Beginner Guide To Guitar Scales

Start  Playing Scales On Guitar Right

Welcome to the beginners' guide to guitar scales! When I started out to learn how to play the guitar, I played every song and solo I could get tabs for. That worked out pretty good and in a few months, I could play a fair amount of songs. The only thing that really bugged me was: How do they come up with all that great stuff?! How does Slash know what notes to play in that solo? How does Eddie Van Halen come up with those awesome riffs? Do they just try and error or is there a method? I thought for a long time that they just learn everything by heart and then play, but how can someone remember so much stuff? 

Is there something that they know and I don’t? Yes, there is! It is called musical scales! As soon as I was aware of that, I knew I was on to something big. I learn the scales for guitar which was not a fun thing to do but when I then played the stuff I knew or learned something new I could recall all the scale shapes, fingerings, and notes and all of a sudden: It all made sense!

That’s what this lesson is about. Giving you the essential guitar scales along with some rocking examples to make sure you get it right from the beginning! Learning the scales will boost your creativity, songwriting and improvisation skills. It is one of the fundamentals to build on and it will make you a more accomplished guitarist. Let’s get right into it!

A musical scale is a set of notes. The notes within the scale have a distinct relation to each other. Those relations are called intervals. The intervals or distances between the notes define a scale and therefore give a guitar scale their unique sound.

With those few facts, you can imagine that there are tons of different scales out there. How many notes does a scale have? How are the intervals arranged? And the list goes on…

In this lesson, you will learn the most fundamental and most important scales for guitar! Let’s roll!

Part 1: The Pentatonic Scale

The first stop is one of the most famous scales in rock and metal of all time: The pentatonic scale! The pentatonic scale is the no bullshit scale of them all. With only five notes, this scale means business!

Let’s take a look at the whole fretboard displaying the E minor pentatonic. The root note E is highlighted.

We said above that a scale is a set of notes, right? What is the set of notes for the pentatonic scale when the key is E minor?

Well, the notes are:  E - G - A - B - D

How can only five notes fill out the whole fretboard and make life hell because I have to learn all that? Pretty simple: The notes of a scale are repeated all over the fretboard and that is why scales have their characteristic shapes and fingerings. Just like our pentatonic scale as you will now see.

Check out the five box shapes of the pentatonic scale.

The following and characteristic scale patterns are also known as box positions. The pentatonic scale is now separated into five shapes. It is a more digestible way to write down and learn the pentatonic scale. The notes in scale shape 1 in the grey area (before neck) are open strings.

At the 12th fret, on the E string, we have an E note again. Everything repeats and that's why we are playing the scale shape 1 again. This time without the open strings but with the fretted notes.

Check out the first part of the Back in Black-riff by AC/DC. This riff is using the first scale shape of the E minor pentatonic.

Learning the scale shapes is an easy way to learn the pentatonic all over the guitar neck. It is important that you will be able to connect the boxes and understand the scale as a whole. Check out this beautiful melody by Steve Vai from his masterpiece "For The Love Of God". 

Visualizing The Root Note: Changing Key In No Time!

Next, to learning the scale itself and the different shapes, it is important to visualize the root note. Not only on the low E-string but on every string. This will make it easier to learn the scale itself and to change the key of the scale.

You may know from power chords that we can change the root note and therefore change the key. The same applies to guitar scales.

Take the first box shape of the E minor pentatonic and move it up 5 frets. Now our root note is A (fifths fret on E string) and therefore we are now playing the A minor pentatonic!

We have a different root note now but the cool thing is: The shapes remain the same. Because again we have five notes with a distinct relation to each other. This system will not change, no matter if the root note is E, A or any other note.

Notes of A minor pentatonic: A - C - D - E - G

Check out the riff in the middle of "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas. The riff is using the scale shapes 4 and 5 from the A minnor pentatonic. Looks kinda like the E minor pentatonic, right? But the C note is not in the E minor pentatonic!

Ok, we talked about the pentatonic scale in minor all the time. A minor and E minor but what about the major pentatonic scale? Don’t worry! If you can play the E minor pentatonic you already know the G major pentatonic! 

Relation Between Major And Minor

If you know the minor pentatonic scale you automatically know the major pentatonic scale. A Minor key always has a related major key and vice versa. Maybe that sounds a bit confusing right now but the relationship between major and minor makes our lives a lot easier.

If you have a distinct key like E minor then there is always a related major key. For the E minor, the related major key is G major. That must mean, that both pentatonic scales - E minor pentatonic and G major pentatonic - contain the same notes!

And yes they do! But why is one major and one minor? That is determined once again by the root note.

E minor pentatonic: E - G - A - B - D

G major pentatonic: G - A - B - D - E

This only works if we stick to the same set of notes!

Check out the G major pentatonic scale with highlighted root notes:

If we would choose E to be the root note, we would have the E minor pentatonic scale again.

Quick How To:

• When knowing the minor scale: Just go up 3 half-steps from the root note. Going up from the E note 3 half-steps will give you the G note. G major is the related major to E minor.

• When knowing the major scale: Just go down 3 half-steps from the root note. Going down from C note will give you the A note. A minor is the related minor to C major.

Take Away:

Major always has a related minor and vice versa. In our example, G major is related to E minor. Therefore, both scales contain the same notes.

The difference is, that we are altering the root note. If our root note is G we are playing the major scale. When our root note is E we are playing the minor scale.

Part 2: The Blues Scale

The next guitar scale is the blues scale. It is like the pentatonic scale with one added note. The flatted fifth or cooler - the blues note. The blues scale, therefore, consists of six notes.

Notes of the E minor blues scale are: E - G - A - Bb - B - D

The blues note is a great way to add attitude to riffs and licks. If you can play the pentatonic scale, just add the blues note and you are playing the blues scale.

The interval from root note to blues note is called tritone. Which is the evilest sounding interval on earth!

"Until I Die" by Inglorious is a heavy hard rock stomper. The riff is getting a lot of energy and attitude through the blues note. While the riff from Black Sabbath displays the pure evil nature of that interval! The original recording is tuned down to Eb.

"Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath displays the pure evil nature of that interval! The riff is using the G minor blues scale.

"Jump In The Fire" by Metallica looks almost like a finger exercise but makes a groovy riff with some evil touch! This one uses also the G minor blues scale.

Part 3: The Major Scale

The major scale is pretty much responsible for how we expect music to sound like. It is arguably the most used scale in the western world from pop to metal and everything in between.  

The major scale consists of seven notes and if you have learned the pentatonic scale, you already know five of them.

The notes of G major: G - A - B - C - D - E - F♯

Let’s take a look at the G major scale played over the whole fretboard.

For practicing I like to divide the scale into scale shapes again. Since we have more notes we also have more scale shapes.

Major Scale Shape 7

As we did with the pentatonic and blues scale, the major scale can be moved around to change it’s key. We are altering the root note again.

Maybe you have noticed something when playing the box shape at the 12th fret?! Looks kinda like the pentatonic minor scale we played before. That’s because when we are taking the E note as our root note, we are playing the E minor scale! It is the exact same thing as with the pentatonic scale when it comes to changing key and the relationship between major and minor.

Here is the E minor scale:

That means, by learning the G major scale, you automatically know the E minor scale. I told you the relationship between major and minor will come in handy!

Quick Reminder on the relationship between major and minor:

Major always has a related minor and vice versa. In our example, G major is related to E minor. Therefore, both scales contain the same notes.

G major scale: G - A - B - C - D - E - F♯

E minor scale: E - F♯ - G - A - B - C - D

The difference is, that we are altering the root note. If our root note is G we are playing the major scale. When our root note is E we are playing the minor scale. 

"Beat It" by Michael Jackson is such a simple melody but instantly recognizable. That is how you can use the E minor scale to forge simple melodies that stand the test of time!

"Sweet Child O'Mine" by Guns 'N' Roses has this melody at the beginning that even my grandma knows! All the notes are from the G major scale. The original recording is tuned down to Eb.

"The Trooper" by Iron Maiden features this awesome guitar riff at the beginning. We basically just go down the E minor scale but what a classic!

"Mr. Crowley" by Ozzy Osbourne has this unearthly melody after the main solo. Randy Rhoads uses the D minor scale to make you wet your pants!

Part 4: General Tips On Practicing Guitar Scales

The first step is the hardest: Remember the scales and the scale shapes. Choose a key at first and practice the scale over and over to visualize the scale patterns.

Visualizing the root note will guide you and makes it easier to learn the distinct scale patterns and box shapes.

While learning the guitar scales in box shapes or segments, it is important to understand the scales as a whole and not just separated patterns.

I always found the best way to practice scales is by learning songs on the guitar and figuring out why the notes I just played make sense. When my first observations on key and guitar scale for a particular song, guitar riff or solo made sense, that’s when it really clicked for me!

And that would be my most important advice:

Choose a song you like and study it. Try to find out in which key it is in and then compare the notes from the riff, melody or guitar solo to the scales we just learned. That way you can learn the scale and already have a musical example of how the scale can be used!

Thank You and always Play The Rad Way!