Major and Minor Scales

Four frets are separating the major and minor scales are relative scales. They have all the same tones in common that is why it is related: DO – RE – MI – FA – SO – LA – TI becomes LA – TI – DO – RE – MI – FA – SO, and vice versa.

Major and minor scales are the backbone for all Western music. They should be carefully mastered before proceeding to other scales. This is because our ears are our guides in major and minor scales. It is a little challenging to master the fingering of the major and minor scales at first, but working through the trouble spots will pay big dividends, and your ear will tell you when something are out of bounds. If you will practice it daily, don’t be surprised if your audience joins in and starts singing or playing with you.

Guitar Tapping Techniques: Building the strength of your right hand

Tapping the notes on the same string, but an octave higher than the notes you play with your left hand is the first example. You will hear a tapping harmonic slightly appearing if you tap with your middle finger, if you do this properly. You most likely won’t be able to fully induce tap harmonic this method but you can do it if you hit a higher note with your right hand’s index finger.

Minor Blues Scale

The minor pentatonic scale is where the minor blues scale is based, except that there is a chromatic augmented 4th/flatted 5th note added, changing it from pentatonic to a six-note blues scales. This scale retains the guitar-friendly fingering patterns of pentatonic scales. It is used interchangeably with pentatonic scales in rock music, or other applications, where a lick is to take on a bluesy feel. You can find online tutorial for this topic. So don’t give up!

The Blues Scale

In order for it to be most useful, the blues scale needs exact fingering in your fretting hand. The first finger will play all notes on the fifth fret. The second finger will play the notes on the sixth fret. The third finger will play notes on the seventh fret. And the fourth finger will play all notes on the eighth fret.

Practice playing scales is one of the best ways to start working on the coordination in your fingers. They maybe boring, but they will help build the strength and quickness of your fingers need to play the guitar well. While practicing this new scale, keep that tip in mind. Take your time and learn this scale well. It’ll be one that you use often.

Other keys in playing guitar

The great advantage of playing guitar: with a brilliant smile on your face you look to the keyboard player and give him the sign for shifting keys. You just have finished your solo while the keyboard player is wondering about the black and white keys on his keyboard. You only have to move the frets up or down to change to another key; the secret is as simple as that. The fingering pattern is still the same! If you want to play in F you can use the pattern of E and simply move up one fret.

More fingering patterns and “box” playing

You can play your first Blues licks with this scale. You can play every time every note of the scale that is the advantage. Some will sound better, some not so good but there is no “wrong” note. You can also play pentatonic scales to rock pop and even jazz not only blues music.

For the pentatonic Blues scale, this isn’t the only position. There are different fingering patterns, so you can play it all over the fretboard. But for the beginning it’s better to start with only one and add sometimes a note from another fingering pattern.

Depending on the key and personal influences like finger size or strength most players use boxes, a special parts of these patterns. Within this box you have all the notes from an octave in a comfortable arrangement. You can put all your emotions to the string; spend your time searching for that specific position.

The Blues scale: Blue Notes

The note which in classical music styles determines if it’s a major or a minor scale is the diminished (flat) third. In Blues music, it usually does not reach the exact target note; it is often a bend form the minor note into the major note.

The note which is part of the dominant seventh chord, the one which leads back to the tonic note is the diminished (flat) seventh.

Another definition you’ll find is that a Blue note is at all times played at a lower pitch than those of the major scale to express a certain feeling. Non-equal tempered scales are used by the African roots of the Blues music. Classical notation is used to describe these in-between notes. You can consider American Blues music as a well grown combination of African and European music styles.

The pentatonic scale

The pentatonic scale contains only 5 different notes. We begin with the minor pentatonic scale in E. Because it’s a “guitar key”, we start with the key of E. All open strings belong to this scale.

You start with the open E-string. It’s also E, when you reach the 2nd fret of the D-string (play both at the same time, you will hear it). And finally the other open E string is also E. So you’ve stepped through 2 octaves. E – G – A – B – D are the notes.

Not in the correct sequence, every 2nd note is left out when playing the open strings also contains all notes of the E minor pentatonic scale. That means, with only open strings, you can play simple rhythm guitar and even small solos!

Solo Guitar – The Blues Scales

You have to know which notes you can play when you play a solo. A scale is set of notes. Not all notes on your fretboard would give a nice sound if played in one song; it must fit to the song and the chords.

We don’t have a choice the classical music theory is not well suited to describe the Blues. Blues is crazy and wrong from that point of view – playing dominant major 7th chords all over minor pentatonic scales, using a 5 tone scale instead of the accustomed 7 tone scales, using chromatic scale pieces for intros and turnarounds, adding notes that don’t belong to any scale – and these stupid chord progressions, so it’s only an attempt to describe what we call the Blues. Take the guitar: the frets are made for equal intonation, to play classical music. To get the notes between you need techniques like a string bend or a slide. The best ways to describe the Blues scale with standard music theory is using a pentatonic scale.

Learning to Play Guitar

To have speed, control and accuracy, you need to fine tune your guitar.

Tuning up your guitar gives you confidence just as a tune up makes a car more responsive. This really makes your playing shine.

Here you will be able to learn how to play a guitar with proper left and right hand positioning, be able to play quicker with less fatigue, while at the same time increasing your accuracy and be able to improve your tone.

This specialized series of lesson includes exercises that will help you increase your finger independence and your familiarity with the neck of the guitar.

Completing these beginner guitar lessons, you will know how to play electric guitar using techniques that are eye-popping and ear-pleasing such as string bending, hammer on and pull offs, string skipping and more, up and down the entire length of your guitar’s neck.

Learning to play guitar with these techniques will set you apart from the pack. You will make your guitar a more expressive instrument with the use of tremolo, vibrato, muting and other articulations that many other electric guitar lessons on DVD simply ignore.

Becoming a guitar genius is something you can attain!

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