How to Start with Guitar Scales

Why learn guitar scales

Have you ever been to a jam session? If you have, you must have found it amazing how some players can connect with each other, even if they’ve never met in real life. They instinctively know which notes to play and what will sound good with the chords and key of the song. Before I learned scales, I was always mesmerized by this “magic.” Music is probably one of the few professions where you can connect with another human being simply by “jamming.”

To reach that level, however, you really need to know which notes you can use and how to navigate the guitar fretboard like a map to guide you.

Before diving into guitar scales, it’s important to first understand some basic terminology and how scales are built. You also need to grasp how the notes are connected and relate to one another.

What is a scale?

A scale is a series of notes that follow a specific pattern.

what is a chord?

A chord is formed when you play two or more notes together at the same time, creating harmony. The most common type of chord is a triad, which consists of three notes: the root, the third, and the fifth. For example, a C major chord includes the notes C (root), E (major third), and G (perfect fifth).

what is an arpeggio?

An arpeggio is when you play a certain sequence of notes from a scale in a specific order. For example, the major and minor arpeggios consist of the 1st, 3rd, and 5th notes of the scale. When you play a 7th arpeggio, you include the 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th notes of the scale.

how many notes does the scale have?

There are different types of scales based on the number of notes they contain. For example, a pentatonic scale consists of five notes (like the blues scale), while a heptatonic scale consists of seven notes (like the major and minor scales).

the intervals

Before learning scales, modes, or improvisation techniques, it’s essential to understand how scales are built. There are two fundamental concepts we need to know first:

The sequence of all the notes:
On the guitar, we have 12 notes, much like the alphabet. Some notes have “in-between” notes that you can reach by either raising a note, which creates a sharp (#), or lowering it, which creates a flat (b). If we list the notes starting from C, they are:
C, C# (or Db), D, D# (or Eb), E, F, F# (or Gb), G, G# (or Ab), A, Bb (or A#), B.
The intervals:
Intervals measure the distance between two notes. Understanding the sequence of intervals (the distance from a note to the root note) is crucial for grasping why certain scales sound major or minor, how to build chords, and how using the same intervals creates a similar sound. The interval sequence is as follows:
- Root Note (RN)
- Minor Second (m2)
- Major Second (M2)
- Minor Third (m3)
- Major Third (M3)
- Perfect Fourth (P4)
- Flat Fifth (b5)
- Perfect Fifth (P5)
- Minor Sixth (m6)
- Major Sixth (M6)
- Minor Seventh (m7)
- Major Seventh (M7)

C major scale

Let’s match the C major scale with its intervals. In this case, the intervals are all major, and it also includes the perfect notes. This combination is why the scale sounds very “happy” or “major.” Here’s how the C major scale aligns with its intervals:

G Major scale

Let’s create another scale, this time the G major scale. We can again list the sequence of notes and match them with their intervals. The intervals remain the same as in the C major scale, but the notes change. Here’s how it looks:

As you can see, the difference between the C major and G major scales is just one note: the F#. This means that the G major scale is the scale with one sharp.

Exercise

Make a D major scale, E major scale and F major scale. Just list the sequence of the notes and match it with the intervals like we did before.

the modes

The major scale has seven different notes, which means it can have seven starting positions of the sequence. These starting positions are called modes.

The first mode of the C major scale looks like this: C, D, E, F, G, A, B. This mode is called Ionian.
If we start the sequence on the second note, we get the second mode: D, E, F, G, A, B, C. This mode is called Dorian.

The sixth mode of the major scale is the minor scale, also called Aeolian. The sequence of the notes remains the same as the major scale, but because of the different starting point and resulting intervals, it sounds very different. The major mode (Ionian) sounds happy, while the minor mode (Aeolian) sounds sad. The only difference between them is the starting point of the scale.

watch the video on the scales

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