Playing Guitar

Joey the lips

Hi Folks

I am playing guitar years I have come to a point that I have learnt most scales and forgotten them. Its onlyt when I play a song that requires them do they come back. My problem is I want to keep them. If you were to pick your top 5 scales what would they be,

Or if like me you want to progress your playing what would you be playing

Daft question??? Hope not!

nij

Major, Minor, Pentatonic. Or you could just learn the major scale all over the neck and learn which degrees of the scale correspond to the modes.

Voodu Child

I would start with the minor pentatonic, that's where most guitarists start from. Make sure to learn the root notes in every shape, theres no point otherwise.

From there, you can turn it into the minor scale pretty easily, it 'contains' the minor pentatonic scale already so you can use the same shapes and just think of it as 'adding' two extra notes. Again, make sure you keep the root notes in mind any time you're practicing.

If you know the minor scale, then basically you know the Aeolian mode (of the major scale). You can go back and take the minor pentatonic and 'turn' it into the Phrygian and Dorian modes just as easily, again, they 'contain' the minor pentatonic scale, just have different 'extra' notes.

So that's a lot of mileage without learning too many new fingerings.

You could then go back and do the whole thing over with the major pentatonic. You'll probably realise the fingering is similar to the minor pentatonic, just shifted a few frets (or with the root note moved, whatever way you want to look at it). You can turn the major pentatonic into the major scale (Ionian mode) by adding two extra notes, or turn it into the Lydian or Mixolydian modes by adding different notes.

So thats a whole rake of major and minor stuff just by building from some simple shapes. Its not really the 'correct' way of doing things from a musical point of view, but I find that's they way most non-trained guitarists approach it anyway.