Rws Book Web

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3 DVD 1

The Chromatic Scale, Accidentals and the Fretboard

4 The

Minor

Pentatonic

Scale

7 The

Major

Pentatonic

Scale

15 The

Hybrid

Scale

16 Using the Blue Note and the Blues Scale

18 DVD 2

The Diatonic/Major Scale and Basic Music Theory

20 The Relationship Between Major and Minor Scales

23 DVD 3

Soloing

Over

Pop

Songs

31 Soloing

Over

Blues

Songs

40 DVD 4

Soloing Over Rock & Roll Songs

46 Soloing

Over

Metal

Songs

50 DVD 5

Soloing

Over

Illogical

Songs 55

Minor

Pentatonic

Shapes/Positions

58 Major

Pentatonic

Shapes/Positions

60 Hybrid

Scale

(in

A)

62 Blues

Scale

Positions

(in

A)

62 Major Diatonic Scale Positions (in G - Spread Fingering)

65 Progress

Tracker

69

(4)

°

¢

Moderate

q = 100.

Ex.1

44 &

The Chroma�c Scale, Accidentals, and the Fretboard

Music, as it is commonly known, has a total of 12 notes. These sequence of notes is called the chroma�c scale. We can think about the chroma�c scale as the dic�onary or alphabet containing all the notes used in music. In order for us to visualize what the chroma�c scale is, we can use the piano keyboard as a reference:

If you look into the piano keyboard, it has a bunch of white notes and black notes, going all the way from C un�l the sequence goes back to C (what we call an octave). First, we want to learn what those white keys are and what are their names. The white keys represent notes that are named from A to G. Remember that there are no notes named H (unless you're German!), P, L, etc. in music. As guitar players, we want to learn where those are on the guitar. To be able to iden�fy those notes is to go into the first step of knowing how to iden�fy all 12 notes of the chroma�c scale on the guitar. We can call A, B, C, D, E, F and G as "naturals" (because these white key notes are the ones you would naturally find and try to press first on a piano keyboard!)

A, B, C, D, E, F, and G amount to only 7 notes, and thus we lack 5 more notes for a set of 12 in the chroma�c scale. We can find those 5 notes in the black keys of the piano keyboard. We will call these black key notes "accidentals". For instance, if we find the note "C" on the piano keyboard, we will also find a black key to its right. We will call this black key C-sharp (C#). In reality, C and C# are really independent notes that just share the concept of "C" but are really not related at all. We can then move to D and find the black keynext to it as D#.

If every white key or natural has a black key next to it, we'll end up with 14 notes. However, in music we only have 12 notes. This brings us to the fact that in a couple of spaces on the piano keyboard, there are no black keys in between two white keys. We need to focus on these. Remember that every note has a sharp except for B and E (BE = no sharp, unless you play something like a violin or trombone, which is a very diﬀerent topic from the guitar).

Music by Steve S�ne

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A standard piano keyboard has 88 keys. However, this doesn't mean that it has 88 dis�nct notes. The 12 notes of the chroma�c scale just repeat themselves over and over across the piano keyboard or the guitar's fretboard. Once we go from, say for example, a C to a C at a higher or lower register, this distance is what we call an octave. When we pluck our open 6th string, for us guitarists it is an E. If we go up 12 frets (the fret with two dots), this is also an E but at a higher register. This also means that we get the same sequence of notes on the upper half of the fretboard.

It is very important for us to memorize all of those notes on the 6th string. Knowing the fact that our open 6th string is an E, we can logically deduce with our knowledge of the chroma�c scale that the note at the 1st fret is an F (being that E does not have a sharp), the note at the 2nd fret is a F#, the one at the 3rd fret is a G, etc.

One of the most common problems encountered during the memoriza�on of the notes of the 6th string and others is that there is a tendency for a student to count frets to arrive at a desired note. This is an ineﬃcient prac�ce when trying to

memorize notes on the fretboard. The more efficient way of doing is so is through learning first what is the note on the 1st fret and then learn what are the notes on the dots of the fretboard: By doing so, we can easily find note which note comes next without a lot of memory work.

STEPS:

1. Learn the notes on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th frets (F, G, A, B, C#). Try quizzing on these notes with a friend e.g. "What note is on 3?", "1?", etc. Just ask the numbers and gradually speed up.

2. To easily memorize where C and D are on the 6th string, think that those notes surround the dot at the 9th fret.

3. The next E is at the 12th fret (the fret with two dots)

4. Try quizzing on where the note is, e.g. "Where is B?", etc. and answer with a fret number.

5. Once you know what are the notes on the dots, you can deduce (using fretboard/music theory knowledge) what are the notes on the other frets.

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Ex.2

8 Ex.3

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In many instances, we guitar players usually refer to accidentals as sharps. But every now and then, we would encounter other musicians like clarinet and horn players that usually refer to some accidentals as "flats". What's a flat anyway? For many reasons, we also need to be able to think about accidentals in terms of flats (b). F# is at the 2nd fret while Gb is at the 2nd fret as well. This means that F# and Gb are the same note or enharmonic (two names for the same note).

Think of a flat as going down a half-step (flat �re). On a guitar fretboard, a flat is one fret lower. For example, if G is at the 6th string 3rd fret then Gb is at the 2nd fret.

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Generally speaking, each sharp has an enharmonic ﬂat e.g. G# = Ab, D# = Eb, A# = Bb etc.

The general idea behind all of this is for us to get something usable, especially for soloing and improvisa�on, rather than ge�ng into music theory. While learning music theory is very important, Steve has another course for such a discussion. We are just taking some music theory knowledge that is immediately usable for ge�ng oriented with the fretboard and being able to solo or improvise.

Now, we started out memorizing the notes of the 6th string. In a standard tuned guitar, we get a freebie. Since the 1st string is tuned to the same pitch (albeit two octaves higher) as the 6th string, by memorizing the notes of the 6th string we can precisely iden�fy the notes of the 1st string.

Let's now move to memorizing the notes on the 5th string. Remember to work on memorizing the notes on the fretboard one string at a �me. Only try memorizing the notes of the 5th string when you have memorized the notes of the 6th string. DON'T TRY TO MOVE TOO FAST. Take the �me to absorb and internalize the idea you are trying to learn before moving on to the next one.

Now, the first thing about the 5th string is that it is tuned to A. To effec�vely memorize the other notes, use the same premise as in the 6th string: learn the notes rela�ve to frets 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. On the 1st fret, we get an A#. Since an accidental kind of throws a wrench into the system of learning our A to G straight without the accidentals, let's take into account that the 2nd fret note is a B. Following our rule regarding B and E, we find that the 3rd fret note is a C, the 5th fret note is D, and the 7th fret note is E. For F and G, let's just say that they're on each side of the 9th fret:

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Ex.4

10

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The Minor Pentatonic Scale

In many instances, we guitar players usually refer to accidentals as sharps. But every now and then, we would encounter other musicians like clarinet and horn players that usually refer to some accidentals as "flats". What's a flat anyway? For many reasons, we also need to be able to think about accidentals in terms of flats (b). F# is at the 2nd fret while Gb is at the 2nd fret as well. This means that F# and Gb are the same note or enharmonic (two names for the same note).

Think of a flat as going down a half-step (flat �re). On a guitar fretboard, a flat is one fret lower. For example, if G is at the 6th string 3rd fret then Gb is at the 2nd fret.

It is great to be able to play the ﬁrst posi�on of A minor pentatonic, but the tendency is that most people will be limited to just playing this and nothing more. We don't want to limit ourselves into playing in just one spot. We need to be able to play all over the fretboard in order to maximize the use of the guitar. In this course, we are going to eliminate this limita�on by looking into diﬀerent ways regarding how we play the scale and how we apply it in a more musical sense.

Before we go further, memorize the first posi�on of A minor pentatonic. More than just memorizing it, try to visualize the scale. Once you are able to visualize it, you can start playing it. You can choose to play the scale using a pure downpicking technique or alternate picking. In either case, you want to become very comfortable with your flow so that you can learn how to play it effec�vely. Play the scale over and over. Once you become used to playing it, meander or move around inside the scale as shown in the next example:

Using the same premise as learning the notes on the 6th and 5th strings, we can learn the notes of the other strings as long as we know for certain the tuning of the open strings.

Here are more things we can prac�ce to further improve our understanding:

1. Focus ﬁrst on learning the 6th string. Once accomplished move to the 5th then 4th, etc.

2. Another sugges�on is to use memorize the 6th string then the 5th string and then compare between the 6th and 5th string. For instance, look for G at the 6th string. It would be at the 3rd fret. Now try to look for G on the 5th string (10th fret). Take note of their similari�es and diﬀerences regarding the pitch or register, sound, etc. A�er working your way through, try working on comparisons between the 5th and 4th strings, 6th and 4th strings, etc. Not only will you be able to memorize the notes, you will become capable of seeing rela�onships across the fretboard! In a realis�c situa�on, this is more useful for prac�cal applica�ons.

The next thing we need to do is apply the concept of learning the notes on one string to an octave above. For example, we have learned the notes of the 6th string from 0 through 12. We can therefore realize that those notes are repatedin the octave from the 12th fret up e.g. notes of the open string and the 12th fret are the same (except an octave higher), 1 and 13, 2 and 14, 3 and 15, 4 and 16, etc.

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Ex.5

12 Ex.6

13

E A D G B E 5 7 9

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There is actually no rhyme or reason to playing the scale in the manner shown in Ex. 5. The point is that you should become comfortable in being able to ﬂow or move back and forth between notes within the scale. This is because we don't want to just learn how to play the scale up and down (a method that doesn't have a lot of musical sense, plus it is not very crea�ve). We want to be able to play side-to-side, move in and out and do all kinds of diﬀerent things with the scale.

For now, focus on learning how to play the scale up and down. Once this has been achieved, take a second to look at the scale.

A minor pentatonic has A, C, D, E, and G. Obviously, you can find those notes below and above the box where you find the first posi�on of A minor pentatonic. We want to learn where those notes are, so think about this: We can look at a guitar as a set of six pianos (one string is one piano in this analogy) lined up together, each having a different star�ng note. These six pianos (or strings), because of their different tunings, turns out to be that they're off center from each other rather than straight. What we need to do right now is to learn how to play one of the strings across direc�ons so that we can move any way we want to. To start, take the notes of the A minor pentatonic and place them all on the 6th string like you would in a piano i.e. play the en�re scale on a single string. Play these notes star�ng on the 5th fret upwards un�l you run out of frets then learn the notes going downwards to the open E:

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1st posi�on - A minor pentatonic

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E A D G B E 5 7 9

Ex.7

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E A D G B E 5 7 9 E A D G B E 7 9

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On each one of those notes on the 6th string, we can build our way down the pianos or strings, playing the same notes, A, C, D, E and G over and over. When you're on the ﬁrst posi�on (6th string, 5th fret), that's really the only �me you can start on the A un�l you reach the octave. From here, you can move up from the 5th fret to the 8th fret on the 6th string for the second posi�on of A minor pentatonic. Now, let's start breaking apart our A minor pentatonic (ﬁrst posi�on) into two halves:

To build our second posi�on, we start that by taking the half of the ﬁrst posi�on that is on the higher frets (the ones with black dots on the diagram) and then add in addi�onal notes to come up with a pa�ern as shown in Ex. 7:

Despite star�ng at a diﬀerent note and u�lizing diﬀerent frets, you will no�ce that both posi�ons sound similar by virtue of being the same scale. Compare and contrast both scale diagrams (roots are represented as white circles):

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2nd posi�on

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Ex.7

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E A D G B E 5 7 9 E A D G B E 7 9

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On each one of those notes on the 6th string, we can build our way down the pianos or strings, playing the same notes, A, C, D, E and G over and over. When you're on the ﬁrst posi�on (6th string, 5th fret), that's really the only �me you can start on the A un�l you reach the octave. From here, you can move up from the 5th fret to the 8th fret on the 6th string for the second posi�on of A minor pentatonic. Now, let's start breaking apart our A minor pentatonic (ﬁrst posi�on) into two halves:

To build our second posi�on, we start that by taking the half of the ﬁrst posi�on that is on the higher frets (the ones with black dots on the diagram) and then add in addi�onal notes to come up with a pa�ern as shown in Ex. 7:

Despite star�ng at a diﬀerent note and u�lizing diﬀerent frets, you will no�ce that both posi�ons sound similar by virtue of being the same scale. Compare and contrast both scale diagrams (roots are represented as white circles):

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2nd posi�on

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Ex. 8 compares and contrasts the ﬁrst and second posi�ons of the A minor pentatonic scale:

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1st posi�on

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Ex.9

26 Ex.10

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1st posi�on

2nd posi�on

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As you will be able to observe, the A at the 4th string 7th fret serves well as a pivot point for both the ﬁrst and second posi�ons. In this way, you can move into the second posi�on with ease and expand your range because you will be able to reach at least three notes more at the 1st string.

Observe the following lick shown in Ex. 10. This is an example of how you can expand the A minor pentatonic scale: When trying to learn the ﬁrst and second posi�ons (or any other posi�ons for that ma�er) of the A minor pentatonic, it is very important to be able to see how they are connected together. Seeing these connec�ons enables us to move from one posi�on to the next in the most comprehensive way possible. Being able to do so expands crea�ve possibili�es.

More o�en than not, students o�en take on the ﬁrst posi�on well, start soloing with it, dabble with the second posi�on and then move back. While you can do great things with it, you would want to be able to dominate the second posi�on (along with others) rather than just dabble with it for a short �me.

To establish connec�ons between the two posi�ons, let's take a look into where the roots are in both posi�ons:

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Ex.11

29

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E A D G B E 9 12

Ex.12

32

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Having good knowledge of both ﬁrst and second posi�ons of the A minor pentatonic will allow you to weave back and forth posi�ons using techniques like sliding:

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Because of the variety of places where the notes exist using both posi�ons, you will be able to sound differently just because you have different ways of moving in between notes, something that is a lot limited in exclusively using the first posi�on.

The third posi�on of A minor pentatonic starts at the 6th string 10th fret (D), and then moves all the way down. Because of the placement of the roots in this posi�on, it is Steve's favorite posi�on, allowing him to do many things with it:

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3rd posi�on

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Ex.13

35

E A D G B E 3 5

Ex.14

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4th posi�on

IMPORTANT TIP: While it is good (from a technical standpoint) that you can play your pentatonic scale pa�erns up and down against the beat of the metronome, it is be�er if you are capable of playing your scales in a non-linear

fashion. Learn how to move and play around the notes of the scale since this is be�er from a crea�ve standpoint. You can come up with more melodic ideas this way rather than playing all of your scales in a linear, sequen�al fashion.

Ex. 13 shows the A minor pentatonic scale in the fourth posi�on:

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Ex. 14 shows the ﬁ�h posi�on of A minor pentatonic. While we can start the 5th posi�on at the 6th string 15th fret, we can also use the same scale shape star�ng at the 6th string, 3rd fret

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Ex.15

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4 1 3

2nd posi�on

1 3

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FINGERING: One dilemma a guitar player would eventually be faced with is is ﬁngering. What ﬁngers of the fre�ng hand should be used to play the scale? It is usually a ques�on of what is logical versus what is comfortable.

What we call "logical" fingering involves the use of one unique finger per fret. We can see this as placing all four fingers on four frets that are beside each other e.g. index finger on 5th fret, middle finger on 6th fret, ring finger on 7th, and pinkie on 8th. During prac�ce and learning sessions, Steve would typically use logical fingering to reinforce good habits and develop technique. Let's take the 2nd posi�on of A minor pentatonic as an example. Logical fingering labels are present on the diagram below:

Ideally speaking, logical fingering should be used. However, in a jamming or playing situa�on, there are �mes when logical fingering is just imprac�cal or uncomfortable to u�lize properly. It is where the more comfortable fingering is used. This is because when improvising, a player doesn't really know for certain where he/she is coming from and where he/she is headed to. Ex. 15 demonstrates an example of comfortable fingering rather than logical (fingering is indicated in the numbers above the notes on the staff:

Observe the slide from fret 7 to 10 on the 4th string where the 3rd finger of the fre�ng hand lands on 10. In the next bar, Steve has no problems switching between frets 7 and 10, comple�ng the passage with just those two fingers. This does not follow the four-fingers-over-four-frets logical fingering rule, but it is just as useful under any playing situa�on.

When it comes to fingering, the point is that all of these things will get be�er, but it is important to be aware of what you are doing and why you are doing it. It's not just a ma�er of using recommended fingerings and that is it. You need to learn how to feel your way around the fretboard! Learn how to see, go in and out and then back and forth all of these scale posi�ons. A�er learning all five posi�ons of the minor pentatonic, we can then proceed to look into the major pentatonic scale.

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Ex.16

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E A D G B E 3 5 E A D G B E 5 7 E A D G B E 7 9 E A D G B E 9 12 E A D G B E 12

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Going back to our A minor pentatonic scale, learning all of its five posi�ons enables us to also play the C major pentatonic scale in all posi�ons because C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic share the same set of notes but have different notes emphasized as roots. One easy way to remember how to do this is if you assume a minor pentatonic scale in the first posi�on, if your start the scale at the note stopped by your index finger then it is minor. If you start out with your pinkie, you get the same scale but major.

What just happened here is that we played the minor pentatonic scale three frets down from A minor pentatonic to come up with its parallel major scale (A major is parallel major of A minor). Therefore, just shi�ing our ﬁve posi�ons of the minor pentatonic three frets back will get us our parallel major pentatonic version.

We can also say then that this scale, F# minor pentatonic, is the same as A major pentatonic (A major is rela�ve major of F# minor). For many people, such as Steve himself, in terms of the pentatonic scales, it is easier to imagine the minor pentatonic (given the fact that minor pentatonic is usually taught ﬁrst). So, it is very much feasible to think of major pentatonic scales as their rela�ve minors ﬁrst BUT with emphasis on the root note of the rela�ve major. In this case, we can think about playing the A major pentatonic by visualizing and playing them F# minor pentatonic because they share the same notes BUT with emphasis on A as the root so that it will sound like a major pentatonic scale rather than minor.

The next step then is to visualize and learn all ﬁve posi�ons of the major pentatonic posi�ons. As stated before, these are exactly the same as the ﬁve minor posi�ons but shi�ed down three frets. Root notes are labeled as white circles:

Let's say we're playing in the key of A major rather than minor, we would opt to use the major pentatonic scale. As a point of reference, we can start learning the major pentatonic scale using the minor version as a point of reference. Assume the first note of the first posi�on of A minor pentatonic using the pinkie of your fre�ng hand. Now, con�nue playing by playing the first posi�on minor pentatonic from that reference point to end up playing the major pentatonic scale. A transcrip�on of this is found in Ex. 16:

The Major Pentatonic Scale

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46

49 Ex.17

52

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1st string - minor

1st string - major

2nd string - minor

Steve once had a teacher that taught him how to solo in a 12-bar blues this way: use minor pentatonic over I and V, use major pentatonic over IV. It seemed very cool and it seemed like it was all there is to playing the blues. However, there actually is more than that.

Being able to play in a "bluesy" way involves a peculiar combina�on of minor and major pentatonic scales all in one song. This leads us to the concept called a "hybrid scale". Many of the blues greats would combine both pentatonic scales in a certain way that would immediately lead to people think that that is blues. We would visualize superimposing the ﬁrst posi�on of minor pentatonic over the second posi�on of major pentatonic to come up with the hybrid scale. It does not mean, however, that playing the hybrid scale will automa�cally sound bluesy already. It requires that a guitar player be crea�ve with the movement of the notes to get the hybrid scale to sound like the blues masters. The goal is to be able to add everything to gether BUT play the notes selec�vely. To do this we need to understand where the "minor" and "major" por�ons are per string in the hybrid scale. We will iden�fy these in components in our ﬁrst three strings. These are labeled accordingly in the tab below:

The Hybrid Scale

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2nd string - major

3rd string - minor

3rd string - major

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While we can actually play the hybrid scale over the ﬁrst three strings, it sounds be�er if we selec�vely play each note in a way that is nonlinear and more idioma�c of the blues genre as seen in the example below:

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Ex.18

54 Ex.19

55 Ex.20

57

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In the hybrid scale, we come across a chroma�c sequence of notes over the third string. Rather than playing the chroma�cs in a linear fashion, we will avoid doing so to come up with a more bluesy or jazz-blues lick as seen in Ex. 18. Again, the reason why we play the notes in such a way is to come up with something more musical:

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For the 4th, 5th and 6th strings, we can also do the same sort of experimenta�on with they hybrid scale. Here is another example:

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Ex. 20 shows how we can cover all six strings with the hybrid scale. Again, the key to using the hybrid scale eﬀec�vely is to be crea�ve with it by exploring the scale in a nonlinear fashion.

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Ex.21

60 Ex.22

62

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Blue Note Blue Note

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Using the Blue Note and the Blues Scale

What makes a blues scale sound unique is the use of a "blue" note. The blue note is a ﬂa�ed 5th added to a minor pentatonic scale to create the blues scale. Check out Ex. 21 and you will ﬁnd where the blue note is when we turn an A minor pentatonic scale into a blues scale:

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Blue Note Blue Note

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Blue Note Blue Note

When we play a blue note along with the root, we get an interval called a diminished 5th, probably the most dissonant sounding interval in music (it was even called the "devil in music" in the past!). To make a blue note sound good in a musical context, we use it as a passing note. It o�en adds emphasis or "drama" to the note that follows it.

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Blue Note

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Blue Note Blue Note

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Ex.23

66

68 Ex.24

Ex.25

69

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Ex. 23 shows an interes�ng lick that u�lizes blue notes well:

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Always remember that a blue note is used as a passing note. We do not emphasize the blue note simply because it will sound nasty as an emphasis note. Rather, we use the blue note in passing to enhance a melody.

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If we were to turn a major pentatonic scale into a blues scale, since we concluded earlier that the minor pentatonic and its rela�ve major equivalent are the same scale that only differ in what's considered the root note, we will find the blue note in the exact same spot. It is a minor 3rd from the root note of the major pentatonic scale. In the next few examples, you will find out that the blue note featured in Ex. 24 (F# minor pentatonic) is the same as the blue note in Ex. 25 (A major pentatonic).

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Ex.26

72 C

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74

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Ex. 26 is an interes�ng lick that sounds almost like a diminished arpeggio with notes added in between. Such a lick can be useful as a song ending or something that could spice up a solo. It is one of the ways in which we can eﬀec�vely use blue notes to enhance the musical quality of a melody:

Anything that has a rock & roll/blues inﬂuence would come from the idea of a blue note. Music can be logical or illogical. Case in point, pu�ng a minor pentatonic and a major pentatonic and blue notes together seems like a recipe for disaster because from a music theory perspec�ve they don't make logical sense. Rock & roll is a seemingly illogical thing in music because of that. However, when all of these seemingly illogical combina�ons are played together correctly, it sounds great. This is what Steve calls the "theory of rock & roll": playing things that don't make any theore�cal sense but sound awesome together.

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While the chroma�c scale has 12 notes and the pentatonic scale has 5, the diatonic scale has 7. This is the sort of scale commonly associated with the syllables do, re, mi, fa, so, la, and �, each of which represents a scale degree from "do" being the 1st/root/prime to "�" being the 7th. This scale is also what refer to as a major scale. We start out by looking at the C major scale (all white keys of the piano keyboard, no accidentals):

The Diatonic/Major Scale and Basic Music Theory

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The importance of knowing the exact order of intervals between the notes of the scale is that these intervals determine how the scale will sound like. If you alter the sequence of these intervals and you will come up with a diﬀerent scale.

While it certainly is not bad to memorize the WWHWWWH sequence to come up with your major scale, the easier way to memorize this is that half-step intervals are found in between 3 and 4 in between 7 and 8va. Everything else is separated by whole steps.

To facilitate learning how to play the diatonic scale on the guitar well, we will use a pa�ern called spread fingering. In spread fingering, we play a diatonic scale using three fingers/notes per string. Spread fingering allows us to easier navigate our way through the fretboard as compared to the usual "box" pa�ern. This is because spread fingering is symmetrical and simpler to play. In the previous examples when we were explaining the diatonic scale, the tablature shows the scale in a spread fingering format. Here is the C major scale from the 6th to the 1st string in spread fingering:

There are certain speciﬁcs about the diatonic scale that makes it unique. First of all, it is in the diatonic scale where we have all the le�er names of notes (A to G only). For instance, in the key of C we have the notes C, D, E, F, G, A, and B before going back to C. These are the seven notes we have selected from the chroma�c scale (which has 12).

The diatonic scale is also the basis for labeling our scale degrees by numbers (1 through 7), which has also become the basis for the names of intervals between notes.

Now, the ques�on is how were we able to select those notes from the chroma�c scale? This is where we talk about the term diatonic. The term just means that it is a scale with both whole-step (2-frets) and half-step (1-fret) intervals:

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E A D G B E 9 12

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E A D G B E 3 5 7

Ex.29

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Shape A

Shape B

Shape C

The apparent thing you can observe about spread ﬁngering is symmetry. Because of its inherent symmetry, each of the seven posi�ons of major scale using spread ﬁngering make use of a combina�on of just these three shapes. This can make it easy for us to learn all seven posi�ons of the diatonic scale.

Let's say we want to play in the key of G. The same rules would s�ll apply regarding how to form a G major scale. We need to keep the proper order of intervals (half steps between 3 & 4 and between 7 & 8, whole steps the rest) star�ng at the note G.

As far as picking is concerned, it is recommeded that the diatonic scale (and any other scale for that ma�er) be prac�ced using an alternate picking technique. Alternate picking allows us to play faster and more eﬃciently. Just as if we were prac�cing strumming, an alternate picking technique could care less about whether to use an upstroke or downstroke.

A spread ﬁngering pa�ern typically uses three shapes or pa�erns as shown in the diagrams below:

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E A D G B E 7 9 E A D G B E 12

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The Rela�onship Between Major and Minor Scales

By being able to iden�fy that common point or note in both scales, you now have a fast way of knowing where the rela�ve major of a par�cular minor scale would be.

For many guitarists (and other musicians in general), it is o�en easier to ﬁgure out what key a song is in. The problem is that some�mes when we can iden�fy that a certain song is in a minor key, say A minor, some of us might only be proﬁcient in the use of major scales but don't know what minor scales are. The thing is that a minor scale (natural) is nothing more than a rela�ve major scale started at the (or emphasizing the) 6th of that major scale.

Let's say we were in the key of G major. If we're looking for it's rela�ve minor, it's E minor. Try playing your E minor pentatonic over your G major song and more or less it will ﬁt as long as you emphasize the note G.

Let's say in another instance that we're playing a song in the key of B minor and we plan on playing B minor pentatonic scale at the first posi�on. Our first finger therefore goes over the note B (6th string, 7th fret). Following the single-finger-per-fret rule, if we place the pinkie finger of our fre�ng hand over the 10th fret, we get the note D, the root note for D major. If we play the minor pentatonic shape star�ng from D, then we are essen�ally playing a D major scale.

If we are to spell out a diatonic scale star�ng at G in le�ers and without accidentals, we should be able to come up ﬁrst with G-A-B-C-D-E-F-G. However, this is incorrect given the fact that from F (7th) to G (8va) is a whole step. We said earlier that in a major scale we need just a half step from the 7th note of the scale to the octave. For us to hear and write down the G major scale correctly, we need to spell it out as G-A-B-C-D-E-F##-G. The ques�on now is that why do we have F# instead of F? F# to G is a half step. Consequently, this also corrects the half-step interval between E and F and becomes a whole step instead. This is the reason why we have one sharp in the key of G. Another thing is that we are now using accidentals in

order to correctly spell out major scales in keys other than C.

In a later sec�on of this book, there are charts that show the major scale in all 12 keys and in 7 posi�ons for your reference.

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B minor pentatonic

Common Point

D major

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Ex.30

85

86 Ex.31

88 &

As we have learned from the previous paragraph, minor scales are nothing more than their rela�ve major counterparts. So, taking our example from the previous paragraph, we could then instead play our D using the first finger, and then play our major scale in the first posi�on using the spread fingering we had previously discussed about:

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Let's now say that you're going to play a song in the key of C minor, you could go over the 6th string 8th fret and then play pentatonic no problem. But the cool part about having that knowledge of the rela�ve major is that you could play the rela�ve major of C minor bt just placing your pinkie three frets away from C (from 8th to 11th fret) and play the major scale from there. Ex. 31 demonstrates this plus the fact that you are playing the scale in both minor and major. This is given the fact that C minor is the same as Eb major as we have previously learned in the sec�on about pentatonic scales.

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Ex.32

89 Ex.33

91 &

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In comparison, the big thing that dis�nguishes diatonic from pentatonic is the fact that diatonic has half steps while pentatonic does not have any. This fact has big melodic implica�ons. Diatonic scales simply sound more melodic than pentatonic just because of this fact.

One tendency is to immediately go into minor pentatonic when confronted with a song in a minor key. There are �mes, however, when we want to go diatonic instead because it just sounds more melodic. How do we go about going away from that pentatonic tendency and start going for a diatonic scale in a minor key? Let's use an example. Say we want to play a song that is in G minor. Now, let's establish that we know we have a G minor pentatonic scale star�ng at the 6th string 3rd fret and that we can solo using that. To move from a pentatonic tendency to a diatonic one, we can just go to the rela�ve major three frets away (Bb, where we usually place our pinkie when playing the minor pentatonic equivalent)

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When confronted with a minor key, we now have two op�ons for soloing: minor pentatonic and minor diatonic. At this point, the way we ﬁnd out the minor diatonic is through the following steps:

1. Find the rela�ve major from a minor pentatonic scale.

2. Play or create the major diatonic from that common point.

3. Emphasize the root note of the rela�ve minor key rather than the rela�ve major's root.

Here is one of Steve's exercises that you can try working on to test your understanding of rela�ve major-minor rela�onships in the context of soloing using the guitar:

1. If we were in the key of A major, there are two scales you can play at this point: A major pentatonic and A major diatonic. Can you see these scales on your fretboard?

2. Let's say we were in the key of B minor. How do you shi� from minor pentatonic to minor diatonic? While we can use that rela�ve major, the big diﬀerence between the rela�ve major and minor is the root note being emphasized. Since we are trying to play in G minor, we need to ﬁnd our Gs within the rela�ve major scale to make it sound minor:

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Ex.34

92 &

G Major Diatonic - 1st Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. G Ionian mode

Because the diatonic scale is one of the cornerstones of music theory as we know it today, usage of the diatonic scales in music is considered to be logical. The "illogical" way to solo or improvixe over a song uses things like blues and hybrid scales.

It is also important for us to know about the chords that are formed out of the major scale since the diatonic scale has always been the basis for all the chords we use in music. Since we have seven notes in a major diatonic scale, we also get seven chords. Always remember that within the major scale, the I, IV and V are always major (hence being represented in uppercase le�ers), the ii, iii and vi are always minor (lowercase), and the vii is always diminished. Also take note that in rock and pop, the vii (diminished) is rarely used. In those rare instances that the vii is used, it is usually used in an "illogical" way (a way that doesn't make sense in common prac�ce music theory). In terms of major-minor rela�oships, the vi is the rela�ve minor of any major diatonic scale. Whenever we generically talk about a song being in minor, we talk about the vi chord.

Also remember that even if you shi� to other keys, the half steps and whole steps of the major diatonic scale always remain in the same conﬁgura�on or order. In a prac�cal sense, this means that if you shi� from one par�cular key to another, all you have to do is move that en�re pa�ern across the fretboard without changing it.

Generally speaking, playing a major diatonic scale (or playing in a major key) is no different than playing in a minor key. However, there are two significant differences:

1. When playing in a minor key, you are emphasizing a minor chord versus a major chord.

2. When playing in minor scale over a song in a minor key, you are all the notes of a major key but you are emphasizing the sixth scale degree instead of the ﬁrst. For example, whenever you are playing a song in A minor (rela�ve to C major), you are emphasizing all the A's while you con�nue playing what is essen�ally a C major scale.

What's the impact of these diﬀerences in a par�cular song? From a musical perspec�ve, shi�ing the emphasis from major to it's rela�ve minor provides a radically diﬀerent quality to a piece of music. This is because minor keys tend to sound darker, more serious, sadder, or more melancholic than major keys.

In Ex. 34, we see the G major scale using a spread fingering pa�ern in its first posi�on. The ques�on is are there other posi�ons of the major diatonic scale? The answer is yes. As a review, let's take a look at the G major scale in the first posi�on:

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94 Ex.35

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G Major Diatonic - 2nd Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. A Dorian mode

The next few examples shows the same G major diatonic scale played in the rest of the diﬀerent available posi�ons over the fretboard:

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Ex.36

100

102 Ex.37

104

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G Major Diatonic - 3rd Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. B Phrygian mode

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G Major Diatonic - 4th Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. C Lydian mode

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Ex.38

108

110 Ex.39

112

114 &

G Major Diatonic - 5th Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. G Mixoydian mode

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G Major Diatonic - 6th Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. A Natural Minor/Aeolian Mode

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Ex.40

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G Major Diatonic - 7th Posi�on Pa�ern a.k.a. B Locrian mode

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Moderately Fast Pop/Rock

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Ex.41

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Music theory-wise, pop songs tend to be logical, hence they will sound either really major or really minor in sound. Pop songs typically use diatonic scales as a melodic founda�on although pentatonic scales would ﬁt in quite nicely when soloing over them. Here we have our ﬁrst example of soloing over a pop song.

What is it that goes on exactly in the head of a guitar player who is about to solo over a par�cular chord progression? Here are some ini�al guidelines:

1. Think of the key signature.

2. Think of the chord progression. Take the I-IV-V and think about how those chords can be rearranged in a I-IV-V fashion.

3. Iden�fy other chords in the song outside of the I-IV-V.

4. Decide on which scale to use over the chord progression.

5. Think about movement (rhythm, melody, pa�erns, licks, phrases, etc.)

6. Visualize the fretboard and start learning how to meander around the song. Meandering means learning to move around rhythmically and making up anything without any rhyme or reason to note choices, etc.

7. Get the guitar tone a bit more solo friendly (usually high-gain distor�on, some emphasis on treble frequencies, a li�le bit of reverb and delay.

Soloing Over Pop Songs

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In Ex. 41, no�ce that Steve chose to use a pentatonic scale (A minor or C major). He also used a couple of expressive techniques such as bending, sliding, and vibrato. There's also a lot of rhythmic playing involved while trying to get around the fretboard.

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The next step into figuring out how to solo is plo�ng points. This means that during the solo, we are going to follow the root notes of all the chords. Since we have a C-G-Am-F chord progression in this par�cular example, first we are going to look for all the C's. In the first posi�on of the A minor pentatonic scale, we will find the C's in par�cular loca�ons as plo�ed below (white dots):

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As the G in the song comes into play, we need to become aware of where the G's are in the scale in order to place emphasis on the root note of the chord.

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As we approach Am, it is easy to ﬁnd where the roots are given that we are already using the A minor pentatonic scale for this improvisa�on:

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Ex.42

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Going along the chord progression, we encounter F. The thing about the A minor pentatonic is that it doesn't have any F's in it. The ques�on is where are we going to ﬁnd an F to use for our solo? It is at this point we now use our C major diatonic scale.

So far, what we have done to be able to solo is:

1. Establish the key signature.

2. Choosing the appropriate scale to use (visualizing the scale across the fretboard, etc.)

3. Learning to move around the fretboard with the par�cular chosen scale (meandering).

The fourth step is plo�ng points. A basic example of how to plot points is at Ex. 42, following the same chord progression we have previously encountered. Take note that in the next examples, whenever Steve encounters an F chord, he uses a diatonic scale over it because these is no F in a C major pentatonic (or A minor pentatonic). Since pop/rock songs usually follow a logical framework, using pentatonic and diatonic scales on diﬀerent sec�ons or chords of the song generates greater melodic interest.

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Ex.43

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What we have done so far is:

1. Establish the key signature.

2. Choosing the appropriate scale to use (visualizing the scale across the fretboard, etc.)

3. Learning to move around the fretboard with the par�cular chosen scale (meandering).

4. Plot points across the fretboard depending on chord progression.

Other than plo�ng points, Steve was trying to play something that would sound fun or interes�ng as he was improvising. Using the principles of knowing the scale and plo�ng points, you can start moving all over the fretboard.

Since we have been improvising over what could be considered a logical chord progression, we are stuck trying to play something that sounds melodic. In this case, we could call it being slave to the melody, requiring us to think more, understand the fretboard more. This results in nice, melodic solos, as opposed to just moving around.

Whenever we try to solo chord progression, it is important that we keep points plp�ed inside our minds and then try and follow those points to a certain degree.

However, this doesn't always happen. We can go oﬀ tangent occasionally. As Steve explains about his process, once he hits a a really good and likable lick or a repe��ve ide, he can bypass the melody for a while while crea�ng that new idea. Things such as licks, mo�fs or os�natos occur every now and then, and these can be fun to play around with as well.

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