How Scales Work on the Guitar Fretboard...

[KELBAGCAROL]

wow thanks for actually explaining that from a beginners view. Most people add things to their explanation forgetting that people have no idea what they are talking about.

[ipnebatty]

i play guitar for like 8 months now, teaching myself ,playing up to 6 hrs a day, and just keep reading and reading about the theorie.

what i want to say with all that is that i'm glad to find someone who makes me sure about what i've been learning, ur an hero and i love your music!(sorry for the bad english i'm dutch)

[TheGulfray]

Great lesson.

Please tell us about this specific guitar.

Thanks

[browneyeballl]

wow this is a great explanation!

[olheiser01]

so how does a change in tuning affect the learning scales on your guitar. Do you have to re learn where everything is on the fretboard? For example if Im tuned to D Standard or Drop C. How do they relate going back to E standard tuning.

[bjorkka48]

hyvää treeniä- 10 +++

[wolffbark]

Amazing! You are a GENIUS and really have a way of simplifying complex theory! This information is found in many places on the internet, yet you have MASTERED TEACHING THIS TO ANYONE! Thank you so much for all the HELP! I have been using Justin Sandercoe lessons and he is also GREAT! But it seems you are able to just GET THROUGH the B.S. and simplify the process!

[commando7144]

awesome!! i seen billy sheehan and rusty cooley talking a bit or showing it but you just opened many doors for me thank you very much!!!

[jkshoujk]

Recently I've been playing a lot of fingerstyle acoustic pieces, from guitarists such as Don Ross, Andy McKee, Antoine Dufour, and so on. I'm constantly changing tunings (which are usually open chords) and I was wondering if you have a suggestion on how to become familiar with note locations in altered tunings.

[RabbitBeast]

well, i learned it this way first, and then i had to learn it again, cause of knowing what note to choose is important if your ever gonna solo. most people allready know the major and minor chords, so learning it the "right way" at first is better than learn it the "common way" and if you're gonna understand why scales are as they are you have to learn the notes and degrees, not just patterns.

[BeatBay]

I love Andrews lessons!!!

[UACDOOM]

y r u using a pick with a classical guitar?

[chilipepperskool]

@UACDOOM your an idiot 

[MrJuzzam]

@robban97swe The difference of the scales is the intervals you use between each note to create them. You can get the info in any Music Theory web site.

[MrJuzzam]

@robban97swe Doric, jonic, locric, lidium, mixolidium scales. There are some of the ones you'll use for improvising. As in the video, they each have a shape in the fretboard you'll have to learn.

[Nirvanax25x]

I'm confused my notes must be out of tune or something

[lakenormanusa]

George Lynch said he could tell you the difference between a minor scale and a major scale.

[robban97swe]

I get really comfused, I can play the major pentatonic (five positions) minor pentatonic(five positisons) But what's the difference betwen pentatonic and clean scales? Also, I play rock n' roll, which scales do you recommend me to learn? I can play both pentatonic as I said before, the natural minor, the harmonic minor, the melodic minor. Pleeeease awnser I want to improve my improvaision skills but don't know which scales I should learn.

[guitargodnick1993]

so then the shapes of the scales r always the same?

[AppleFender]

You rule:)

[dexarouskies]

This video sort of begs the question of why the guitar is tuned the way that it is. I'm esp. curious as to why the 2 and 3 strings are tuned in thirds rather than the the same way as the rest of the guitar. I had hoped to see the answer to this question from the book "fretboard logic" but I still don't really know the logic of why the guitar is tuned as it is.

[silsencastro]

@dexarouskies it's easier on your fingers tuned this way. Try tuning it the same way as the rest of the guitar and you'll have to stretch your fingers to hit the right note.

[bassnpiano]

There seems to be so much to memorize. Is there an easy way to memorize how many flats or sharps are in a scale?

[OfficialNeilGard]

@bassnpiano by learning the notes of each major scale and counting the # whilst you do it. To learn the major scales I pick a note, like D# then count up in whole steps recognizing that the step between the 3rd and 4th note is a half step as will be the 7th to 8th note and that there is not a E# OR B#

D#-F-G-G#-A#-C#-D = 4 #'s

if you keep figuring out the scale then counting the sharps, rather than reading it in a book, your brain is working and you'll remember it easily. try on paper first

[darkgrindgo]

@bassnpiano sharps come up in an order of f, c, g, d, a, e, b in mayor scales, starting with your g mayor youve got only f#, then in d mayor, f# and c#... on and on, the order of the mayor scales is g mayor, d mayor, a mayor, e mayor, b mayor, f# mayor and c# mayor... that with the sharps... with the flats its another order... they appear b, e, a, d, g, c, f, scales f mayor, bb mayor, eb mayor, ab mayor, db mayor, gb mayor, cb mayor.... i think this is a good way to learn your scales

[darkgrindgo]

@darkgrindgo well c mayor is the first one, with no alterations.. sorry

[AngLunas]

you say too much stuff,  KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID

[maretamer]

what kind of guitar is that? cuz its really nice looking and sounds great

[MASSIMODARRIGO]

14/02/98 MASSIMO D'ARRIGO

[cottonmouthsournote]

where were you when i was first learning guitar!?! i had to f

[oilkills]

If you're a genius, like Shawn Lane, converting from keys to guitar is academic... Shawn is master of both!!!

[chrisplays]

I have heard the guitar's strings described as each one being a keyboard. So essentially, we have six keyboards (strings) laid out across the fingerboard and they begin on whatever the name is of the open string.

Then we can play all of our scales by following the pattern of whole or half steps up the neck. (Try w/ major or minor scale)

Playing scales this way (up and down one string instead of playing the patterns across all six strings) really opened up my world on the guitar.

[c0d3x1]

I think you are a bit wrong, if you see u have 12 frets per string would mean u have 72 notes, a real piano has 88 notes so I don't think a guitar has 6 keyboards in it :p

[chrisplays]

Well than an electric guitar w/ 26 frets represents over 150 notes!! ...and on a twelve string.... whew we could go on like that forever--but thats not the right logic for the concept I was describing.

If you play within the first 12 frets than you have an entire Western octave to play with, beginning on some note. We should try to see our scales laterally (up each string), it is a really solid way to study their inner workings and differences and also relates it all back to a piano/keyboard!

[cottonmouthsournote]

there are more like 20 frets per string though.... and what he is referring to i believe is that you can learn the scales on a piano fairly easily because it so linear. just A,A#,B,C,C#,D,D#,E,F,F#,G,G#,A etc. but with a guitar you have that same pattern in a row of six and all jumbled up like a newspaper puzzle. so it's probably allot harder for people to master the scales with it.

[Jed9133]

6:56 five octave pattern are you referring to the root note?..

[soupie]

hello andrew, I was just curious as to what age you went to music college at?

I'm giving serious thought to going but it would require moving away and things.

[mprater86]

Thanks for posting this =)

[thom188]

hi andrew great lesson here! I was wondering where did u put the pdf file u talked about in the vid?

[KissMeImPunk]

I wish you were my teacher. I've been playing guitar for 4-5 years and still to this day I have aproblem understanding scales and I know it sounds a little shameful, but the concept of scales confuses the heck out of me. I would love to learn scales though for soloing, preferably something like blues or pentatonic.

[UrbanMan1ac]

What about the major shape with:

6th string 1, 3, 4

5th string 1, 3, 4

4th string 1, 3

3rd string (Move back a fret) 1, 2, 4

2nd string (move forward a fret) 1, 2, 4

1st string 1, 3, 4

And the Tonic note being the fourth finger on the 6th string...Is that anything todo with what you said?

[creativeguitarstudio]

Hello UrbanMan1ac,

The shape you quote is a blend of notes. And remember, there are certainly no steadfast 'rules' of what shapes must be on the guitar neck. You will create them.

A good approach with this topic is to simply learn a set of shapes covering the entire neck. Then, begin venturing through combining the geometry of the shapes you've studied to produce nice shapes that you enjoy playing, (and that feel comfortable under your fingers while playing solos, melodies & riffs).

- Andrew

[heminder]

this lesson is probably the best one i've seen on YouTube!!! thank you sooo much! kudos to you!

(ps. no, i don't play piano)

[pinoysk8r]

so fast lesson

how about for begginers can

they understand that?

[aryanc77]

Very good lesson Andrew ( I liked you focusing on the octaves), I guess some call that the C A G E D system on here , thanks for sharing your knowledge ....definitely one of the better teachers on YT

[Hitamaru]

wow, i can actually comprehend rather then random blah...

[conqueror333]

Hi Andrew..your video lessnons are really helpful and cool. I am wondering if a good guitar player like you would not mind posting some cool originals if you have any. I say that because that sound on the jazz comp lesson sounded really cool! was that your piece? thanks and keep on rocking!

[creativeguitarstudio]

Thanks!

You can check out some of my music on my website, (see the link on the bottom of the video that posted). The musical example is nothing more than just a fairly generic set of chord changes you'd find in a jazz piece. Click on the "more info" link in the subscribe box to the right for a free PDF of the chord chart & changes for that chord progression!

- Andrew W.

[TheEarthBlues]

This comment goes for all your other videos but I want to say these lessons are GREAT. Your site will be huge. Thanks.

[Ezcut]

good as always

[HugoDesMusic]

Cool vid, as always.

[isegoria1]

Great video and thanks for posting this. I learned many scales over time but again like many have not used them in a way that they should be. This video did however help put somethings in focus.

Back to playing scales.