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E major scale on the guitar. How to learn guitar scales

E major scale on the guitar. How to learn guitar scales

22.04.2019

This article is about how the harmonic minor is played on the guitar. And mostly consists of practical exercises. However, before we start playing the scale, let's understand its structure.

Formula

So, the harmonic minor is a variation of the minor scale. Its formula looks like this:

1 2 b3 4 5 b6 7

That is, its difference from the natural minor scale is only in the seventh (seventh degree). For example:

Natural minor from the sound A (A):

A (la) - B (si) - C (do) - D (re) - E (mi) - F (fa) - G (salt)

Harmonic minor from the sound La (A):

A (la) - B (si) - C (do) - D (re) - E (mi) - F (fa) - G# (sol sharp)

Using this pattern, you can "transform" the natural minor scale, built from any sound, into a harmonic minor. In relation to A minor, this is the replacement of G with G #.

The harmonic minor is used to play minor, major, semidiminished chords and dominant seventh chords.

We will consider the option of beating the dominant through this mode in the key of A minor.

That is, let's play the A minor harmonic scale on the guitar on the chord E (E major).

An example of using this approach and fret boxes, which we will analyze later in the article, see this video:

Another notable feature of the harmonic minor lies in the fact that if it is built from the tonic of the dominant (in this case E), it takes on the "look" of the Phrygian major mode, or the Spanish major:

1 b2 3 4 5 b6 b7

Phrygian major from E:

E (mi) - F (fa) - G# (sol sharp) - A (la) - B (si) - C (do) - D (re)

This way of playing the dominant is used in their solos by guitarists playing in various musical styles: Yngwie Malmsteen, George Bellas, John Mclaughlin, Al Di Meola and many others.

The fret is easily determined by ear due to the colorful oriental sound.

Boxes

The fingering of the boxes is based on the principle of "three notes on a string". On video, the gamma is played with alternating strokes, but you can use any other way of sound production. For example, sweep (formula down-up-down + down-up-down, etc.) or hammer / pool (legato).

Please note that the boxes use extended fingering, so you need to “warm up” your fingers first.

The scale can be played with a metronome or a backing track over an E chord, as shown in the video.

It is worth noting that playing with a harmonic lining is much more useful in terms of developing hearing and improvisational skills.

Playing each box ends with a sustained chord sound(in this case, E major). That is, in some positions, at the end of the downward movement, a repeated “return” to the tonic (E), third (G#) or fifth (B) in E major is performed. Accordingly, the steps of the mode are considered relative to the dominant.

A backing track for playing the harmonic minor on the guitar and a backing track for improvising on the E chord (which sounded on the video), tabs can be

(from b2 - second reduced stage E)

Familiarize yourself with the location of fret sounds on the fretboard:

Now disassemble the "finger". Near each note is indicated the finger of the left hand, with which it is necessary to press it.

As already mentioned above, the playback ends not with the first (lowest) note of box F, but with G# - the reference tone (third of E major).

(from level 4 E)

We finish playing the scale on the note B (5th degree of the chord E)

(from 5 steps - fifths E)

(from 6 steps)

In the last measure, we return to the tonic E.

(from 7 steps - septims)

(from 1 step - tonics)

If learning tablature is difficult for you or you prefer to learn fingering visually, watch the second part of the video posted at the beginning of the article. But set your Youtube player to slow motion. Learn more about how this setup is done.
The scale can be played on any minus and other chords, for which it is suitable (for example, Fmaj7 can be played with harmonic A minor). It all depends on the specific tasks.
Boxes study sequentially. Do not rush to cover the entire material in one or two lessons.
When all the boxes are already well enough studied, they can be played one by one gradually moving along the neck as shown in the training video.
The scale is played in eighths (two notes per beat). In the future, you can play it in sixteenths or triplets.
Play the given boxes in other keys. For example, transpose the studied material into the key of D minor and try to beat already its dominant - the A7 chord.
Combine harmonic minor with other modes (pentatonic, blues scale, natural minor) and arpeggios in your guitar improvisations, focusing on the harmonic sequence (chords of a song, instrumental composition).

All! The first part of the lesson has come to an end. Good luck with your guitar lessons! In the second part, we will consider the diagonal fingerings of the harmonic minor - .

Steps

Part 1

Basic concepts and terms

Do you already have a little knowledge of the basics of music theory? Then go directly to the scales by clicking.

Learn to read the guitar neck. On a guitar, the front, long, thin part where you press your fingers is called the fretboard. Convex metal nut on the fretboard divide it into frets. Scales are obtained by playing notes with different combinations of frets, so it is important to be able to distinguish them:
- The frets are numbered from the head of the guitar towards the body. For example, the nut at the head of a guitar is first fret(or "mode 1"), the next mode is second fret, and so on.
- Pressing down a string at a particular fret and hitting that string above the body of the guitar plays the corresponding note. The closer the frets are to the body of the guitar, the higher the notes.
- The dots on the frets serve to remember the position of the frets - they make it easy to remember where you are pressing your fingers without having to constantly count the frets from the head of the guitar.
Learn the names of the notes on the fretboard. Each fret on the guitar plays a note that has its own name. Fortunately, there are only 12 notes in total - the names just keep repeating. The notes you can play are shown below. Keep in mind that some notes have two distinct names:
- A (A), A-sharp/B flat (A#/Bb), B (B), C (C), C-sharp/D-flat (C#/Db), D (D), D-sharp/ E flat (D#/Eb), E (E), F (F), F sharp/G flat (F#/ Gb), G (G), G sharp/A flat (G#/Ab) . After that, the notes are repeated again, starting with la.
- Learning the positions of the various notes is not something very difficult, but it will take some time to cover in this article.
Learn the string names. You you can refer to different strings as "thickest, second thickest" and so on, but it's much easier to talk about scales when you know their actual names. In addition, it is also useful, since the strings named after the note they play when no fret is pressed. In a typical six-string guitar with standard tuning, the strings are named as follows:
- mi(the thickest)
- salt
- mi(thinnest) - note that this string has the same name as the thickest one, so some people refer to them as "low" and "high" E to differentiate.
Learn the concept of tone and semitones in scales. Simply put, a scale is simply a sequence of notes that sound pleasing when played in order. When you move on to studying scales, you will understand that all scales are built according to patterns of "tones" and "semitones". Sounds complicated, but they are just a way of describing the different intervals on the fretboard.
- Semitone is an interval one fret lower or higher. For example, if you play C (A string, 3rd fret), going up one fret will give you C sharp (A string, 4th fret). We can say that the notes in C and C-sharp differ by half a tone.
- Tone- the same, only the interval will be in two frets. For example, if we stand on a do and move up two frets, we hit the D note (A string, fifth fret). Thus, the notes C and D differ by a whole tone.
Gamma step. You are almost ready to learn scales. The last thing to remember is "steps" to define notes - since scales are sequences of notes that must be played in order. The steps are listed below. The study of quantitative names for each step is very important - other names are used less often.
- The note you start on is called main tone or first. Sometimes also called tonic.
- The second note is called second or upper opening tone.
- The third note is called third or mediant.
- The fourth note is called fourth or subdominant.
- The fifth note is called fifth or dominant.
- The sixth note is called sixth or submediant.
- The seventh note is called seventh- she has several other names that change depending on the scale, so we will omit them in this article.
- The eighth note is called octave. She is also sometimes called tonic, since it's the same note as the first one, only higher.
- After an octave, you can either start over from the second, or continue from the ninth. For example, a note after an octave might be called a "ninth" or "second", but it's the same note either way.
Part 2
Major scales
1. Select the starting note (root) for your scale. The type of scale we will study in this section is major gamma. This is a good choice for beginners, as most of the other scales are based on the major scale. One great thing about scales is that you can play them from any note. To start, pick any note below the 12th fret on the low E or A string. Playing one of the low strings will give you plenty of room to move up and down the scale.
  - For example, let's start with salt(lower E string, third fret). In this section, you will learn how to play the G major scale - the scales are named according to their root tones.
2. Study the steps of the major scale. Any scale can be written as a scheme of whole tones and semitones. It is very important to study the scale steps of the major scale, since most other scales are derived from it. See below:
  - Start with a base tone, then follow these steps: Tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone, tone, semitone.
  - For example, if we are standing on G, we will first move up a whole tone to A. Then, we will move on to another tone in B. Next, we'll move up a semitone in C. Following the diagram above, the scale will continue with D, E, F-sharp, and end with G.
3. Learn the fingerings for the major scale. You can play the whole scale on one string, but it's too easy - you don't usually notice that with guitarists. Instead, a much more common practice would be to move up and down several strings while playing this scale. This will reduce the number of necessary movements of your hand.
  - For the learned G major scale, we start playing on the third fret on the low E string. Then we play la and si on the fifth and seventh fret of the mi string.
  - Next, we play C on the third fret A strings. We play re and mi on the fifth and seventh fret of the la string.
  - Then, we play F-sharp on the fourth fret re strings. We end by playing G on the fifth fret of the D string. Note that we didn't have to move our hand up and down the fretboard to play like this - we just played different strings and pulled our fingers.
  - All together it should be like this: Low E string: A string: D string:
4. Try running this pattern up and down the bar. As long as you start playing on the low E or A string, the fingering of the major scale you have learned can be played from any position on the fretboard. In other words, just move all the notes up or down the same number of frets/degrees to play different major scales.
  - For example, if you want to play the B major scale, you just need to move down the neck to the seventh fret of the low E string. Then, you just need to use the same fingering as before to play a scale like this: Low E string: Si (7th fret), C-sharp (9th fret), D-sharp (11th fret) A string: mi (7th fret), f-sharp (9th fret), sol-sharp (11th fret) D string: A-sharp (8th fret), si (9th fret)
  - Note that the placement of the fingers on the frets is exactly the same as before. Just slide up and down to play different major scales.
5. Learn the scales by going up and down. Scales usually play in more than one direction. Once you've mastered playing the up major scale, try playing it backwards once you've played a full octave. All you have to do is play the same notes but in reverse order - without any changes.
  - For example, if you want to play the B major scale up and down, then you need to play the notes like this: Game up: si, c-sharp, d-sharp, mi, f-sharp, sol-sharp, la-sharp, si Game down: si, a-sharp, sol-sharp, f-sharp, mi, d-sharp, c-sharp, si
  - If you want to play the scale in 4/4 time, play each note as a quarter note or an eighth note. Play an octave twice or go to the ninth note (the tone just past the octave), then go back. This will give you the required number of notes for the scale to "equal" the score.
  Part 3
  Minor scales
  1. Remember the difference between a minor major scale. The minor scale has a lot in common with the major scale. Like the major scale, minor scales are named according to their root tones (for example, E minor, A minor, and so on). Most of the notes are even the same. There are just a few differences that you need to remember:
    - At the minor scale third step down.
    - At the minor scale down sixth step.
    - At the minor scale the seventh step goes down.
    - To lower a note, simply move it down a semitone. This means that the third and seventh notes in the scale will be one fret lower than in the major scale.
  2. Learn the step pattern for the minor scale. The difference from the major scale will be in the fall on the third, sixth and seventh notes in the minor scale scheme. Memorizing a new scheme can be very helpful when mastering minor scales.
    - The minor scale scheme begins with the root tone, that is: Tone, semitone, tone, tone, semitone, tone, semitone.
    - For example, if you want to play the sol scale minor, start playing the G major scale and lower the third, sixth, and seventh steps by a semitone. Gamma salt- major: salt, la, si, do, re, mi, f-sharp, salt
    - ... hence the gamma sol- minor will: salt, la, b flat, do, re, E-flat, F, salt
  3. Learn the fingering for minor scales. Just like with major scales, the notes in minor scales are played at certain frets, and you can run up and down the fretboard playing different minor scales. As long as you start playing minor scales with the low E string or the A string, the minor pattern will be the same.
    - For example, let's play the E-flat minor scale. To do this, we simply start playing the E-flat scale, lowering the third, sixth, and seventh steps down one fret, like this: A string: mi-flat (6th fret), fa (8th fret), f-sharp (9th fret) D string: A-flat (6th fret), B-flat (8th fret), si (9 fret) G string: D flat (6th fret), E-flat (8th fret)
  4. Practice playing the scale up and down. Like major scales, minor scales often play up and down too. You simply play the same sequence of notes, but in the opposite direction without change.
    - For example, if you want to play the E-flat scale up and down, you do it like this: Up: E-flat, F, F-sharp, A-flat, B-flat, B, D-flat, E-flat Down: E-flat, D-flat, B, B-flat, A-flat, F-sharp, F, E-flat
    - Here you can also add a ninth (in this case the F after the octave) or play the octave twice to get into 4/4 time.
  Part 4
  Other useful scales
  1. Practice playing chromatic scales for practice and speed. One useful variety of scales for practice is the chromatic scale. In this range all steps are divided into semitones. And this means that a chromatic scale can be composed by simply running up and down the frets in a certain order.
    - Try this chromatic exercise: First, pick one of the strings on your guitar (it doesn't matter which one). Start counting the 4/4 rhythm. Play the open string (without holding the note on the fret) as a quarter note, then on the first fret, then on the second, and on the third. Without stopping, play on the first fret, on the second, third and fourth. Keep the rhythm steady and play on second, then third, fourth, and fifth. Continue this pattern until you get to the 12th fret, then come back!
    - For example, if you play the high E string, your chromatic exercise would be: Count times: mi (open), fa (1st fret), f-sharp (2nd fret), sol (3rd fret) Account 2: fa (1st fret), f-sharp (2nd fret), sol (3rd fret), sol-sharp (4th fret)
    - ...and so on up to the 12th fret (and vice versa).
  2. Learn the pentatonic scale. The pentatonic scale contains only 5 notes and all of them sound nice when played simultaneously, so this scale is often used in solo parts. In particular, minor pentatonic scale extremely popular in rock, jazz and blues. This scale is so commonly used that it is sometimes simply referred to as the "pentatonic scale" for short. We will study this range below.
    - The minor pentatonic scale contains the following steps: Root tone, downgraded 3rd, fourth, fifth, and downgraded seventh (plus octave). This is almost a minor scale, but without the second and sixth steps.
    - For example, if we start with the low E string, the A minor pentatonic scale would be: Low E string: la (5th fret), do (8th fret) A string: re (5th fret), mi (7th fret) D string: salt (5th fret), la (7th fret)
    - Here, if you want, you can continue playing the same notes on the high strings: G string: do (5th fret), re (7th fret) B string: mi (5th fret), salt (8th fret) String mi: la (5th fret), salt (8th fret)
  3. Learn the blues scale. Once you've mastered the minor pentatonic scale, it's very easy to play the "blues scale" associated with it. To do this, you just need to add lowered fifth degree of the scale to the minor pentatonic scale. This will give you a scale with six notes - everything else is unchanged.
    - For example, if you want to make a blues A scale from the A minor pentatonic scale, play it like this: Low E string: la (5th fret), do (8th fret) A string: re (5th fret), E-flat (6th fret), mi (7th fret) D string: salt (5th fret), la (7th fret) G string: do (5th fret), re (7th fret), E-flat (8th fret) B string: mi (5th fret), salt (8th fret) String mi: la (5th fret), do (8th fret)
    - The lowered fifth is known as the "blue note". Although it is in the scale, it sounds a little strange and dissonant by itself, so if you are playing a solo part, try to use it as an introductory tone. - that is, play it "on the transition" to another note. Don't hold that bluesy note too long!
  4. Learn two octave versions of all scales. Once you get to the octave of the scale, you don't have to go back. Just count the octave as the new root and use the same stair pattern to play the second octave. We already briefly touched on this topic when learning the minor pentatonic scale, however, it is something that you can practice with almost any scale. Starting from the position of the bottom two strings, you can easily cover two whole octaves in the same part of the fretboard. Note that the second octave usually contains excellent fingering even with the same steps..
    - Let's learn the two octave major scale - once you have it memorized, it will be easy for you to understand any other two octave versions of the major scales. We will try G major (the very first scale we studied in this article). At the moment we are able to: Low E string: salt (3rd fret), la (5th fret), si (7th fret) A string: do (3rd fret), re (5th fret), mi (7th fret) D string: f-sharp (4th fret), salt (5th fret)
    - Continue using the same pattern: tone, tone, semitone, and so on... D string: salt (5th fret), la (7th fret) G string: si (4th fret), do (5th fret), re (7th fret) B string: mi (5th fret), f-sharp (7th fret), sol (8th fret)
    - …and then back!

Today's article will focus on guitar exercises. These exercises are designed to improve the technique and speed of the game. In the future, they will help you play complex musical passages. We have already gone through the preparatory stages: we studied, figured out what it is and Now it's time to combine all this knowledge and put it into practice. Our task is to learn how to play scales on the guitar. How these scales are written on the stave, and what key signs are there, I hope you have read. If not, then the entire list of scales and their key signs are presented. I will introduce the fingering of several scales. It is best to play them with a pick (down-up-down-up). So you can achieve a clear and high-speed game. Naturally, you need to start playing scales at a slow pace and preferably under.

In order to understand how to play scales on the guitar, you first need to correctly position your left hand. In general, its position is similar to when you hold down the chords, only the fingers need to be held a little wider so that they are located above the corresponding frets. By minimizing your movements, you can achieve high game speed and finger fluency.

Left hand position

Now let's look at the fingering of specific scales for the guitar. The guitar neck is shown in the same way as on regular ones. For the utmost clarity, I list the strings from top to bottom: Mi[E]-Si[H]-Sol[G]-Re[D]-La[A]-Mi[E]. Frets are numbered under the fretboard, and the numbers in the circles indicate the numbers of the fingers with which the strings should be clamped. You can also say that these are tablature scales for guitar.

Gamma G Major

Gamma G Minor

Gamma C Major

I would like to show you another version of the C Major scale fingering.

Gamma C Minor

Gamma E Minor

I want to clarify that you need to play the E minor and E major scales on the guitar from the open sixth string, since this is the tonic - the note MI (marked with a circle).

Gamma E Major

Gamma A Minor

The scale should be played from the open 5th string. That is why the name of the A string is circled.

Gamma in A Major

This scale, like the previous one, begins with an open 5th string.

Gamma D Minor

Gamma D Major

Scales in B Major

Scales in B Minor

Your speed on the electric guitar has reached eighty beats per minute. No? Go back to the previous lesson. If so, then go ahead!

What are scales? If we simplify it very much, then a scale can be called a series of sounds arranged in a strictly defined sequence of semitones, tones, and sometimes large intervals. About scales in the context of fingering thinking are considered in great detail. In this lesson, we will use them as another kind of exercise. Why are scales good? Firstly, they have both external and internal strokes. Secondly, scale boxes cover all six strings. Third, they are usually looped, which makes it possible to play one scale for a long time.

There are a huge number of gammas. But we will not need all of them, since this lesson is aimed at developing speed, not musical thinking. I will give only a few of those that can be used in my songs, leaving out melodic modes, harmonic minor, major pentatonic scale, blues scale and many others.

But first of all, I would like to tell you a little about how to play them and what those fingerings are that you see below. I received a lot of questions on this topic and realized that most beginners have a very poor idea of \u200b\u200bwhat scales are in principle. So, the horizontal lines are the strings, as you understand, the vertical ones are the frets. The circles represent the notes to be played, respectively. In no case should you take the scale for a chord and try to play all the notes at the same time. Start playing from the lower left corner from left to right (i.e. from the thickest string, from where the frets are wider). Then move up to the higher strings, finishing with the scale in the upper right corner. Then you can return to the original note in exactly the opposite sequence. If it's still not clear, at the end of the lesson you can download Guitar Pro tabs for all the scales that you will find here. But remember that these fingerings can be easily moved along the neck and the scale will not change, only its tonality will change. Also, do not forget that all scales must be played with a VARIABLE HATCH. Down-up-down-up! And do not forget about other rules discussed in previous lessons!

MINOR PENTATONIC

You are already familiar with the minor pentatonic scale from the previous lesson. Here I will give five boxes of this scale in various positions. if you look closely, you will notice that they can be put together like puzzle pieces. Ultimately, this is what you should see when looking at the neck of a guitar - the notes included in a particular scale, its tonic on various strings and frets, the versatility of how you can play any passage that you can think of. You will have to work on these boxes... all your life. No more no less. Well, or at least as long as you are going to play the guitar.

Never limit yourself to playing in one position. Have you ever seen Zach Wylde play an entire solo without moving his hand along the neck? Me neither:)

DIATONIC FRET

Further more! Below are five boxes of diatonic seven-step frets. First - mixolydian major, often used by John Petrucci in his progressive themes. Next comes minor scale (Aeolian minor). Among the fatal and metal soloists, she rightfully takes the second place. Feel its gloomy, medieval atmosphere.

In the third picture - locrian mode. If you play it from the second step, you get Ionian (natural major) major. Do you want to compose something invigorating, fun. Possibly epic or pompous? Then just use it. Try to play according to the rule one finger - one fret (in the case of natural major boxing, this is not difficult). On the fourth box you see dorian minor- Another favorite of old school rock guitarists. And finally, the fifth box shows Phrygian minor, which differs from the usual one by only one step - the second is lowered, but what an atmosphere it gives to it! Having played it from this very second stage, we get Lydianmajor. You could hear this scale in the works of Joe Satriani.

Once again I will list the scales and the method of obtaining them based on the natural major. So!

1. The Ionian major is built on the first step of the natural and, accordingly, is identical to it.

2. Dorian minor is built on the second degree of natural major.

3. Phrygian minor - on the third step of the natural.

4. Lydian major - on the fourth.

5. Mixolydian major - on the fifth.

6. Aeolian (natural minor) - on the sixth

7. The Locrian mode is built on the seventh step of the natural major.

Here it is, the fingering grid, on which you can see all the scales at the same time. The black dot indicates the tonic of the Ionian major. Take a closer look and find for yourself visually the above boxes.

In the figure above, four steps of the Ionian major are signed - the seventh, first, third and fourth. Finding the rest, as you know, is not at all difficult. But this is a topic for a completely different section.

Before that, you played all the exercises with sixteenths. Four notes for each beat of the metronome. But you need to learn how to play triplets as well. To do this, we will use scales arranged according to the principle of three notes on a string. The first box is the Phrygian minor box, the next is the Lydian major box, then the Mixolydian box, and so on. For speed calculation use the following formula. The speed at which you were going to play divide by three and multiply by four. You'll get speed for eighth triplets. Let's say you were going to play at 60 GBM. 60:3*4=80 UVM - required speed for playing triplets. Play three notes for each beat of the metronome.

As you can see, the first box touches open strings. Just move it to the right. I have already said that the gamma does not change, only the tonic changes. Those last "three notes per string" scales are not in the tabs, I'm sure you get the idea. And if not, take another look at the scales that are there, compare the tabs and the picture, and analyze. Development is impossible without it. Not a single manual and not a single teacher will teach you how to play if you do not learn by yourself.

This is probably the time to stop. Turn on the metronome, learn one of the options for any scale and start practicing. In the next lesson, I'm waiting for you after you can play ALL scales at a speed of 100 UPM. Good luck!