Guitar scale theory pdf

It contains the fretboard shapes for all the possible intervals and shows you how to create chords of different types. They represent the guitar neck, as you would look at it sideways. You can often use the signature of the parent major scale. We explain guitar scales and the basic music theory surrounding them using illustrations and stepbystep instruction in this beginner guitar lesson. The minor scale should be the second scale you learn, it is the most used scale after the major scale. We then select two or more additional intervals from the scale e. Beginners earning jazz guitar scales can be complicated and often beginners. Complete with high quality, accurate transcriptions, and indepth pentatonic theory explanations. Major and minor scales, modals, diminished, triads and seventh arpeggios, exotic scales.

Guitar scales as you learn these scales wed like to suggest playing along with a drum machine or metronome to help keep you in time. Then try playing two eighth notes per note of the scale using alternate picking downup, then triplets and so on. Common open and closed scale patterns up to four sharps or flats, two octaves some three octaves, and examples of open string shifts. Guitar scales guitar scales regardless what instrument you play, learning to play scales is a rite of passage. Music theory tells us you should play the following scales over each chord. Melody is created with single notes played one after another, like playing a guitar scale. Basic guitar chords, keys, and scales december 30th, 2004 1 the key of c this is the first section of what i hope will be a series of useful articles, designed to help the. What guitar scales to learn guitar music theory by desi serna. Olav torvunds guitar pages music theory book of the month january 2005 happy traum. They are distinguished by the fact that the tonic root or 1 st note of. They are distinguished by the fact that the tonic root or 1 st note of the scale starts on the 6 th, 5 th or 4 th string. This is called the root note as it is the 1st note in the scale. For example, if we are going from a c7 with an aeolian scale to an ab7 chord, the most likely choice would be an ab lydian b7 scale.

The major pentatonic scale guitar shapes and theory. Lets say you were playing a tune in c major key signature is explicitly c major, but the key signature can still remain the same. But i want to write for guitar players, and take into consideration the peculiarities, limitations recommended. Complete guitar theory including scales, chords, progressions, modes, song application and more. G mayor scale on 6th string guitar tcm module 01 gtr 02 c major scale on 5th string guitar tcm module 01 gtr 03 f major scale on 4th string guitar guitarzoom 0 2012 by dan denley. Notes that are tremolo picked would be notated with tp above for tremolo picking. The lessons on this page are geared towards helping you build a strong understanding of each of the various pentatonic scales, how they are built, how they are related and how they relate to chords and arpeggios when.

Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. This printable pdf method provides 101 dominant arpeggio exercises with tab, theory and standard notation for the jazz, blues and rock guitarist. Guitar scale theory is a good place to start and if you have a general. If you learn the major scale and its applications, you will be able to understand how chords are constructed its not that complicated, know why your favorite songs sound the way. View larger image its less scary once you realize that in its most basic form a scale is little more than an ascending or descending sequence of notes. Major scale 1 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 a 4 4 4 4 4 1 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 major scale sae b b b c b 1 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 5 1 4 3 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 4 4 4 4 6. Guitar scales explained with graphics and clear music theory. The above is meant to show you the intervals of the major scale. G major e minor pentatonic scale guitar scales the pentatonic scale is a favorite of many guitarists and its easy to see why. It contains the sections chord, scale and arpeggio. From right to left are the six strings of the guitar and the horizontal lines represent the frets. What guitar scales to learn guitar music theory by desi. Guitar lovers manual is a digital book with sound in pdf format for printing purposes.

Guitar scale theory is a good place to start and if you have a general knowledge about how scales work, youll be able to apply that knowledge to almost all other areas of your playing. Recommended books etc on music theory go here for links to other music theory sites. Classical guitar scales on your air guitar there is a demo video of this in the site resources see the form below, or go to the members area, along with the scale shape pdf, so be sure and watch that. Clicking on the graphics will start playback of the integrated sound. You can also practice these shapes away from the guitar. Its designed to give you a good overview of the basic building blocks for.

A guitar scale is any sequence of musical notes ordered by frequency or pitch. Classical guitar method volume i by bradford werner free pdf download 102 pages for beginner classical or fingerstyle guitar. You can hear a major scale by playing the frets at position 0 open, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Feb 12, 2016 steve stine guitar lesson music theory fundamentals understanding the major diatonic scale. We have created a free pdf ebook that expands the concept explained in this tutorial. Thus, it is best to first look at the piano keyboard and then compare it to the guitar fretboard. Melodic minor scale en ou ascend ou raise te t and t notes a semitone al a ste. This book of written lessons is an excellent tool and reference manual to develop and enhance your guitar skills.

Publications, where he edited and arranged the songbooks of. Bach the parts of the guitar there are three main types of guitars,the steelstring acoustic, the nylon string or classical guitar, and the electric guitar. The 7 scales on the chart below are a good place to start. In this guitar lesson, were going to learn the caged system. This book teaches classical and fingerstyle guitar skills with a focus on the rich pedagogical tradition of classical guitar. This scale will have its root note on the 5th or a string and you can start with your 3rd finger. Youve probably heard of guitar tab on the interwebs, but. Music theory for guitar introduction olav torvunds guitar pages music theory book of the month january 2005 happy traum. The first step in understanding guitar modes is defining the parent scale. Before you begin it is good idea to familiarise yourself with the notes of the c major scale. The major scale is a formula that you apply to the fret board and consist of a tone, tone, semitone, tone, tone tone semitone.

Guitar lovers manual chord, arpeggio and scale pdf with. Guitar theory is an area of study that explains how you can play, improvise, and compose popular music on the guitar fretboard and why certain elements of music go together the way they do. Your plan should cover several days and allow for varied work on each. Dive into guitar theory by exploring a fretboard diagram showing notes along the.

As well as a complete rundown of all the most useful and useable scale shapes in several positions, weve included soloing tips, a little music theory, plus some. Essential music theory for guitarists how to read guitar tab tablature, or tab, is a system of musical notation that focuses on where you place your fingers, rather than the actual musical pitches. Learning scales and arpeggios on guitar is a very important part of jazzs. It provides a full accounting of 5, 6, and 7note scales containing intervals no larger than a major third and selected 8note scales, chiefly to account for the bebop scales and the diminished scale. Annotated scale exercises developed from luigi legannis 36 caprices op.

Florida state university libraries electronic theses, treatises and dissertations the graduate school 2008 a guitar scale excerpt workbook. Since the root is on the e note open low e string, this is an e major scale. The caged system is a very important concept that applies equally to both rhythm guitar and lead guitar. It contains a huge range of movable scale, chord and arpeggio fingerboard diagrams allowing you to play in any key. It provides a full accounting of 5, 6, and 7note scales containing intervals no larger than a major third and selected 8note scales, chiefly to account for the bebop scales and.

Bass guitar scales chords and arpeggios is a printable pdf book for bass guitarists. You could see this as the foundations of the chord structure. This informal quiz has 18 questions, and is intended to assess how much of basic music theory you understand. In music, a scale is a series of notes played one at a time in ascending and descending fashion. Guitar scales chart book printable pdf download guitar scales. The three main pillars of music theory are melody, harmony, and rhythm. Basic guitar chords, keys, and scales december 30th, 2004 4 the basic chords in the key of f chart 7 now let me explain the chord charts in case you dont understand them. Guitar players use scales to play melodies, riffs, solos, and bass lines. Fretboard topologies boo to compose, improvise, and explore the instrument. There is a ton of good, useful musical information. Scales and theory for guitar including the circle of keys. In order to cycle through as many areas of scale practice as possible and not get bored it is important to have a plan. It is formed from the 6th degree of the major scale, so if you took the time to really learn the major scale across the fretboard, you are half way in knowing the minor scale already. High graphic resolution enables printing of best quality large format printouts.

Then you know the first mode out of 7, the ionian mode. Use these instructional materials to help open up guitar avenues and to examine different chords and rhythms, lead guitar techniques, learning the fretboard, music theory,scales, and the world of playing over chord changes. Conversely, harmony is all about the rules that dictate what happens when one or more instruments play. Major scales for classical guitar pdf beginner to intermediate classical guitar. Its designed to give you a good overview of the basic building. The most basic explanation of a guitar scale would be the following. A major scale, for example, uses 7 notes, which are selected for the harmonious way they sound to the ear. Illustrated below is the expanded ii minor pentatonic scale. Practice these scales in all keys up and down the fret board. With both expanded scales and the basic box shape you can cover just about the entire fretboard. The smallest space you can have between two notes is a halfstep, one fret on the guitar.

Music theory 1 guitar course scales lesson 8 youtube. This is the foundation to becoming a learned musician, rather than merely a recreational player. Guitar theory is essential to know if you want to become an advanced guitarist, guitar theory shows you how everything works in the guitar world. Like most people, my first encounter with music theory was at school and it was complicated, boring, pointless and frustrating not because it is because the teachers back then made it seem that way im hoping these days thats improved.

The starting note is called the root note and it defines what key we are playing. Jul 14, 2017 guitar scales explained with graphics and clear music theory. In essence, we are trying to retain any notes from one chord scale to the next successive chord scale. Fachords learn how to play the guitar online guitar. Both scales are used to create different types of sounds, major scales have a happy sound and minor scales have a sad sound. You probably have played modes on the guitar before, probably without realizing you were playing them. This is the most important factor in choosing the best chord scale. Theres more than one way to play the c major scale on a guitar.

In this guitar lesson, steve stine breaks down the theory behind the major scale, to help you better understand how its built, and how it works. The topics in this quiz would be covered in one semester of an easy music theory introductory course, or about onehalf semester of such a course proceeding at a fast pace. There are 4 things you need to know about guitar theory, these are. Scale notes make patterns on the fretboard, which guitarists finger and pick position to position. This lesson with downloadable pdf, guitar shapes and theory will. Pdf includes notation, tab, fingering, some diagrams, tips, and more. Major scales for classical guitar pdf sheet music, tab.

The major scale is your starting point should be the first scale you learn, because it is the basis of chords and other types of scales. It doesnt matter what style of music you play, or if you play acoustic guitar or electric guitar, this method of fretboard navigation is essential for all guitar players. Essential music theory for guitarists chainsawguitartuition. Also includes the five closed major scale patterns over the entire. What i wish i knew my first year of playing guitar chord theory duration. Guitarscale theory wikibooks, open books for an open world. Pdf total guitar the ultimate scale book guilherme mauricio. They each have a distinct pattern that can be played anywhere on the neck of the guitar. The first c major scale guitar pattern were going to look at is ideal for beginners this is the. Steve stine guitar lesson music theory fundamentals.

If youre an intermediate or advanced guitarist wanting to get more into the theory of scales, more advanced shapes and how theyre constructed check out some other free lessons on here. Our music theory eboo k in pdf is structured as follows. Once we return to the root at fret 12, the e note one octave higher than the open e, the scale would start over again, so it can be viewed as a cycle. Beginner acoustic guitar lesson tom petty i wont back down.

See how scales, chords, progressions, modes and more fit into your favorite songs. The guitarists scale book by peter vogl is a complete scale encyclopedia for guitar with over 400 scales and modes. Fachords is an excellent musical fachords is an excellent musical learning website, it has so much to offer. Free guitar scales pdf 84 scale and arpeggios chart. Music theory 1 is a guitar lesson course for anyone brand new to music theory. Example of a half step and whole step in a guitar scale. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading fretboard theory. Since the keyboard has been such a dominating force in music, a complete study of scale theory must make some reference to it. Think of runs as playing a given scale in straight sequence e.

These scales are essential for beginning jazz guitarists and enable you to play over almost any jazz standard. Provides essential info for creating memorable chord progressions. Complete guitar theory including scales, chords, progressions, modes, song. Mastering pentatonic scale theory guitar masterclass. Mastering pentatonic scale theory welcome to the learning pentatonic scales page at gmc run by yours truly, the professor. Chaurette, december 2012 there are 5 different ways to play a major scale on the guitar. Go beyond guitar basics and get to know how music works on the guitar fretboard. Be sure to download the free guitar pdf ebooks and music theory reference sheets. A chord can be built by first selecting the 1 note. Chords, scales and music theory free resources heres a collection of resources that will help you learn how to play the guitar. It contains scale diagrams with notation and tablature for each scale and tips on how and when to use each scale.