How music applies to the guitar.

All music uses a key which is made up of a scale within which are the chords that are used to provide rhythm. The guitar is perfect for this because once you have learned the pattern for a scale you have learned the pattern for all twelve scales. So there is no need to learn all of the scales as you would if you were playing keyboard, since the same pattern is used for all 12 keys; it’s just moved to another place on the neck.

  For example if you were playing in the key of A you would use a pattern on the 5^th fret.

If you were playing in G then it would be the same pattern on the 3^rd fret.

The same principle applies to the chords you will be playing in that you play the same shapes but when you change key you move them to a different place on the neck. Unlike piano where every chord is a different shape. This is why guitar became so popular; even morons like me can learn to play it…

Major Scale (Modes)

Consider the above diagram. It’s a map of all the notes in C major and where they can be found on the neck of a guitar. The notes with the crosses on them are C, the root note. The first note in the scale.It looks daunting doesn’t it? It looks like it would take you weeks of boring work to learn. You have nothing toworryabout, you can learn every nuance of this in a very short time if you just have some patience and devote an hour a day to learning it. Once you have this map in your head, you can use it to play in any key. When you watch Steve Vai play on a dvd, not only will you appreciate it more, but you will know exactly what he is doing, what key he is in and how hard it might be to do. More to the point, you will know that you can do it too. You will do what every exceptional guitarist has done since time began; watch and copy. If you learn the scales that follow, you will never need to buy a book of music again; you will never need them.

The best thing though, you can make your own music and know it’s in key and perfect. This is why you want to play guitar isn’t it? So you can make that sound you have in your head, your sound, and make it real. Well then, invest a weekend in learning these few pages and watch your musical ability explode.

Remember, all the guitarists you have ever heard about, from Les Paul to Satriani, all started by devoting time and self-discipline to building this toolkit. No craftsman could create something fantastic without using the best tools that he can get and learning how to use them properly. So give yourself what you need, nothing is more important than the following pages if you want to be the best. Be the best you can be. Take over the world.

First scales to learn are the Phrygian E F G A B C D E

and the Lydian. F G A B C D E F

 These are the same but for one note. So you might as well learn both of them.

Note how they are made up of the three finger patterns? Note how they fit in with the full map.

When you are totally at ease with this scale, go to the next page and you can learn the next one.

Here comes the Mixolydian G A B C D E F G

 

Okay! You learned the Phrygian and the Lydian modes, now learn this one and note how it fits into the map and how it relates to the Phrygian and the Lydian.

Remember to keep it simple, play each note with the right finger. Don’t play 2 different frets with the same finger.A finger for a fret. There are 4 positions, play them each with the finger that naturally falls on them. There is no point in making things hard for yourself, especially when you consider how fast you are likely to be playing these scales in the future.

Did you notice how, now you have learned the first scale you can play it up and down without really thinking about it? This is because of a thing called muscle memory. If you do something a lot, like throwing a ball, walking, changing gear, the muscles involved learn to do these actions by themselves, without you being aware of the process. So when you have been playing these scales regularly, you could do a six octave run, up and down in 4 seconds without even looking. You don’t need to be aware of all the processes involved in talking do you? You just do it without needing to think about it.

Aeolian Mode A B C D E F G A

You’re doing great. Keep it up. Just think of yourself in a year’s time laying down killer shreds as easy as talking.

   While you are learning these scales, experiment with them and try to find tunes that you know, you will be surprised at how easy it is now you know the notes that are allowed in any key.

Next it’s The Locrian B C D E F G A B

and the Ionian C D E F G A B C

Once again these two are more or less the same.

Just one more scale to learn then the fun begins.

Have you spotted the clever bit yet? You can go from one scale to another and play up the neck instead of just across? You can even play in circles infinitely shredding the neck without hitting the brick wall of running out of strings. Freedom to express yourself. A six octave range instead of two. It is such a liberating thing when you figure how to do this. I’ll show you after the next scale; the last one.

Dorian scale D E F G A B C D

By the way the notes on these maps that have a cross going through them are the ROOT notes, that is the first note in the scale. In this case C.

Has it occurred to you yet that if you move all of the above map up 2 frets, it changes the key from C to D?

That’s right these patterns are for all 12 keys. Move the pattern down 3 frets and it becomes A major. Move it all down 5 frets and it becomes G major.

Now you can change key on the fly, transpose songs and play in any key.

Just like real guitarists do… Which you are one of…

Can you feel yourself getting cleverer?

It’s a nice feeling isn’t it?

   Ok now you know the modes, you can use this knowledge to play all over the neck and up and down the neck. You now have infinite range rather than the 2 octaves that playing across the neck gave you. Let’s try playing through the modes E to E ( 3 octaves). Play the pattern below. Note how it goes through all the patterns you just learned. Note how it is the same finger pattern all the way up. If you find ways of playing scales using the same finger pattern, you will play much faster. Only pluck the string to get it moving then hammer on the other notes, you should only pluck when you change string. Think economically, then you will find it easy to shred.

The line between the notes means slide your finger to the next note. Imagine how fast you could play this.

Now try this scale B to B (3 octaves ).

All you need to know to learn this pattern is where the B is, 2 up and 3 up.

Because these scales use the same finger pattern, they are a fast way of playing three octaves. When you are an accomplished guitarist you will use these scale patterns all the time; they are your basic toolkit.

Now if you have the ability to span out your left hand fingers like Satriani, try this scale, it’s the same as the above one but it uses all 4 fingers rather than three. Ouch… Practice way up the neck at first, where the frets are closer, then play lower as your span increases. Don’t  worry, you’ll be able to do it, eventually.

 

This is how you play like the best. It is very hard to do but I guarantee that you will astound everyone with your ability; even yourself.Iremember the day that I became good at guitar. I had a neighbour who was always complaining about the noise I was making with the guitar, then one day she started complaining about my stereo; she thought it was a stereo playing when it was me shredding.What a lovely moment.

Now have you ever wondered how you play in a minor key, well you already can. You learned all the minor scales when you learned the modes. Here’s how.The natural minor note to any note is 3 frets down. This means in essence, the note three frets down from any other note is harmonically the same as it. For example,if you are playing rhythm with a C chord for 4 bars, you could play C for 2 bars and Am for 2 bars instead of C. If someone is playing a tune using a C major scale using the Ionian pattern on the 8^th fret, you can play the same tune in harmony by playing the same thing using an Aeolian pattern on the 5^th.   If you play a tune on your own using the Aeolian instead of the Ionian pattern then what you have done is changed the key from C major to C minor.

Now let’s use the modes in a similar way, to play Spanish guitar.

Spanish guitar.

In Just the same way that you convert a C major Tune to a C minor tune by playing the tune in a different mode. You can play Spanish guitar simply by changing the Mode from Ionian to Phrygian.Play with the scale like this:

Do you hear how even though you are using a C major scale, you are playing Spanish guitar in the key of E? That’s why it sounds Spanish because you have changed the mode. The scale is C but the root note is E.

Remember how to play up and down the neck from mode to mode using the same finger pattern? Use this and the open E as a drone to play some really clever Spanish. If you want to stick some Chords in with it use E F G A B C D E for the chords. Experiment. Have fun. That’s why you play guitar. That’s why they call it playing guitar.

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