Guitar Scales

Scales 5: Introducing The Minor Scale

In this session you’ll be introduced to the minor scale. The minor scale is almost like the opposite of the major scale. Where the major scale sounds happy and carefree- the minor scale can sound sad and troubled. The craziest thing about the scale is that the relative minor uses the same notes from the major scale. Music is a strange wonderful beast…

Spend some time practicing figures 1, 3, and 4 and you’ll soon begin to understand how it all works.Read More »Scales 5: Introducing The Minor Scale

Scales 4: Creating Melodies With Scales

One of the cool things you can do with a scale is to use it’s notes to create a melody. In this practice session we’ll do just that. It’s fun to do and provides great practice using scales and ultimately understanding how scales, and music as a whole, works.Read More »Scales 4: Creating Melodies With Scales

Scales 3: Major Scale In Octaves

In this session I will introduce to you a version of the major scale that spans 2 octaves and all six strings. The PDF for this session will be great to practice building speed.

In the video I perform this session’s exercise at three different tempos. Try to play along, or practice it on your own. In the video I stop at about the 12 fret, but you can keep going up the fretboard if you so desire.

How To Play And Use Scales On The Guitar

Scales are the building blocks of music. They are a sequence of notes that provide a road map for just about everything including chord construction, chord progressions,… Read More »How To Play And Use Scales On The Guitar

Pentatonic Scales PDF And Instructional Video

The pentatonic scale is a 5 note scale that is widely used in rock, blues, country, and other genres. It’s very easy to learn, but… Read More »Pentatonic Scales PDF And Instructional Video

E Major Scale

In this lesson you’ll learn how to play the basic E major scale in open position and it’s extended version. This lesson is presented with video and tab.Read More »E Major Scale

The Relative Minor

Fig. 1: C Major & A Minor Scales Fig. 2: A Minor Chord Fig. 3: Extended C Major/A Minor Scale Fig. 4: For Comparison…… Read More »The Relative Minor

Which Scale: Improvising With Pentatonics

The stage is set.

The fans have gathered and the band opens up with it’s first song. Quick, it’s time for a solo, but what do you play?

That’s easy. We’ll just improvise!

“To improvise means to make it up on the spot, right?”, you ask.

Yes, we’re going to make the solo up as we go along. All we need to know is what key the song is in and then we can find which scale to use.

It’s easy and I’ll show you…Read More »Which Scale: Improvising With Pentatonics

G Major Scale

The notes from the G major scale are G, A, B, C, D, E, and F#. There’s one sharp note (F#), but all the rest of the notes are primary notes. That makes it easier to remember what notes make up the scale. Just start on G and go through the musical alphabet. We start on G- then A comes next (unless you’ve found the secret “H chord”), then B, C, and so on. The last note in the scale is the one with the sharp and that’s F# (or G flat if you prefer).

The 7th scale step in the major scale is always a half step (or one fret) below the tonic.Read More »G Major Scale

Printer Ready Tabs And Diagrams

Print out these goodies to create your own little lead reference book. The Basics The Notes On The Fretboard Basic Open Chords Intervals Arpeggios Major… Read More »Printer Ready Tabs And Diagrams