Guitar scales
Choose a key and scale to see every note on the neck. Switch to intervals to learn the shapes, or narrow it down to one position.
How to practice scales on guitar
- Learn one position at a time. Pick "Position 1" and play the notes from the lowest string to the highest and back, slowly, with a metronome.
- Say or see the root. The red dots are the root notes. Start and end every run on one.
- Switch to intervals to understand the shape: the same pattern of 1, â™3, 4, 5, â™7 works in every key.
- Connect positions. Once two neighboring positions are comfortable, practice sliding between them.
- Make music. Improvise over a backing track or a drone on the root note.
Scale formulas
| Scale | Formula | Sound and use |
|---|---|---|
| Major | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Happy, the basis of Western harmony |
| Natural minor | 1 2 â™3 4 5 â™6 â™7 | Sad, dramatic |
| Minor pentatonic | 1 â™3 4 5 â™7 | Rock and blues soloing |
| Major pentatonic | 1 2 3 5 6 | Country, pop, bright melodies |
| Blues | 1 â™3 4 â™5 5 â™7 | Blues and classic rock |
| Dorian | 1 2 â™3 4 5 6 â™7 | Funk, jazz, Santana-style minor |
| Mixolydian | 1 2 3 4 5 6 â™7 | Blues-rock, over dominant 7 chords |
| Harmonic minor | 1 2 â™3 4 5 â™6 7 | Neoclassical, Spanish flavor |
Questions
What guitar scale should I learn first?
The minor pentatonic scale. Its first position (the 'box' shape) is the foundation of rock, blues and pop soloing, and it only has five notes.
What's the difference between the pentatonic and blues scale?
The blues scale is the minor pentatonic with one extra note, the flat fifth ('blue note'). In A that's Eâ™ between D and E.
What are modes?
Modes are scales that use the notes of the major scale but start on a different degree. D Dorian, for example, uses the notes of C major starting on D, which gives a minor sound with a raised sixth.
What do the intervals mean?
Numbers show each note's role in the scale: 1 is the root, â™3 is a minor third, 5 is the fifth, and so on. Learning intervals lets you move any shape to any key.