   Ron Bautista
   Professional guitarist and guitar teacher

Part 3 of 4: Minor scales

1. 1 Remember the difference between a minor major scale. The minor scale has a lot in common with the major scale. Like a major scale, minor scales are named according to their fundamental tones (for example, E minor, A minor, and so on). Most of the notes are even the same. There are just a few differences that you need to remember:
   • Minor scale the third step goes down.
   • Minor scale the sixth step goes down.
   • Minor scale the seventh step goes down.
   • To lower a note, simply move it down a semitone. This means that the third and seventh notes in the scale will be one fret lower than in the major scale.
2. 2 Learn the staircase scheme for the minor scale. The difference from the major scale will be lowering on the third, sixth and seventh notes in the minor scale scheme. Memorizing a new scheme can be very helpful when mastering minor scales.
   • The minor scale scheme starts with the main tone, that is:
   • Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, semitone.
   • For example, if you want to play the G minor scale, start playing the G major scale and lower the third, sixth, and seventh steps by half a step.
   • Gamma in G major: G, A, B, C, D, E, F-sharp, G. The gamma in G minor will be: G, A, B flat, C, D, E flat, F, salt.
3. 3 Learn the minor scale fingering. As with major scales, notes in minor scales are played at specific frets, and you can run up and down the fretboard playing different minor scales. As long as you start playing minor scales with low E strings or A strings, the minor scheme will be the same.
   • For example, let's play a minor scale in E flat. To do this, we just start playing the scale in E flat, while lowering the third, sixth and seventh steps down one fret, like this:
   • String A: E flat (6 fret), F (8 fret), F sharp (9 fret).
   • String D: A-flat (6th fret), B-flat (8th fret), B (9th fret).
   • G string: D flat (6th fret), E flat (8th fret).
4. 4 Practice playing the scale up and down. Like the major scales, the minor scales are also often played up and down. You just play the same sequence of notes, but in the opposite direction, unchanged.
   • For example, if you want to play an E-flat scale up and down, you can do it like this:
   • Up: E flat, F, F sharp, A flat, B flat, B, D flat, E flat
   • Down: E flat, D flat, B, B flat, A flat, F sharp, F, E flat
   • Here you can also add a ninth step (in this case, the F note after the octave), or play the octave twice to get to the 4/4 time signature.

Part 4 of 4: Other Useful Scales

1. 1 Practice playing chromatic scales for practice and speed. One useful variety of scales for training is the chromatic scale. In this scale, all steps are divided into semitones. This means that the chromatic scale can be composed simply by running up and down the frets in a specific order.
   • Try this chromatic exercise: First, select one of the strings on your guitar (no matter which one). Begin counting a 4/4 rhythm. Play on an open string (without holding a note at a fret) as a quarter note, then on the first fret, then on the second, and third. Without stopping, play at the first fret, at the second, third and fourth. Keep the rhythm steady and play on second, then third, fourth, and fifth. Continue this pattern until you get to the 12th fret and then come back!
   • For example, if you are playing the high E string, your chromatic exercise would be:
   • Count of times: E (open), F (1 fret), F-sharp (2 fret), salt (3 fret).
   • Count 2: F (1 fret), F sharp (2 fret), G (3 fret), G sharp (4 fret).
   • And so on up to 12 frets (and back).
2. 2 Learn the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale contains only 5 notes and they all sound pleasant when played simultaneously, which is why this scale is often used in solo parts. In particular, minor pentatonic scale extremely popular in rock, jazz and blues. The minor pentatonic scale contains the following grades: the main tone, a lowered 3 degree, the fourth, fifth, and a lowered seventh degree (plus an octave). This is almost a minor scale, but without the second and sixth steps.
   • For example, if we start with the low E strings, the A minor pentatonic scale will look like this:
     • low E string: A (5th fret), C (8th fret); string a: re (5th fret), mi (7th fret); D string: G (5th fret), A (7th fret).
   • Here, if you like, you can continue playing the same notes on the high strings:
     • G string: C (5th fret), D (7th fret); si string: mi (5th fret), salt (8th fret); E string: A (5th fret), G (8th fret).
3. 3 Explore the blues scale. Once you have mastered the minor pentatonic scale, it is very easy to play the associated "blues scale". To do this, you just need to add a lowered fifth degree of the scale to the minor pentatonic scale. This will give you a six-note scale; everything else will be unchanged. For example, if you want to turn A minor pentatonic into a blues A scale, play like this:
   • Low E string: A (5th fret), C (8th fret); A string: re (5th fret), E flat (6th fret), E (7th fret); D string: G (5th fret), A (7th fret); string G: C (5th fret), D (7th fret), E flat (8th fret); si string: mi (5th fret), salt (8th fret); E string: A (5th fret), C (8th fret).

   On a note: a lowered fifth step is known as a "blues note". Despite the fact that it is in the scale, it sounds somewhat strange and in itself dissonant, so if you are playing a solo part, try to use it as an introductory tone, that is, play it when switching to another note. Don't hold this blues note for too long!

4. 4 Learn two-octave versions of all scales. Once you get to the scale octave, you don't have to go back.Just count the octave as a new tonic and use the same staircase pattern to play the second octave. We have already briefly touched on this topic when studying the minor pentatonic scale, however it is something that you can practice with almost any scale. Starting from the position of the lower two strings, it is quite easy to cover two whole octaves in the same part of the fretboard. Note that the second octave usually contains excellent fingering even with the same pitch.
   • Let's practice a two-octave major scale. Once you memorize it, it will be easy for you to understand any other two-octave versions of the major scales. We will try G major (the very first scale we studied in this article). At the moment we are able to do this:
     • low E string: G (3rd fret), A (5th fret), B (7th fret); string A: C (3rd fret), D (5th fret), E (7th fret); D string: F-sharp (4th fret), G (5th fret).
   • Continue using the same scheme - tone, tone, semitone, and so on:
     • D string: G (5th fret), A (7th fret); G string: B (4th fret), C (5th fret), D (7th fret); B string: E ​​(5th fret), F-sharp (7th fret), G (8th fret).
   • And then we come back!

Tips

• Looking for easy ways to learn fingerings for different scales? Take a look here, a useful site that allows you to quickly find a scale by its type and tonic.
• Above, we played scales on the E (low) and A strings. In general, you can play them on high strings as well - this is extremely useful for a solo part. Check out the different scale variations on the site above to see how many ways you can play the same sequence of notes on the fretboard!