Mastering How to Play Guitar Scales

I will guess that at one time or another everyone has at least thought of learning how to play guitar. I know I was dreaming of it at the young age of 9 years old.

Maybe that is because nowadays guitars would be a lot more accessible as well as the guitars have become a great deal less expensive. Guitars also can be easily taken with you much more than keyboards or some other instruments that makes it more convenient.

Learning how to play guitar in todays internet age has never been easier or more affordable. The addition of video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band has struck up a ton of interest in many people, because of the fact theyre playing along side guitar icons gives them the itch to learn how to play a real guitar.

How to play guitar scales isn’t for novice guitar players. This would be for individuals who are already familiar with how to play the guitar, even if you only know the fundamentals, and would like to advance even more on your musical path. If you’re not familiar with the various guitar parts, then maybe you had better begin with the basics prior to trying to learn the guitar scales.

If you really want to start learning scales I recommend you start with the pentatonic scale.

Anything you can do when you are learning how to play guitar or any instrument for that matter will make a difference. The pentatonic scale contains only 5 notes compared to the major scale that contains 7 notes. By removing 2 notes allows the scale pattern to be 2 notes a string compared to the major scale which requires 3 notes per string.

When learning the first pattern of the pentatonic scale you are actually learning 2 scales the Major and the Minor scale. Why? The same pattern is used for both it all depends on which finger you use to start the scale. If you start the pattern using your index finger the scale will resolve to minor, if you start the pattern with your pinky finger the scale will resolve Major. We sometimes tell our students to think of it as happy finger sad finger.

There is still so much to cover that is beyond the scope of this article. Till next time,

Tony D.