Guitar Scales

How many guitar scales exist?

130+? We better get started.

One of the frameworks I Love Guitar considers very useful, is for every chord you learn, link a scale to it. This way you see how a scale is wrapped around a chord, and how a chord is inside a scale.

Our first link: Em chord to E minor Pentatonic

Take a very close look at both the chord and the scale. You can see that all of the tones of the chord are inside the scale, while the scale tones not in the chord, wrap around the chord. In this way, a scale is like a filled-in chord, while a chord is an extracted piece of a scale.

What is the R?

R stands for Root. A Root is the base tone for something (chord, scale, arpeggio) to be built. It is the tone that names the chord, scale, or arpeggio. We will sometimes use these symbols for the root:

Why the Flat (b) 3 and 7?

When we use a flat like this, it means we are comparing or parelleling to what is normal to the root. What is normal means what is derived from the major scale for the root.

So, for E minor, the G is a flatted 3, because in the key of E Major (the E Major scale), the 3 is G#. Likewise, since the 7 in E Major is D#, D is the flatted 7 (b7) to E.

For a further discussion of this, look at Derivative vs. Parallel.

Our next link: G6 chord to G Major Pentatonic

Notice that this is the same tone group as E minor, yet we are naming it G Major. We are linking it in the same way we linked Em to Em - we link the G6 chord to the G Major Pentatonic.

Another point here is that the G Major Pentatonic is the 'G Major scale without the 4th & the 7th tone.' Note, that even though we can parallel (compare) the pentatonic to the major, the pentatonic is its own scale, in its own right.

Final Point

The pentatonic scale system has 5 tones.  In this lesson, we started this group of tones (E, G, A, B, D) on/from two tones, the E & G. When we did this, we are playing the E minor pentatonic and the G Major pentatonic guitar scales.

Well, we can start this grouping on any of the other 3 as well. When we do this, we are playing the following guitar scales:

From the A, the scale is called the Vietnamese Scale (R 2 4 5 b7)
From the B, the scale is called the Malkos Raga (R b3 4 b6 b7)
From the D, the scale is called the Bac Scale (R 2 4 5 6)

Now, in the West, this isn't common. Yet, you see the Eastern names, and now you know this: any scale can be started on any tone of the scale, and you have a new scale. This is called modes. Modes are another way of saying guitar scales (division of an octave).

We will always try to link modes with the chord it wraps around (within the scale).

Guitar Scales - 7 Major Scale Patterns (Scale Forms)