Guitar Scales
Hi, welcome back! I am pretty sure most of you have already played some guitar scales in your guitar practice. If you say you haven’t then you just probably did not realize it.
OK, what is a scale anyway?
A scale is a set of musical notes played consecutively in either an ascending or descending order. While you may find many types of scales in my opinion you’d better start with some of the basic ones. The most common one found in Western music is the major scale so let us focus on this scale first.
I believe you still remember the W – W – H – W – W – W – H concept explained in the basic guitar chords earlier post:
From the seven notes above we can ‘read’ the major scale differently. The ways we play this scale from each individual note are called modes. Below are the modes derived from the C Major Scale:
I – C IONIAN MODE:
C – D – E – F – G – A – B – C (W – W – H – W – W – W – H)
(C Major Chord = C – E – G. CMaj7 Chord = C – E – G – B)
II – D DORIAN MODE:
D – E – F – G – A – B – C – D (W – H – W – W – W – H – W)
(D Minor Chord = D – F – A. DMin7 Chord = D – F – A – C)
III – E PHYRGIAN MODE:
E – F – G – A – B – C – D – E (H – W – W – W – H – W – W)
(E Minor Chord = E – G – B. EMin7 Chord = E – G – B – D)
IV – F LYDIAN MODE:
F – G – A – B – C – D – E – F (W – W – W – H – W – W – H)
(F Major Chord = F – A – C. FMaj7 Chord = F – A – C – E)
V – G MIXOLYDIAN MODE:
G – A – B – C – D – E – F – G (W – W – H – W – W – H – W)
(G7 Chord = G – B – D – F)
VI – A AEOLIAN MODE:
A – B – C – D – E – F – G – A (W – H – W – W – H – W – W)
(A Minor Chord = A – C – E. AMin7 = A – C – E – G)
VII – B LOCRIAN MODE:
B – C – D – E – F – G – A – B (H – W – W – H – W – W – W)
(BMin7b5 Chord = B – D – F – A)
Most of us are familiar with the first mode (Ionian) because this was the first mode taught when we learned music. To be a good guitar player however you have to be able to play the other modes especially if you want to play lead guitar.
Learning and studying guitar scales and modes can be boring but you can’t skip it.
Can we use one mode only – say Ionian mode – to play lead over a song with C – Dm – F – G progression chord? Yes we can but you limit yourself by playing only one mode. For Dm you can use D Dorian mode or F Lydian mode but make sure both of them ended with D note.
You can learn to play some famous guitar licks and riffs but without understanding the guitar scales and modes you will never know how to create your own licks and riffs.
To Your Guitar Success,
-TJ-
Beginner Guitar Lessons Admin
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