Guitar Fundamentals: Major, Minor, and Pentatonic Scales for Beginners

1. Introduction: Today we're diving into a foundational element of guitar playing scales. Understanding scales on the guitar isn't just about memorizing patterns on the fret board. It's about unlocking the essence of melody, harmony, and expression. I'm Lancelot Houston and I'm a musician producer and teacher. In this class, you'll explore fundamental scales that will open up a world of musical possibilities. You'll start with pentatonic scales, a five note scale, revered for its simplicity and versatility. You'll learn the major scale, a cornerstone in Western music. Finally, we'll take a look at the minor scale. The minor scale has an incredible range of expression. You'll also explore various rhythmic patterns that will challenge and refine your finger coordination. This is designed to meet you at your skill level and take you further. By mixing practical exercises with some knowledge of music theory, you'll not only be able to seamlessly play through these exercises, but know what you are playing. By the end, you'll have gained a new confidence in both the play and theory behind the guitar. So grab your guitar and let's get started. 2. Class Orientation: Today you're going to learn how to play major, minor, and pentatonic scales on the guitar. By the end of this class, you've learned some patterns that will serve as a foundation to your playing. In my project, I'll be demonstrating how to play these scales and put them together to create an exercise. All you'll need is a guitar to get started. Here's what I'll be looking for in your class project. Playing through the scale patterns seamlessly, using a metronome to keep time and subdividing with different rhythms. You can submit your project by recording yourself on your phone or another recording device. Next, we'll take a look at the basics of scales and the theory behind. 3. Foundation: What Are Scales?: Before we get into how to play scales on the guitar, let's build a foundation of understanding by covering some basics of music theory and looking at the differences between these scale patterns. So what are scales? A scale is when multiple notes are grouped together within an octave in ascending or descending order of pitch. In order to best understand this concept, I think it'll be helpful to move over to the keyboard. First, some basics. There are 12 different noes. This is known as a chromatic scale. Here we're looking at all the notes from C to C, going from a low sea to a high sea. This is called Noctave. The notes in between consist of both black and white keys. The white keys of the piano are A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. The black keys are the notes in between. You might know them as sharps or flats. When a note is sharp, the pitch moves up or to the right by one key. The black key to the right of C becomes C sharp. When a note is flat, the pitch moves down to the left by one key. So C sharp could also be looked at as D flat. One way you can refer to moving from note to note is in terms of steps. When moving through the chromatic scale, we're moving in what's called a half step. For example, C to C sharp is a half step. Now let's say we moved from C to D, this would be called a whole step. It's also important to note that there are no sharps or flats between the notes E and F. And now I want to look at the scale for the major scale. Let's see how it's built in terms of steps. Major scales follow this pattern, half starting at C. Let's follow this pattern and take a whole step to D. Next, another whole step to a half step to then a whole step to G. Another whole step to A, another step to finally a half step to reach an octave above where we started. This pattern can be applied to any node. Let's take, for example, starting at E. Let's travel a whole step to land on sharp. Follow that with another whole step to sharp. Next, a half step to a whole step to another whole step to C sharp, a whole step to D sharp. And finally, a half step landing an octave above on another. Now let's take a look at the natural minor scale. For every major scale, there's what's called a relative minor scale. What this means is that the notes of the major scale and its relative minor are exactly the same notes just starting at a different place. So let's return back to the C major scale as an example. One way to find the relative minor is to look at the sixth of the scale. If we count up to the sixth note, in this case it's an, the relative minor of C major is a minor. We can build the minor scale by using the same pattern as before, but this time we'll start on the sixth, the pattern becomes whole, whole. Let's look at it note by note again. If we start at A, we'll move a whole step to next, a half step to, followed by a whole step to another whole step to a half step to step to finally a whole step to a. Now that we got that covered, let's move on to pentatonic scales. Pentatonic scales are simpler versions of the major and minor scales that we just went over. But we'll remove the fourth and the seventh notes, leaving five unique notes, rather than seven. The remaining notes of the scale are the 1,235.6 Here is the C major pentatonic scale. Next, let's look at some basics of navigating around the guitar, and you'll be one step closer in learning how to play through these scale patterns. 4. Foundation: Guitar Navigation Basics: In order to play guitar skills seamlessly, you'll need to cover some basic navigation of the guitar ne, it's important to know the note names of the guitar strings. We'll start with the first string, or the string playing the highest note, indicated by the small E on this diagram. The second string is, the third string is G, the fourth string is D, the fifth string is A. And the sixth string or the string playing the lowest note is another E. You'll most likely have fretboard indicators on your guitar as well. In this diagram, you'll see single diamonds on the frets, 357.9 and a double diamond on the 12th fret. The 12th fret is important because it indicates an octave above the open strings. So the notes played open are the same notes at the 12th fret. Next let's go over how I'll be referring to your fingers of your fretting hand. Your pointer or index finger is one. A middle finger is two. A ring finger is three, and your pinky finger is four. Now that you've covered some basics of guitar navigation and terminology, let's dive into the first scale covered in this class, the minor pentatonic. 5. Minor Pentatonic Scale: The minor pentatonic scale is often the first scale that a beginner will learn. Its simplicity, combined with its expressiveness, has made it a staple in many genres of music. The pattern that you're about to learn can be played anywhere on the guitar neck. I want to start on the fifth fret of the low E string. Once you're in this position, play the fifth fret of the low E string by using your one finger. Now stay on the same string and use your four finger to play the eighth fret. I know it can be difficult to use your pinky finger, especially if you're just starting out, but I promise the quicker that you train yourself to use it and build its dexterity, the easier guitar playing will get. Next, you'll move on to the A Str. Use your one finger to play the fifth fret. Follow that by using your three finger to play the Seventh Threat. Still on the string. The next couple strings, we're going to follow the same finger pattern. Let's move on to the D string and play the fifth fret with your one finger, followed by playing the Seventh Threat with your three finger still on the D string. Once again, we'll follow the same pattern on the string. Use your one finger to play the fifth fret and your three finger to play the seven. Now we're going to move onto the B string. Play the fifth fret using your one finger. Next you're going to use your forefinger to play the eighth Threat. Moving on to the last string, the high. Here you'll play the fifth fret using your one finger. Finish the pattern by using your fore finger to play the eighth fret. And that's it. I want you to practice this scale by playing it both ascending and descending. Once you're feel ing, comfortable with that, try playing the pattern on different parts of the neck. This pattern, along with all the others that you'll learn in this class, can be played starting on any fret. When practicing the scale, I want you to refrain from thinking about it in terms of what number you're using and more in terms of what fingers you are using. I'll demonstrate so you get the idea. Dad, do congrats on getting through your first scale. We'll continue to develop upon this scale pattern later on in this class, but for now, let's move on to another five note scale, the Major Paton. 6. Major Pentatonic Scale: The major pentatonic scale is equally as important to its minor pentatonic counterparts. Both are simple and used in many genres of music other than its tonality. The main difference is how these scale patterns are played. When starting the scale pattern, I want you to begin on the eighth fret of the Lo string using your two finger. Next, use your four finger to play the tenth fret of the same string. Now let's move over to the A string and use your one finger on the Seventh Threat. Follow that by using your fore finger to play the Tenth Threat. Next, move to the D string and use your one finger to play the Seventh Threat. Follow this by using your finger to play the Tenth Threat. Now let's move on to the G string and use your one finger to play the Seventh Threat. O. After that, you'll want to use your three finger and play the ninth fret. Follow this by moving to the string and using your two finger to play the eighth threat. Next, use your forefinger and play the tenth threat. Finally, we'll move on to the high string. Here you'll follow the same pattern as the previous string. Use your two finger on the eighth threat. Play the tenth threat using your forefinger, just like you did in the previous lesson. Practice this scale both ascending and descending. Once you get a handle on that, try again to play this pattern on different parts of the neck. Boo congrats on getting through the major pentatonic skit. Next we're going to look at a slightly more complex version of dived into major scales on the guitar. 7. Major Scale: The major scale is a foundation of Western music. It's important for any musician to be able to learn and perform. Fortunately, you've already learned most of the major scale by learning the major pentatonic scale covered in the previous lesson. Let's take a look at what you'll need to add in order to play the entire major scale. I'd like you to start the scale by playing the eighth fret of the low E string, using your two finger. Follow this by using your finger on the tenth threat. Next, move onto the seventh Threat of the A string, using your one finger. Now we'll break away from the pentatonic pattern and play the Eighth Threat using your two finger still remaining on the string. Play the Tenth Threat using your finger after that move to the D string and use your one finger on the Seventh Threat. Follow this by using your three finger to play the ninth fret. Next, play the tenth fret using your four finger. At this point, you've played through one octave of the major scale. Now we'll continue to play through the second octave. Moving onto the string here, you'll repeat the same pattern as the D string. Use your one finger to play the seventh fret. Play the ninth fret using your three finger. Follow this by using your four finger on the tenth fret. Now let's jump to the string here. You'll use the two finger on the eighth fret. Follow this by using your four finger on the tenth fret. Finally, let's move to the high string. Play the seventh fret using your one finger. Next, use your two finger to play the eighth fret, which completes the second octave. We'll finish out the pattern by using your fore finger on the tenth threat. You'll want to practice the scale ascending and descending. You should also try practicing the scale in other parts of the neck, in different positions. Great work on getting through the major scale. Next up is the last scale that I'll be covering in this class, the Minor Scale. 8. Minor Scale: The minor scale is my personal favorite among the scales that I'll be covering in this class. I like the emotion that it conveys, and it's often the place where I start when improvising. The minor scale is the trickiest of the scales that we've covered in this class. But by learning the minor pentatonic scale, you've already learned and outlined most of it. We'll start by using your one finger on the fifth fret of the low. Next, use your three finger on the seventh fret. Follow this by using your four finger to play the eighth fret, still on the low e. Next, move onto the string and follow the pattern you just played on the LowE. You'll use your one finger to play the fifth fret. Use your three finger to play the seventh fret. And your four finger to play the Eighth Threat. Moving on to the D string here you'll use your one finger to play the fifth fret. Next, you'll complete the first octave by using the third finger to play the Seventh Threat. Next, move onto the G string. But here for the first time in this class, you'll need to change your position. You'll play the Fourth Threat using your one finger. Follow this by using your two finger to play the Fifth Threat. Finish up this string by playing the Seventh Threat using your finger. Now we're going to move to the B string and your hand will need to return to the fifth position. And start this string by playing the fifth fret using your one finger. Use your two finger to play the Sixth Threat. Finish off this string by playing the Eighth Threat using your finger. Finally, move to the high string. Use your one finger to play the fifth fret. At this point, you've completed the second octave, but we still have more notes that we can access in this position. Follow this by playing the Seventh Threat with your three finger. And finish it up by using your four finger to play the Eighth Threat. Try practicing this scale, both ascending and descending. You'll also want to use this scale pattern in different parts of the neck. Congrats. You've made it through the minor scale, along with all the other scales that I'll be covering in this class. Next, let's take a look at how we can get the most out of these scale patterns by incorporating different rhythms and alternate picking. 9. Alternate Picking + Rhythm: Now that you have a good handle of how to play major, minor pentatonic scales on the guitar, I want to show you how incorporating different rhythms and alternate picking will help you get the most out of this exercise. Once you've gotten comfortable with these scale patterns, start trying to subdivide your picking to incorporate quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and 16th notes. Using a metronome will help you keep time and increase the accuracy of the subdivision of your notes. I want you to try all of these scales using alternate. Alternate picking is just the practice of switching between upstrokes and downstrokes. When playing through these scales, you most likely played each note once and moved on to the next. Let's refer to this as using quarter notes. When you got that down, play through it again. But now subdivide using eighth notes. Now you're going to keep the same tempo, but play each note twice. Next, move on to subdividing by three, also known as triplets. Finally, try keeping the same tempo, but subdivide into four, known as 16th notes. Now let's put it all together and I will demonstrate all the techniques covered in this class, in my class project. 10. Class Project: Now we've reached the point where I will demonstrate my class project and put together all the techniques that we've covered in this class. I'll be playing the major and minor scales back to back using quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and 16th notes. You'll see that I also will be incorporating alternate picking. I'm setting my metronome to 90 beats per minute. Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, baby. 11. Conclusion: Congrats on making it to the end of this. I hope you're coming away with a deeper knowledge and excitement about the many possibilities of the guitar. Be sure to post your final project in the project gallery and post any questions you may have in the discussion selection. Remember, practice makes perfect, and I hope to see you in some of my classes in the future. I'll see you next time.