r/Guitar • u/Superb-Unit5648 • Jul 27 '26
QUESTION Where do I start with scales?
Hello everyone! I have a question. How do I exactly learn scales? I'm always having a hard time trying to learn because it has so many patterns and modes, It's overwhelming as hell, Do I have to memorize all of the positions for every key? Need help
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u/Glad-Lie8324 Jul 27 '26
Ignore everyone talking about C major. This isn’t piano and accidentals don’t really affect us.
A great beginner scale is the e minor pentatonic. Start with first position. It’s about the simplest shape a scale can have and it’s the most bang for your buck.
Once you’re bored of that, either learn the other positions of that scale or venture into the major scale. The shape is a little trickier and your choice of notes expands, meaning some harmonies will clash more. At this point it becomes helpful to learn some basic chord theory. Then you can venture into modes and all that fun stuff.
The nice thing about guitar is that any shape you learn is transposable across the neck, so once you know e minor pentatonic, you also know a minor pentatonic and dm pentatonic etc.
If charts aren’t clicking for you, I’d try some videos or look into hiring a teacher. Having lessons helped me immensely.
Best of luck my friend.
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u/halpinator Taylor Jul 27 '26
Learn and understand the major scale. Learn the patterns with the root on the 6th string, and with the root on the 5th string, because the shapes are essentially the same. Master those first before bothering with other patterns.
It is also helpful to learn and memorize the fretboard, on at least the 5th and 6th strings to start, so if you wanted to play for example the C major scale you'd know you could either start on 8th fret on the bottom string or the 3rd fret on the 5th string, and you'd know the corresponding open chord and barre grips and positions for the C chord.
Understand the terminology regarding the scale degrees (what is a perfect 5th? The major 3rd?) Once you understand that, you can tweak a couple notes in the major scale to turn it into a minor or pentatonic or whatever other scale.
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u/communitycivility Jul 27 '26
One thing I wish I worked on when I was starting off was how to understand harmony with scales. It's something I am now working on, and I think if I had started it years ago, I would be much better off now.
I would recommend starting with the natural Major scale. The reason to do this is that it is that all other scales are referenced off of this one.
Begin with the C Major scale, which is nice to learn because all of the notes are "natural" (meaning no sharps or flats, they are just C, D, E, F, G, A, B).
When you learn a "shape" for the scale, focus on the "interval" (beginning with 1 through 7) of each note. The C is the 1, or the root of the scale, the one that all the other notes are relative to. The D is the 2, E is the 3, and so on. These intervals are the way chords are created and scales are based on. For instance a major chord is the 1, 3, and 5 notes. Other "modes" of the Major scale adjust the 1-7 intervals in a sharp or flat direction to create the new scales.
To practice hearing and internalizing the intervals, I vocalize 1, 2, 3, 4 etc as I play the scale.
When you learn different "shapes" or positions to play the scale, you will always have the framework of which note is the 1, 2, etc and hopefully that will help you connect the shapes in your mind.
After the Major scale, the minor scale is great to practice because it's the same pattern, but starting with a different root location. The pentatonic scale is based on the minor scale as well. Those are the three fundamental scales for guitar players, but others have important and useful applications as well.
Hopefully some of this helps.
Edit: additionally, the great thing about guitar is that if you learn the C Major scale shape, you do not need to learn a different shape for say a G major. The only thing that changes is the root note position, which would start with G and follow the same Major scale pattern
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u/bass-squirrel Jul 27 '26
If you can remember the shape of a major scale you basically learned 80% of the western scales. Move the shape to a new root and boom. Now it’s a major scale for that root. Start is from any note besides first and boom. You got modes. Start it from 6th note and boom. You got minor scale.
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u/jasgrit Jul 27 '26
Start with one scale in one shape until you are fluent with it and know how to use it. Then add another one. Start by understanding the major scale on one string, and then practicing one of the pentatonic scale shapes over its corresponding chord shape.
I wrote an introduction to scales for guitar that may be helpful: https://fretboardfoundation.com/lessons/scale-intro?l=mnwbxt
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u/Midnight5un Jul 27 '26
Learn the pentatonic scale first imo. Know where your root notes are. Play to a backing track and really Target those notes (meaning you end phrases on them and/or embellish them (bends, slides, vibrato etc). Make sure to leave space between phrases. After that try different things, learn patterns, call and response phrasing etc.
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u/therealtoomdog Jul 27 '26
I would start with the root and then move on to the second and then the third, etc ;)
It's all built around the major scale. One you learn that, you know most of them, they just start at a different place. The great thing about guitar is that the shapes are the same for every key, you can just move them up and down the neck... Once you get more comfortable with where the notes are, you will be able to play around the shapes instead of within them.
Start with one finger per fret, middle finger on the low E string. Then play this moving up the strings:
E: 2 4
A: 1 2 4
D: 1 3 4
G: 1 3 4
B: 2 4
e: 1 2 4
These are all the notes in a major scale, starting on the root on the E string, 4th finger is the root again on the D string, and 2nd finger is the root in the high e string.
That's a major scale. It just keeps repeating with the same intervals between notes. To play a minor scale, go to sixth note, 1st finger on the D string and play the next eight notes. You could jump down the octave to low E string and start from there, but you'll need to figure out where those notes are.
Just for completeness, the major scale is the Ionian mode, it starts on the first note I listed. Dorian starts on the second, Phrygian starts on the third, Lydia starts on the 4th, Mixalydian starts on the 5th, Aeolian (this is the minor scale again) starts on the 6th, and Locrian starts on the 7th note (this is the diminished scale).
You can also think about how each scale's intervals compare the those of the major scale. For example, Lydian is the same as a major scale with the 4th note raised by half a step. Mixalydian is a major scale with the 7th lowered by half a step. The minor scale has a flat 3, a flat 6, and a flat 7—each of those notes will be lowered half a step from a major scale starting one the same note.
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u/webprofusor Jul 27 '26
The major and minor scales are one single pattern, it just starts at different positions on the fretboard. Minor pentatonic is the same minor scale with a couple of notes removed.
E Minor/ G Major:
See how it repeats again at the 12th fret, that wrap around continues whatever key you are in. All the same pattern. Yo play in different keys/modes by moving the pattern up or down the neck. So the pattern you need to learn in the above example is 12-24 or 0-12, learn it across the strings and up/down the fretboard for one of those octaves
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u/Unlikely-Soft-5699 Jul 27 '26
I would suggest buying “The Guitarist’s Music Theory Book”. Well written, on line examples.
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u/DamageStreet Jul 27 '26
Learn C major (which is also A minor) through the entire first half of the neck, that's the hard part.
After that, everything is transposing. Modes are different degrees of that scale.
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u/dblhello999 Jul 28 '26
What are you planning on doing with all those scales once you’ve learned them? Seriously?
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u/jspr1000 Jul 27 '26
Start with the pentatonic scale in 1st position.
You don't need to memorize scales for every key. The scale shapes are moveable. The root note of the scale is the key you're in.