In this lesson we'll cover the basics of using scales and how to read tablature.
A scale is a group of notes which sound good together (to put it into very basic terms!).
The most common scale for modern guitarists would be the Minor pPntatonic scale, which is a 5 note scale heard very often in blues playing (though a lot of rock players use it, i.e. Slash, Jimmy Page, etc, and some metal players enjoy to utilise it i.e. Zakk Wylde, Kirk Hammett, etc. It's also a scale which can be used effectively in genres such as Jazz).
Other common scales used by guitarsts are the Major, Major Pentatonic, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor and Melodic Minor scales. Though we won't look into these in this lesson.
To move back onto the Minor Pentatonic scale, I have transcribed the E Minor Pentatonic scales in tablature (tab) here.I have chosen the E Minor Pentatonic as it gives an easy starting point for grasping the "shape" of the minor pentatonic scale due to a large number of open notes:
You may be a bit confused by this if you haven't come across any tabs before.
What tablature is essentially is a visualisation of the fretboard. With each line representing a string (the bottom line being your thickest (E) string). What the numbers represent is the fret number. So for example a "0" will mean that you play the string without fretting a note. Where a "3" means you put a finger on the third fret (on most guitars this will be the first fret which has a dot on the fretboard).
If you've followed my previous lessons or have searched the internet prior to this you will most likely find it rather simple to fret these notes. If not you may find you have to press quite hard on the string to allow the note to ring out correctly when you pick.
However this is just a case of getting your fingers used to the guitar.
What I suggest you do with this scale, is play each note as it is written in the tab, then play it backwards, like this:
This will get you comfortable with the scale, and eventually with practice you'll be able to play this faster each time.
Also, similarly to my previous lesson on rhythm, I suggest you change your picking pattern up occasionally. So while you may instinctively think to down-pick each note, try alternate picking the scale (which is a down-up-down-up pattern), or even try only using up-strokes, this is a bit unorthadox but it may help with your up-strokes (which always feel the most un-intuitive to do).
I want to point out that this scale shape I have taught you, is not the only shape in the E Minor Pentatonic, the notes which are in the E Minor Pentatonic are repeated across the entire neck of the guitar. But I won't go into that here, if you want to go further into the pentatonic scale there are loads of lessons on it online and it will be very easy to find the other shapes on the neck online.
Also, I'd like to state that this shape can be used across the neck, though this will change the key of the scale. The example I've given is the E Minor Pentatonic because the root note (the note it starts on) is an E.
If you moved this shape to start on the fifth fret of the E string it would become the A Minor Pentatonic, as it starts on an A, like so:
Hopefully this lesson has given any readers a good grounding in scales and reading tablature, I suggest that you practice these fairly often as you will start off playing them quite slow, though in using these scales as excersises you will find that your playing will speed up, not just when playing these scale shapes, but in general.
Now that you've read these beginner lessons you are pretty much able to tackle any simple tab or chord chart that you may find online!
What I'd suggest now is to learn a few of your favourite songs to see how these sort of things are implemented in music.
I may do some more lessons in a similar manner to these last three which will tackle things such as slightly more advanced chords and more scales if there is any interest.
I hope this helped anyone and I thank you for reading.
If there are any questions regarding this lesson email me at Rory.guitarist@gmail.com or reach me through any of my social networking pages:
http://www.twitter.com/Rerellison
http://www.youtube.com/roryrockssocks
http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Rory-Butler/135674026499846
Thanks!
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