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Introduction
The aim of this lesson is to explain a method to learn and remember easily scales on the guitar. The method is based on patterns and cycles. This is the way I remember scales and find it pretty easy to remember.
Prerequisites
Scales , guitar basics.
Main Principle
Instead of remembering all positions of a scale on the neck (pretty boring and fastidious), this method consists in remembering the cycle of patterns that you play on each string of the guitar so that whatever the position you are able to predict the next pattern to play on the next string.
The only drawback of this method is that you have sometimes to move from your position (your first finger won’t strictly stay on the same fret), but the great thing is that you just have to remember one cycle of patterns (as if you just had to remember only one position per scale).
In this lesson we will only develop the method for the major scale and then just give the cycle of pattern for other scales.
Major Scale Pattern
Playing 3 notes per string, the major scale cycle is formed with 3 different basic patterns.
First one, repeated 3 times:
Second one, repeated twice:
Third one, repeated twice:
And then back to first one… This is a cycle.
This produces the following sequence on a virtual neck with seven strings (The full cycle is seven patterns, which is logical since there are 7 notes in the scale, we play 3 notes per string, and 3 and 7’s smallest multiple is 3x7=21 notes per cycle):
We consider above a virtual neck with seven strings tuned with 4ths. This way you can remember easily the patterns and the way they follow each other independently from the major third interval between the G string and the B string.
On a real guitar neck, starting with the tonic on the first string (one pattern will be missing since we have only 6 strings), given the fact that the interval between the G string and the B string is a major third instead of a forth, so that you move your pattern one fret on the right:
Thinking this way it is very easy to remember your scale on the neck: whatever the position and the string, you just need to know where you are in the cycle and then the rest will come naturally under your fingers…
Minor scale
The patterns are the same as for the major scale since the notes are the same. The only change is the tonic:
On a guitar neck:
Minor Harmonic Scale
There are two approaches for this one. You can either think with the major scale pattern and remember that the note just before the tonic is closer (half a tone instead of a whole tone), or you can learn the patterns cycle. In this case there are four patterns and the cycle is a bit more complicated.
On a guitar neck:
Pentatonic Scale
The pentatonic is very easy to remember as you have only 5 notes and 2 patterns. As you play two notes per string, the cycle is 5 patterns only. The only thing to remember is that next cycle will take place one fret on the left (see last pattern):
On a guitar neck:
Whole Tone Scale
The easiest way to play this scale is to use the cycle built with two patterns on one position:
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